Add delay before sending new ajax request using jQuery

I think that perhaps instead of aborting the request, you should control the ajax requests with a variable, for example, called processing=false, that would be reset to false, in the success/error function. Then you would only execute the function in setTimeout, if processing was false.

Something like:

var request, timeout;
var processing=false;
$('#item-list a').live('mouseover', function(event) {
  timeout = setTimeout(function() {
    if (!processing) {
      processing=true;
      request = $.ajax({
        url: $(this).attr('href'),
        type: 'POST',
        success: function(data) {
          processing=false;
          $('body').append('<div>'+ data +'</div>')
        }
      });
    }
  }, 2000);
});

$.fn.extend( {
        delayedAjax: function() {
          setTimeout ($.ajax, 1000 );
        }
});

  $.fn.delayedAjax();

Seems to work but probably not the prettiest solution. Also, you need to add some code to pass the args & the timeout val if you want

You will need to have a variable that can act a countdown timer if you will, that a mouseout event will cancel as well...

$(function(){
  $("#item-list a").live("mouseover",function(){
    var a = $(this);
    a.data("hovering","1");
    setTimeout(function(){
        if (a.data("hovering") == "1") {
            // this would actually be your ajax call
            alert(a.text());
        }
    }, 2000);
  });
  $("#item-list a").live("mouseout",function(){
    $(this).data("hovering","0");
  });
});