Render page in express after for loop completes - node.js

I have to run mongoose query repeatedly within a for loop and once that completes, I want to render a page in express. Sample code given below. Since mongoose runs asynchronously, how can I make the 'commands/new' page to render only once the 'commands' array has been populated within the for loop?
...
...
var commands = [];
for (var index=0; index<ids.length; index++) {
mongoose.model('Command').find({_id : ids[index]}, function (err, command){
// do some biz logic with the 'command' object
// and add it to the 'commands' array
commands[index] = command;
});
}
res.render('commands/new', {
commands : commands
});
...
...

Your basic for loop here does not respect the callback completion of the asynchronous methods you are calling before executing each iteration. So simply use something that does instead. The node async library fits the bill here, and in fact for even better methods of array iteration:
var commands = [];
async.each(ids,function(id,callback) {
mongoose.model("Command").findById(id,function(err,command) {
if (command)
commands.push(command);
callback(err);
});
},function(err) {
// code to run on completion or err
})
And therefore async.each or possibly a variant like async.eachLimit which will only run a limited number of parallel tasks as set will be your better loop iteration control methods here.
NB The .findById() method of Mongoose also helps shorten coding here.

Related

Node.js Firestore forEach collection query cannot populate associative array

In this simplified example, associative array A cannot be populated in a Node.js Firestore query---it's as if there is a scoping issue:
var A = {};
A["name"] = "nissa";
firestore.collection("magic: the gathering")
.get()
.then(function(query) {
query.forEach(function(document) {
A[document.id] = document.id;
console.log(A);
});
})
.catch(function(error) {
});
console.log(A);
Console output:
{ name: 'nissa' } < last console.log()
{ name: 'nissa', formats: 'formats' } < first console.log() (in forEach loop)
{ name: 'nissa', formats: 'formats', releases: 'releases' } < second console.log() (in forEach loop)
Grateful for any assistance, please request for further detail if needed.
Data is loaded from Firestore asynchronously, and while that is happening, your main code continues to run.
It's easiest to see what that means by placing a few logging statements:
console.log("Starting to load data");
firestore.collection("magic: the gathering")
.get()
.then(function(query) {
console.log("Got data");
});
console.log("After starting to load data");
When you run this code, it prints:
Starting to load data
After starting to load data
Got data
This is probably not the order that you expected the logging to be in. But it is actually working as intended, and explains the output you see. By the time your last console.log(A); runs, the data hasn't been loaded yet, so A is empty.
The solution is simple, but typically takes some time to get used to: all code that needs the data from the database must be inside the callback, or be called from there.
So something like this:
var A = {};
A["name"] = "nissa";
firestore.collection("magic: the gathering")
.get()
.then(function(query) {
query.forEach(function(document) {
A[document.id] = document.id;
});
console.log(A);
})
Also see:
Array of JSON object is not empty but cannot iterate with foreach, show zero length
NodeJS, Firestore get field
Unable to add Google markers inside a loop, a more complex problem, calling multiple asynchronous API
scope issue in javascript between two Functions, which also shows using the more modern async and await keywords, instead of then()
How to get data from firestore DB in outside of onSnapshot, which uses an onSnapshot listener instead of get()

For loop in redis with nodejs asynchronous requests

I've got a problem with redis and nodejs. I have to loop through a list of phone numbers, and check if this number is present in my redis database. Here is my code :
function getContactList(contacts, callback) {
var contactList = {};
for(var i = 0; i < contacts.length; i++) {
var phoneNumber = contacts[i];
if(utils.isValidNumber(phoneNumber)) {
db.client().get(phoneNumber).then(function(reply) {
console.log("before");
contactList[phoneNumber] = reply;
});
}
}
console.log("after");
callback(contactList);
};
The "after" console log appears before the "before" console log, and the callback always return an empty contactList. This is because requests to redis are asynchronous if I understood well. But the thing is I don't know how to make it works.
How can I do ?
You have two main issues.
Your phoneNumber variable will not be what you want it to be. That can be fixed by changing to a .forEach() or .map() iteration of your array because that will create a local function scope for the current variable.
You have create a way to know when all the async operations are done. There are lots of duplicate questions/answers that show how to do that. You probably want to use Promise.all().
I'd suggest this solution that leverages the promises you already have:
function getContactList(contacts) {
var contactList = {};
return Promise.all(contacts.filter(utils.isValidNumber).map(function(phoneNumber) {
return db.client().get(phoneNumber).then(function(reply) {
// build custom object
constactList[phoneNumber] = reply;
});
})).then(function() {
// make contactList be the resolve value
return contactList;
});
}
getContactList.then(function(contactList) {
// use the contactList here
}, funtion(err) {
// process errors here
});
Here's how this works:
Call contacts.filter(utils.isValidNumber) to filter the array to only valid numbers.
Call .map() to iterate through that filtered array
return db.client().get(phoneNumber) from the .map() callback to create an array of promises.
After getting the data for the phone number, add that data to your custom contactList object (this is essentially a side effect of the .map() loop.
Use Promise.all() on the returned array of promises to know when they are all done.
Make the contactList object we built up be the resolve value of the returned promise.
Then, to call it just use the returned promise with .then() to get the final result. No need to add a callback argument when you already have a promise that you can just return.
The simplest solution may be to use MGET with a list of phone numbers and put the callback in the 'then' section.
You could also put the promises in an array and use Promise.all().
At some point you might want your function to return a promise rather than with callback, just to stay consistent.
Consider refactoring your NodeJS code to use Promises.
Bluebird is an excellent choice: http://bluebirdjs.com/docs/working-with-callbacks.html
you put async code into a for loop (sync operations). So, each iteration of the for loop is not waiting for the db.client(...) function to end.
Take a look at this stackoverflow answer, it explains how to make async loops :
Here

How to control serial and parallel control flow with mapped functions?

I've drawn a simple flow chart, which basically crawls some data from internet and loads them into the database. So far, I had thought I was peaceful with promises, however now I have an issue that I'm working for at least three days without a simple step.
Here is the flow chart:
Consider there is a static string array like so: const courseCodes = ["ATA, "AKM", "BLG",... ].
I have a fetch function, it basically does a HTTP request followed by parsing. Afterwards it returns some object array.
fetch works perfectly with invoking its callback with that expected object array, it even worked with Promises, which was way greater and tidy.
fetch function should be invoked with every element in the courseCodes array as its parameter. This task should be performed in parallel execution, since those seperate fetch functions do not affect each other.
As a result, there should be a results array in callback (or Promises resolve parameter), which includes array of array of objects. With those results, I should invoke my loadCourse with those objects in the results array as its parameter. Those tasks should be performed in serial execution, because it basically queries database if similar object exists, adds it if it's not.
How can perform this kind of tasks in node.js? I could not maintain the asynchronous flow in such a scenario like this. I've failed with caolan/async library and bluebird & q promise libraries.
Try something like this, if you are able to understand this:
const courseCodes = ["ATA, "AKM", "BLG",... ]
//stores the tasks to be performed.
var parallelTasks = [];
var serialTasks = [];
//keeps track of courses fetched & results.
var courseFetchCount = 0;
var results = {};
//your fetch function.
fetch(course_code){
//your code to fetch & parse.
//store result for each course in results object
results[course_code] = 'whatever result comes from your fetch & parse code...';
}
//your load function.
function loadCourse(results) {
for(var index in results) {
var result = results[index]; //result for single course;
var task = (
function(result) {
return function() {
saveToDB(result);
}
}
)(result);
serialTasks.push(task);
}
//execute serial tasks for saving results to database or whatever.
var firstSerialTask = serialTasks.shift();
nextInSerial(null, firstSerialTask);
}
//pseudo function to save a result to database.
function saveToDB(result) {
//your code to store in db here.
}
//checks if fetch() is complete for all course codes in your array
//and then starts the serial tasks for saving results to database.
function CheckIfAllCoursesFetched() {
courseFetchCount++;
if(courseFetchCount == courseCodes.length) {
//now process courses serially
loadCourse(results);
}
}
//helper function that executes tasks in serial fashion.
function nextInSerial(err, result) {
if(err) throw Error(err.message);
var nextSerialTask = serialTasks.shift();
nextSerialTask(result);
}
//start executing parallel tasks for fetching.
for(var index in courseCode) {
var course_code = courseCode[index];
var task = (
function(course_code) {
return function() {
fetch(course_code);
CheckIfAllCoursesFetched();
}
}
)(course_code);
parallelTasks.push(task);
for(var task_index in parallelTasks) {
parallelTasks[task_index]();
}
}
Or you may refer to nimble npm module.

node.js for loop execution in a synchronous manner

I have to implement a program in node.js which looks like the following code snippet. It has an array though which I have to traverse and match the values with database table entries. I need to wait till the loop ends and send the result back to the calling function:
var arr=[];
arr=[one,two,three,four,five];
for(int j=0;j<arr.length;j++) {
var str="/^"+arr[j]+"/";
// consider collection to be a variable to point to a database table
collection.find({value:str}).toArray(function getResult(err, result) {
//do something incase a mathc is found in the database...
});
}
However, as the str="/^"+arr[j]+"/"; (which is actually a regex to be passed to find function of MongoDB in order to find partial match) executes asynchronously before the find function, I am unable to traverse through the array and get required output.
Also, I am having hard time traversing through array and send the result back to calling function as I do not have any idea when will the loop finish executing.
Try using async each. This will let you iterate over an array and execute asynchronous functions. Async is a great library that has solutions and helpers for many common asynchronous patterns and problems.
https://github.com/caolan/async#each
Something like this:
var arr=[];
arr=[one,two,three,four,five];
asych.each(arr, function (item, callback) {
var str="/^"+item+"/";
// consider collection to be a variable to point to a database table
collection.find({value:str}).toArray(function getResult(err, result) {
if (err) { return callback(err); }
// do something incase a mathc is found in the database...
// whatever logic you want to do on result should go here, then execute callback
// to indicate that this iteration is complete
callback(null);
});
} function (error) {
// At this point, the each loop is done and you can continue processing here
// Be sure to check for errors!
})

Asynchronous Database Queries with PostgreSQL in Node not working

Using Node.js and the node-postgres module to communicate with a database, I'm attempting to write a function that accepts an array of queries and callbacks and executes them all asynchronously using the same database connection. The function accepts a two-dimensional array and calling it looks like this:
perform_queries_async([
['SELECT COUNT(id) as count FROM ideas', function(result) {
console.log("FUNCTION 1");
}],
["INSERT INTO ideas (name) VALUES ('test')", function(result) {
console.log("FUNCTION 2");
}]
]);
And the function iterates over the array, creating a query for each sub-array, like so:
function perform_queries_async(queries) {
var client = new pg.Client(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
for(var i=0; i<queries.length; i++) {
var q = queries[i];
client.query(q[0], function(err, result) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
q[1](result);
}
});
}
client.on('drain', function() {
console.log("drained");
client.end();
});
client.connect();
}
When I ran the above code, I expected to see output like this:
FUNCTION 1
FUNCTION 2
drained
However, the output bizarrely appears like so:
FUNCTION 2
drained
FUNCTION 2
Not only is the second function getting called for both requests, it also seems as though the drain code is getting called before the client's queue of queries is finished running...yet the second query still runs perfectly fine even though the client.end() code ostensibly killed the client once the event is called.
I've been tearing my hair out about this for hours. I tried hardcoding in my sample array (thus removing the for loop), and my code worked as expected, which leads me to believe that there is some problem with my loop that I'm not seeing.
Any ideas on why this might be happening would be greatly appreciated.
The simplest way to properly capture the value of the q variable in a closure in modern JavaScript is to use forEach:
queries.forEach(function(q) {
client.query(q[0], function(err, result) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
q[1](result);
}
});
});
If you don't capture the value, your code reflects the last value that q had, as the callback function executed later, in the context of the containing function.
forEach, by using a callback function isolates and captures the value of q so it can be properly evaluated by the inner callback.
A victim of the famous Javascript closure/loop gotcha. See my (and other) answers here:
I am trying to open 10 websocket connections with nodejs, but somehow my loop doesnt work
Basically, at the time your callback is executed, q is set to the last element of the input array. The way around it is to dynamically generate the closure.
It will be good to execute this using async module . It will help you to reuse the code also . and will make the code more readable . I just love the auto function provided by async module
Ref: https://github.com/caolan/async

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