Javascript - execute after all images have loaded

Having read other people's questions I thought

window.onload=...

would answer my question. I have tried this but it executes the code the instant the page loads (not after the images load).

If it makes any difference the images are coming from a CDN and are not relative.

Anyone know a solution? (I'm not using jQuery)


Here is a quick hack for modern browsers:

var imgs = document.images,
    len = imgs.length,
    counter = 0;

[].forEach.call( imgs, function( img ) {
    if(img.complete)
      incrementCounter();
    else
      img.addEventListener( 'load', incrementCounter, false );
} );

function incrementCounter() {
    counter++;
    if ( counter === len ) {
        console.log( 'All images loaded!' );
    }
}

Once all the images are loaded, your console will show "All images loaded!".

What this code does:

  • Load all the images in a variable from the document
  • Loop through these images
  • Add a listener for the "load" event on each of these images to run the incrementCounter function
  • The incrementCounter will increment the counter
  • If the counter has reached the length of images, that means they're all loaded

Having this code in a cross-browser way wouldn't be so hard, it's just cleaner like this.


Want a one-liner?

Promise.all(Array.from(document.images).filter(img => !img.complete).map(img => new Promise(resolve => { img.onload = img.onerror = resolve; }))).then(() => {
    console.log('images finished loading');
});

Pretty backwards-compatible, works even in Firefox 52 and Chrome 49 (Windows XP era). Not in IE11, though.

Replace document.images with e.g. document.querySelectorAll(...) if you want to narrow the image list.

It uses onload and onerror for brevity. This might conflict with other code on the page if these handlers of the img elements are also set elsewhere (unlikely, but anyway). If you're not sure that your page doesn't use them and want to be safe, replace the part img.onload = img.onerror = resolve; with a lengthier one: img.addEventListener('load', resolve); img.addEventListener('error', resolve);.

It also doesn't test whether all images have loaded successfully (that there are no broken images). If you need this, here's some more advanced code:

Promise.all(Array.from(document.images).map(img => {
    if (img.complete)
        return Promise.resolve(img.naturalHeight !== 0);
    return new Promise(resolve => {
        img.addEventListener('load', () => resolve(true));
        img.addEventListener('error', () => resolve(false));
    });
})).then(results => {
    if (results.every(res => res))
        console.log('all images loaded successfully');
    else
        console.log('some images failed to load, all finished loading');
});

It waits until all images are either loaded or failed to load.

If you want to fail early, with the first broken image:

Promise.all(Array.from(document.images).map(img => {
    if (img.complete)
        if (img.naturalHeight !== 0)
            return Promise.resolve();
        else
            return Promise.reject(img);
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        img.addEventListener('load', resolve);
        img.addEventListener('error', () => reject(img));
    });
})).then(() => {
    console.log('all images loaded successfully');
}, badImg => {
    console.log('some image failed to load, others may still be loading');
    console.log('first broken image:', badImg);
});

Two latest code blocks use naturalHeight to detect broken images among the already loaded ones. This method generally works, but has some drawbacks: it is said to not work when the image URL is set via CSS content property and when the image is an SVG that doesn't have its dimensions specified. If this is the case, you'll have to refactor your code so that you set up the event handlers before the images begin to load. This can be done by specifying onload and onerror right in the HTML or by creating the img elements in the JavaScript. Another way would be to set src as data-src in the HTML and perform img.src = img.dataset.src after attaching the handlers.


Promise Pattern will solve this problem in a best possible manner i have reffered to when.js a open source library to solve the problem of all image loading

function loadImage (src) {
    var deferred = when.defer(),
        img = document.createElement('img');
    img.onload = function () { 
        deferred.resolve(img); 
    };
    img.onerror = function () { 
        deferred.reject(new Error('Image not found: ' + src));
    };
    img.src = src;

    // Return only the promise, so that the caller cannot
    // resolve, reject, or otherwise muck with the original deferred.
    return deferred.promise;
}

function loadImages(srcs) {
    // srcs = array of image src urls

    // Array to hold deferred for each image being loaded
    var deferreds = [];

    // Call loadImage for each src, and push the returned deferred
    // onto the deferreds array
    for(var i = 0, len = srcs.length; i < len; i++) {
        deferreds.push(loadImage(srcs[i]));

        // NOTE: We could push only the promise, but since this array never
        // leaves the loadImages function, it's ok to push the whole
        // deferred.  No one can gain access to them.
        // However, if this array were exposed (e.g. via return value),
        // it would be better to push only the promise.
    }

    // Return a new promise that will resolve only when all the
    // promises in deferreds have resolved.
    // NOTE: when.all returns only a promise, not a deferred, so
    // this is safe to expose to the caller.
    return when.all(deferreds);
}

loadImages(imageSrcArray).then(
    function gotEm(imageArray) {
        doFancyStuffWithImages(imageArray);
        return imageArray.length;
    },
    function doh(err) {
        handleError(err);
    }
).then(
    function shout (count) {
        // This will happen after gotEm() and count is the value
        // returned by gotEm()
        alert('see my new ' + count + ' images?');
    }
);

Using window.onload will not work because it fires once the page is loaded, however images are not included in this definition of loaded.

The general solution to this is the ImagesLoaded jQuery plugin.

If you're keen on not using jQuery at all, you could at least try converting this plugin into pure Javascript. At 93 significant lines of code and with good commenting, it shouldn't be a hard task to accomplish.