jQuery Forum

It sounds like you want something like this:

1. $("#spinner")
2.   .ajaxStart(function(){
3.      var $spinner = $(this);
4.      $spinner.data("timer", setTimeout(function(){
5.         $spinner.show();
6.      }, 500));
7.   })
8.   .ajaxStop(function(){
9.      $(this).hide();
10.      clearTimeout($(this).data("timer"));
11.   });

That way you don't need to know which requests take a lot of time; if it takes more than half a second they'll see the spinner. I didn't test the code but hopefully it works and/or you get the idea.

If your requests use different progress indicators (e.g., different elements on the page) then yes, you'd need to show the specific indicator before doing a particular ajax and then hide it in the complete handler.

@malsup, Thanks, that will do the trick.

I'd forgotten about the global:false, that's a good solution. Although if you're using your own computer's performance to decide whether to show a progress indicator, be aware that some of your  users may be waiting significantly longer than you are for a request to complete.