setTimeout on a jQuery nested (?) function

Question

I'm not sure, if I'm using the correct term, but I want to achieve a delay on the "mouseleave". The code looks like this:

 jQuery( function()
{
    var targets = jQuery( '[rel~=cmlist_tooltip]' ),
        target      = false,
        tooltip = false,
        title       = false;

    targets.bind( 'mouseenter', function()
    {
        target      = jQuery( this );
        tip         = target.attr( 'title' );
        tooltip     = jQuery( '<div id="cmlist_tooltip"></div>' );

        if( !tip || tip == '' )
            return false;

        target.removeAttr( 'title' );
        tooltip.css( 'opacity', 0 )
               .html( tip )
               .appendTo( 'body' ).fadeIn();

        var init_tooltip = function()
        {
            // more init here, but that's irrelevant for now
            tooltip.css( { left: pos_left, top: pos_top } )
                   .animate( { top: '+=3', opacity: 1 }, 50 );
        };

        init_tooltip();
        jQuery( window ).resize( init_tooltip );

        var remove_tooltip = function() {
            if ( tooltip.filter(':hover').lenght > 0 || target.filter(':hover').length > 0 ) {
                setTimeout(remove_tooltip,1200);
                return;
            }
            tooltip.animate( { top: '-=10', opacity: 0 }, 50, function()
            {
                jQuery( this ).remove();
            });
        };


        target.bind( 'mouseleave', setTimeout(remove_toolip,1200) );
       // this works ok, but with no delay, so I can 'catch' the hover on the tooltip itself
       // target.bind( 'mouseleave', remove_tooltip );
        tooltip.bind( 'click', remove_tooltip );
    });
});

This gives me a "guid" number unknown error - for the line mouseleave.bind.setTimeout - in the debug console (I assume, that the interpreter cannot resolve the 'remove_tooltip' function correctly). How can I reference the remove_tooltip() corretly?

The goal is to enable hovering/scrolling over the tooltip, so the tooltip window shouldn't disappear on 'mouseleave' instantly - but want to keep that option too with a delay.

Demo in JSFiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/raqp0j4m/

Answer 1

This is a very simplified demo showing how to correctly approach the binding of a function to the mouseleave event.

After hovering the square gray area, you'll see the event handler kick in on mouse leave and the delayed action performed as expected:

jQuery( function()
{
       
  const remove_tooltip = function() {
      console.log('...tooltip removed!');
  };
  
  const target = $('.area');
  //using .on instead of .bind  
  //https://api.jquery.com/bind/
  //...as of jQuery 3.0, .bind() has been deprecated. It was superseded by the .on() method for attaching event handlers to a document since jQuery 1.7, so its use was already discouraged...
  target.on( 'mouseleave', ()=>{console.log('mouse left...'); setTimeout(remove_tooltip,1200)} );
  
});

.area{
  height: 10em;
  width: 10em;
  
  background: #ccc;
  border: dashed 2px;
}

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<div class="area"> 
</div>

Answer 2

Here is a more complete version not using jQuery at all. No need for jQuery anymore

window.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {

  const tooltip = document.getElementById('tooltip');
  const container = document.getElementById('areas');
  let tooltipTimeout;

  container.addEventListener('mouseover', (e) => {
    if (e.target.classList.contains('area')) {
      const title = e.target.getAttribute('title');
      tooltip.textContent = title;
      const areaRect = e.target.getBoundingClientRect();
      const containerRect = container.getBoundingClientRect();
      const top = areaRect.top - containerRect.top - tooltip.clientHeight+50;
      const left = areaRect.left - containerRect.left + (areaRect.width - tooltip.clientWidth) / 2;
      tooltip.style.top = `${top}px`;
      tooltip.style.left = `${left}px`;
      tooltip.style.display = 'block';
      clearTimeout(tooltipTimeout);
    }
  });

  container.addEventListener('mouseout', (e) => {
    if (e.target.classList.contains('area')) {
      tooltipTimeout = setTimeout(() => {
        tooltip.style.display = 'none';
      }, 1200);
    }
  });

  container.addEventListener('mouseenter', () => {
    clearTimeout(tooltipTimeout);
  });

  container.addEventListener('mouseleave', () => {
    tooltip.style.display = 'none';
  });

});

#areas {
  background: #teal;
  border: 2px solid red;
}

.area {
  height: 10em;
  width: 10em;
  background: #ccc;
  border: dashed 2px;
}

.tooltip {
  position: absolute;
  background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);
  color: white;
  padding: 5px;
  border-radius: 5px;
  display: none;
}

<div id="areas">
  <div class="area" title="Area 1">Area 1</div>
  <div class="area" title="Area 2">Area 2</div>
  <div class="area" title="Area 3">Area 3</div>
</div>
<div class="tooltip" id="tooltip"></div>