Nodejs mixed async functions and promises - node.js

So I have sails app with some help service to make it easier to create and get complex models.
one of theses are
getMerits: function(profileId, limit){
return async.waterfall([
function(callback){
Merit.find({employeeProfile: profileId}).then(function(merits){
callback(null, merits);
});
},
function(merits, callback){
async.forEach(merits, function(item, loop_callback){
MeritIndex.findOne({id: item.index}).then(function(meritIndex){
merits[merits.indexOf(item)].index = meritIndex;
loop_callback();
});
}, function(err, results){
callback(null, merits);
});
}
], function(err, results){
return results;
});
}
the trouble is when I try to call this function to get the result(list of merits with their meritindexes inserted.) I cant figure out the correct way to get the results returned from the async waterfall:
async.forEach(profiles, function(item, loop_callback){
MeritService.getMerits(item.id, 5).exec(function(err, merits){
console.log(merits)
profiles[profiles.indexOf(item)].merits = merits;
loop_callback();
});
// MeritService.getMerits(item.id, 5).exec(function(m){
// console.log(m)
// profiles[profiles.indexOf(item)].merits = m;
// loop_callback();
// });
}, function(err){
console.log("PROFILES" + JSON.stringify(profiles))
});
the print of merits here results in undefined. Is there any way to treat async waterfall as a promise and use then instead of exec?

You don't need to use async.waterfall since you already have promises, promises chain already - so adding another library for that logic is redundant. Waterline uses bluebird promises which come with convenience methods already.
Your getMerits can be written as:
getMerits: function(profileId, limit){
var merits = Merit.find({employeeProfile: profileId});
var items = merits.map(function(item) {
return MeritIndex.findOne({id: item.index }).then(function(meritIndex) {
item.index = meritIndex;
});
});
return items.return(merits); // wait for items to be done, and return the merits
}
P.S.
If you use Node 4+ let me know since it gets even simpler.

Related

Program behaving abnormally due to weird async nature of nodejs

I get a post from mongodb then using that post's id I get the likes on that post, my postlikes object contains a "post" and the "likedby" array that contains usernames of people who liked it. The problem is that when i get a post, the callback for getting likes on it is somehow complex thats why node runs ahead and I couldn't get the likes i always get likes of the last post in the db mostly because the loop has reached its end then my callback is called for likes. Any solution for this??
for(var i=0;i<posts.length;i++)
{
db.collection('likes',function(err,likesCollec){
console.log("before likes posts[i].post",posts[i].post);
function wait(done){
while(done);
}
done=true;
likesCollec.find({postid:(posts[i]._id).toString()})
.toArray(function(err,likes){
console.log("posts[i].post:",posts[i].post);
postlikes[i].post=posts[i].post;
console.log("postlikes[i].post: ",postlikes[i].post);
for(j=0;j<likes.length;j++)
{
postlikes[i].likedby[j]=likes[j].username;
}
console.log(postlikes[i]);
done=false;
wait(done);
});
});
if(i==(posts.length)-1)
{
return res.json(posts);
}
}
The wait function isn't working properly also maybe I am going to the wrong direction, please help.
You may use bluebird;
var Promise = require('bluebird');
Var p = Promise.resolve();
forEach(posts, function(item, index, arr) {
p.then(new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
// do here in sync.
resolve(); //in last
}));
});
p.then(function(){
// all tasks launched in the loop are finished.
// do extra here.
});
Use async forEach
https://www.npmjs.com/package/async
async = require('async');
async.forEach(posts,function(post, callback){
// Do functionality here
return callback();
})

NodeJS Express Async issue

I have this function which gets some data from my database but i'm having a trouble calling the function and getting the proper response
function getEvents()
{
var x = [];
var l = dbCollection['e'].find({}).forEach(function(y) {
x.push(y);
});
return x;
});
and another function which calls this function but it always returns undefined.
How can i make the function wait till mongoose has finished filling up the array?
Thanks for the help! My life
dbCollection['e'].find is called non-blocking way so you are returning x before filling. You need to use callbacks or some mongoose promises. You can get all returning values from database like following snippet
function getEvents(callback) {
dbCollection['e'].find({}, function(error, results) {
// results is array.
// if you need to filter results you can do it here
return callback(error, results);
})
}
Whenever you need to call getEvents function you need to pass a callback to it.
getEvents(function(error, results) {
console.log(results); // you have results here
})
You should read mongoose docs for how queries work.
There is also support for promises in mongoose. You can check this url for more information about promises.
The solution proposed by #orhankutlu should work fine.
I will give another solution using promise. You can choose one between these two solutions depending on your style of programming.
Solution using promise:
function getEvents() {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject){
dbCollection['e'].find({}, function(error, results) {
if (error) return reject(error);
var x = [];
results.forEach(function(y){
x.push(y);
});
// forEach() is a blocking call,
// so the promise will be resolved only
// after the forEach completes
return resolve(x);
});
});
};
Calling getEvents():
getEvents().then(function(result){
console.log(result); //should print 'x'
}).catch(function(err){
// Handle error here in case the promise is rejected
});
I will encourage you to try both the approaches, ie, using callbacks and using promises. Hope you find it useful!

NodeJS - Send multiple requests and process all responses in one callback

I'm trying to find a way to send multiple requests (using Express) and process all the response in one function.
Here's my code :
// In router.js
app.get('/api/FIRST_PATH', CALLBACK_FUNCTION_A );
// In CALLBACK_FUNCTION_A file :
module.exports = function (req, response) {
CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_A();
CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_B();
CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_C();
}
My problem is to send the requests CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_A, CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_B and CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_C and then retrieve all the results in another function to process them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You can learn more about the new js standard and use Promise.
// In CALLBACK_FUNCTION_A file :
module.exports = function (req, response) {
var promises = [CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_A(),
CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_B(),
CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_C()];
Promise.all(promises).then( function(results) {
//results is an array
//results[0] contains the result of A, and so on
});
}
Of course CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_A() and such need to return Promise objects. You form a function like this:
function asyncFunction(callback) {
//...
callback(result);
}
You can create a Promise like this:
var p = new Promise(asyncFunction);
It'll start running the function, and supports the Promise interface.
So for example, either use request-promise or you can do something like:
function CALLBACK_FUNCTION_TO_SERVICE_A() {
var worker = function(callback) {
app.get('/api/FIRST_PATH', callback);
};
return new Promise(worker);
}
You can read more about Promise and how to also easily handle errors.
You could use async parallel. You can keep all your API calls as async.parallel array or JSON(Example uses Array).
async.parallel(
[
function(done){
reqServcieA(..., funnction(err, response){
if(err) done(err,null);
done(null, response);
}
},
function(done){
reqServcieA(..., funnction(err, response){
if(err) done(err,null);
done(null, response);
}
},
...// You can keep as many request inside the array
], function(err,results){
// Will be called when all requests are returned
//results is an array which will contain all responses as in request arry
//results[0] will have response from requestA and so on
});

Node.js consecutive method calls with nested callback formatting

So I'm new to Node.js and Im just wondering if the way I have my code setup makes sense. Im coming from a Java background so the nested callback structure is new. I have a Node program that runs a bunch of code that I broke down into different methods. The thing is that the methods need to be called in order. My code has this structure right now:
functionOne(data, callback(err) {
functionTwo(data, callback(err) {
functionThree(data, callback(err) {
functionFour(data, callback(err) {
//Code
});
});
});
});
This is very minimalistic, but is this structure ok? With Java, I'd take the return values of all the methods, then just pass them to the next function. From my understanding so far, the Java approach I just mentioned is one of the main things that Node.js was trying to eliminate. But anyway... Does that structure look ok, and is that how its intended to look? Just want to be sure that I'm not making any major errors with Node in general. Thanks!
Your code structure looks fine if you work with callback pattern.
But if you're interested in make your code cleaner and readable you would like to use Promises in your asynchronous function, so instead of pass a callback to your functions you could do something like this :
function asyncFunction (data){
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject){
// Do something with data
// Here you can call reject(error) to throw an error
resolve();
});
}
And instead of nested function callbacks you can call then method of Promise.
asyncFunction(data)
.then(function(){
// Promise resolved
// Something has been done with data
});
With Promises you can also execute async fuctions in parallel :
Promise.all([asyncFunctionA(data), asyncFunctionB(data), asyncFunctionC(data)])
.then(function(){...});
EDIT
If you need to pass values of one function to another, your code should look like this :
asyncFunctionA(data)
.then(function(dataA){
return asyncFunctionB(dataA);
})
.then(function(dataB){
return asyncFunctionC(dataB);
})
.then(function(dataC){
// ...
});
You should try to use promises to avoid your callback hell, so it could be something like these...
const Q = require('q'); // you can do a research for this module.
var myModule = {};
myModule.functionOne = (params) => {
const deferred = Q.defer(); // wait for this to complete
// body function
deferred.resolve(data); // this would be the result of this function
return deferred.promise; // data is the output on your function
}
myModule.functionTwo = (params) => {
const deferred = Q.defer(); // wait for this to complete
// body function
deferred.resolve(data); // this would be the result of this function
return deferred.promise; // data is the output on your function
}
myModule.doAll = (params) => {
myModule.functionOne(params)
.then((outputFunctionOne) => {
// this is called after functionOne ends
return myModule.functionTwo(outputFunctionOne);
})
.then((outputFunctionTwo) => {
// this is called after function 2 ends
if (outputFunctionTwo.success) {
// if everything ok, resolve the promise with the final output
deferred.resolve(outputFunctionTwo);
} else {
// reject the promise with an error message
deferred.reject('error');
}
})
.fail((err) => {
// this is call if the promise is rejected or an exception is thrown
console.log(err); // TODO: Error handling
})
.done();
}
module.exports = myModule;
You can Chain as many promises as you want really easily, that way you get rid of the callback hell. Best part, you can do promises on Javascript or Node.js
Reference Link https://github.com/kriskowal/q
Hope this helps
Most of the other answers give Promise/A as the answer to your callback woes. This is correct, and will work for you. However I'd like to give you another option, if you are willing to drop javascript as your working language.
Introducing Iced Coffee, a branch of the CoffeeScript project.
With Iced Coffee you would write:
await functionOne data, defer err
await functionTwo data, defer err2
await functionThree data, defer err3
//etc
This then compiles to the CoffeeScript:
functionOne data, (err) ->
functionTwo data, (err2) ->
functionThree data, (err3) ->
//etc
Which then compiles to your Javascript.
functionOne(data, callback(err) {
functionTwo(data, callback(err2) {
functionThree(data, callback(err3) {
//etc
});
});
});

How to handle callbacks in Node.js?

Let's say I have 3 files.
index.js makes a call to the backend like this
$.post('/test/', data, function(response) {
//handle success here
})
routes.js handles the route like this
app.post('/test/', function(req, res){
item.getItems(function(response){
res.json(response);
});
});
items.js is the model which accesses the database and makes a POST request for each item
function getItems(callback) {
database.query('SELECT * from items', function(result){
result.forEach(function(item){
request.post('/api/', item, function(req, res) {
//finished posting item
});
});
});
//callback here doesnt wait for calls to finish
}
where/when should I call the callback passed to getItems() to handle a success/failure in index.js?
Because your request.post() operations are async, you have to use some method of keeping track of when they are all done and then you can call your callback. There are multiple ways of doing that. I'll outline a few:
Manually Keeping Track of Count of Request Operations
function getItems(callback) {
database.query('SELECT * from items', function(result){
var remaining = result.length;
result.forEach(function(item){
request.post('/api/', item, function(err, res) {
--remaining;
//finished posting item
if (remaining === 0) {
callback();
}
});
});
});
}
The main problem with doing this manually is that propagating error in nested async operations is difficult when you get to actually figuring out how you're going to handle errors. This is much easier in the other methods shown here.
Using Promises
// load Bluebird promise library
var Promise = require('bluebird');
// promisify async operations
Promise.promisifyAll(request);
function queryAsync(query) {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
// this needs proper error handling from the database query
database.query('SELECT * from items', function(result){
resolve(result);
});
});
}
function getItems(callback) {
return queryAsync('SELECT * from items').then(function(result) {
return Promise.map(result, function(item) {
return request.postAsync('/api/', item);
});
});
}
getItems.then(function(results) {
// success here
}, function(err) {
// error here
})
It seems strange that you're making an API request in your server-side code, unless this is some sort of middle tier code that interacts with the API... but you're interacting with a database, so I'm still confused on why you can't just do a database insert, or have a bulk insert API call?
Anyway, if you must do it the way you're asking, I've done this in the past with a recursive method that trims down the result array... I really don't know if this is a good approach, so I'd like to hear any feedback. Something like this:
function recursiveResult(result, successfulResults, callback) {
var item = result.shift();
// if item is undefined, then we've hit the end of the array, so we'll call the original callback
if (item !== undefined) {
console.log(item, result);
// do the POST in here, and in its callback, call recursiveResult(result, successfulResults, callback);
successfulResults.push(item);
return recursiveResult(result, successfulResults, callback);
}
// make sure callback is defined, otherwise, server will crash
else if (callback) {
return callback(successfulResults);
}
else {
// log error... callback undefined
}
}
function getItems(callback) {
var successfulResults = [];
var result = [1, 2, 3, 4];
recursiveResult(result, successfulResults, callback);
}
console.log('starting');
getItems(function(finalResult) {
console.log('done', finalResult);
});

Resources