returning Mongoose query result from Async call - node.js

Question

I'm working on a problem where I need to query the db for an instance of a Voter, and use that instance to update an Election, returning to the original function whether that update was successful or not. My code currently looks like this:
function addCandidatesToElection(req, res) {
let electionName = req.body.electionName;
let candidates = req.body.candidates;
let addedCandidatesSucessfully = true;
for(let i=0; i<candidates.length; i++) {
addedCandidatesSucessfully = _addCandidateToElection(electionName, candidates[i]);
console.log("added candidates sucessfully:" + addedCandidatesSucessfully);
}
if(addedCandidatesSucessfully) {
res.send("createElection success");
} else {
res.send("createElection fail");
}
}
which calls this function:
function _addCandidateToElection(electionName, candidateName) {
async.parallel(
{
voter: function(callback) {
Voter.findOne({ 'name' : candidateName }, function(err,voter) {
callback(err, voter);
});
}
},
function(e, r) {
if(r.voter === null){
return 'Voter not found';
} else {
Election.findOneAndUpdate(
{'name': electionName },
{$push: { candidates: r.voter }},
{new: true},
function(err, election) {
if(err){ return err; }
return (election) ? true : false;
});
}
}
);
}
I've already tried printing out the Voter instance(r.voter) to check if it exists (it does), and also printing out the election object returned by the mongoose call, which also works. However, I'm getting a null value in the
addedCandidatesSucessfully = _addCandidateToElection(electionName, candidates[i]);
line, regardless of the result of the call. I think it has to do with the mongoose call returning a local value which is never returned to the function that called _addCandidateToElection, but I don't know how I should return that. I've tried putting control flags such as
let foundAndUpdatedElection = false;
on the first line of _addCandidateToElection and updating it inside the Mongoose query's callback, but apparently it doesn't change.
How should I return the result of the query to the addCandidatesToElection function?

Answer 1

You should probably 'promisify' your code to help you better deal with the asynchronous nature of js. Try the following instead of your example:
function findVoter(candidateName) {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
Voter.findOne({ 'name' : candidateName }, function(err,voter) {
if(error) {
reject(error);
} else {
resolve(voter);
}
});
});
}
function addCandidateToElection(electionName, candidateName) {
return findVoter(candidateName).then(function(voter) {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
Election.findOneAndUpdate(
{'name': electionName },
{$push: { candidates: voter }},
{new: true},
function(err, election) {
if (err) {
reject(err);
} else {
resolve(!!election);
}
});
});
}
function addCandidatesToElection(req, res) {
let electionName = req.body.electionName;
let candidates = req.body.candidates;
let addedCandidatesSucessfully = true;
let candidatePromiseArray = [];
for(let i=0; i<candidates.length; i++) {
candidatePromiseArray.push(addCandidateToElection(electionName, candidates[i]));
}
Promise.all(candidatePromiseArray)
.then(function(results) {
console.log(results);
res.send('create election success');
})
.catch(function(error) {
console.error(error);
res.send('failed');
});
}
You will also no longer need to use the async library because promises are now native in ES6