async.parallel() - last function not being called - node.js

For some reason the 'yyyyyyyyy' string is never printed when I use async.parallel() as per below. Why is this? I thought that the last function would be called once the other two have been called.
var async = require('async');
async.parallel([
function() {
console.log('xxxxxxxxxxx');
},
function() {
console.log('ccccccccccc');
}
], function(err, results){
console.log('yyyyyyyyy');
});

Every function passed in the first parameter to async.parallel should take a callback that it calls when its done so async knows that it has completed:
var async = require('async');
async.parallel([
function(callback) {
console.log('xxxxxxxxxxx');
callback();
},
function(callback) {
console.log('ccccccccccc');
callback();
}
], function(err, results){
console.log('yyyyyyyyy');
});
If an error happens in one of the functions, it should call the callback with
callback(err);
so that async knows an error has occurred and it'll immediately call the last function.

Related

Understanding callback on this MDN example

The code comes from an MDN tutorial on how to use Node.js and mongoose. The idea is to make parallel request to get the count of documents in different models. I don't understand where the callback passed to each async.parallel comes from, where it is defined and what it does, it seems like a dummy function to me. Could you help me understand it? Here is the code:
var Book = require('../models/book');
var Author = require('../models/author');
var Genre = require('../models/genre');
var BookInstance = require('../models/bookinstance');
var async = require('async');
exports.index = function(req, res) {
async.parallel({
book_count: function(callback) {
Book.countDocuments({}, callback); // Pass an empty object as match condition to find all documents of this collection
},
book_instance_count: function(callback) {
BookInstance.countDocuments({}, callback);
},
book_instance_available_count: function(callback) {
BookInstance.countDocuments({status:'Available'}, callback);
},
author_count: function(callback) {
Author.countDocuments({}, callback);
},
genre_count: function(callback) {
Genre.countDocuments({}, callback);
}
}, function(err, results) {
res.render('index', { title: 'Local Library Home', error: err, data: results });
});
};
the callback is passed by the async package.
Explanation:
As async parallel function takes array or object (in your example) of asynchronous tasks and these async tasks require a callback which will get called when its execution completes or if there is an error. So parallel function provides these callback functions and will call your callback ( provided as a second parameter to parallel function call) when all of them are called or got an error in any of them.
You can check the detailed explanation from here - https://caolan.github.io/async/v3/docs.html#parallel
Update:
Consider parallel as a wrapper function like:
function parallel(tasks, userCallback) {
let tasksDone = [];
function callback(err, data){ // this is the callback function you're asking for
if(err){
userCallback(err); // calling callback in case of error
}else {
tasksDone.push(data);
if(tasks.length === tasksDone.length){
userCallback(null, tasksDone); // calling callback when all the tasks finished
}
}
}
tasks.forEach(task => {
task(callback); // calling each task without waiting for previous one to finish
})
}
Note: This is not a proper implementation of parallel function of async, this is just an example to understand how we can use callback function internally and what is its usecase

Node.js Async only doing one callback

I'm just doing my first bit of Node async stuff, I wanted to do two queries to a DB and then print the results one after the other, my code is as follows:
console.log(req.query);
function logAllThings(err,things){
if (err){
console.log(err);
} else {
console.log(things);
};
};
async.parallel([
function(callback) { //This is the first task, and callback is its callback task
Event.find({}, function(err, events) {
logAllThings(err,events);
});
},
function(callback) { //This is the second task, and callback is its callback task
Organisation.find({}, function(err,organisations) {
logAllThings(err,organisations);
}); //Since we don't do anything interesting in db.save()'s callback, we might as well just pass in the task callback
}
], function(err) { //This is the final callback
console.log('Both should now be printed out');
});
The issue I have is that the second function (the one that returns organisations) prints them fine. However the one that is meant to return events simply does not and returns {} despite the fact I know the query works as I've tested it elsewhere.
Any help would be appreciated
Thanks
You have to call the callback function passed to each of your waterfall functions, otherwise it won't know when it's finished. Try this:
async.parallel([
function(callback) { //This is the first task, and callback is its callback task
Event.find({}, function(err, events) {
if (err) return callback(err);
logAllThings(err,events);
callback();
});
},
function(callback) { //This is the second task, and callback is its callback task
Organisation.find({}, function(err,organisations) {
if (err) return callback(err);
logAllThings(err,organisations);
callback();
}); //Since we don't do anything interesting in db.save()'s callback, we might as well just pass in the task callback
}
], function(err) { //This is the final callback
console.log('Both should now be printed out');
});

Will async.parallel still call the final callback after all tasks are done if any of them gets error?

var async = require('async');
async.parallel([
function(cb) {
cb(true);
},
function(cb) {
cb(null, true);
}],
function(error, results) {
}
);
In the code, if the first task runs cb(true) before the second tasks, will the second tasks still run? and If so, after it is done, will the main callback still be called?
The async.parallel executes all functions in parallel. If any of the functions pass an error to its callback (callback first parameter is not null), the main callback is immediately called with the value of the error. All functions will be executed though.
With the following code your execution will be as follows 1, 3, 2, 2.1:
var async = require('async');
async.parallel([
function(cb) {
console.info('1')
cb(true);
},
function(cb) {
console.info('2')
cb(null, true);
},
function(cb) {
console.info('2.1')
cb(null, true);
}],
function(error, results) {
console.info('3')
}
);
yes, second task is called (because tasks are expected to be async and exit immediately). async.parallel callback is called with error from first failed task

async and Q promises in nodejs

I'm using the Q library and async library in nodejs.
Here's an example of my code:
async.each(items, cb, function(item) {
saveItem.then(function(doc) {
cb();
});
}, function() {
});
saveItem is a promise. When I run this, I always get cb is undefined, I guess then() doesn't have access. Any ideas how to work around this?
Your issue doesn't lie with promises, it lies with your usage of async.
async.each(items, handler, finalCallback) applies handler to every item of the items array. The handler function is asynchronous, i.e. it is handed a callback, that it must call when it has finished its work. When all handlers are done, the final callback is called.
Here's how you'd fix your current issue:
var handler = function (item, cb) {
saveItem(item)
.then(
function () { // all is well!
cb();
},
function (err) { // something bad happened!
cb(err);
}
);
}
var finalCallback = function (err, results) {
// ...
}
async.each(items, handler, finalCallback);
However, you don't need to use async for this particular piece of code: promises alone fill this job quite nicely, especially with Q.all():
// Create an array of promises
var promises = items.map(saveItem);
// Wait for all promises to be resolved
Q.all(promises)
.then(
function () { // all is well!
cb();
},
function (err) { // something bad happened!
cb(err);
}
)

Node.js - Using the async lib - async.foreach with object

I am using the node async lib - https://github.com/caolan/async#forEach and would like to iterate through an object and print out its index key. Once complete I would like execute a callback.
Here is what I have so far but the 'iterating done' is never seen:
async.forEach(Object.keys(dataObj), function (err, callback){
console.log('*****');
}, function() {
console.log('iterating done');
});
Why does the final function not get called?
How can I print the object index key?
The final function does not get called because async.forEach requires that you call the callback function for every element.
Use something like this:
async.forEach(Object.keys(dataObj), function (item, callback){
console.log(item); // print the key
// tell async that that particular element of the iterator is done
callback();
}, function(err) {
console.log('iterating done');
});
async.each is very useful and powerful function which is provided by Async Lib .it have 3 fields
1-collection/array
2- iteration
3-callback
the collection is referred to the array or collection of objects and iteration is refer to the each iteration and callback is optional .
if we are giving callback then it will return the response or say result which you want to show you in the frontend
Applies the function iteratee to each item in coll, in parallel. The iteratee is called with an item from the list, and a callback for when it has finished. If the iteratee passes an error to its callback, the main callback (for the each function) is immediately called with the error.
Note, that since this function applies iteratee to each item in parallel, there is no guarantee that the iteratee functions will complete in order.
exapmle-
var updateEventCredit = function ( userId, amount ,callback) {
async.each(userId, function(id, next) {
var incentiveData = new domain.incentive({
user_id:userId,
userName: id.userName,
amount: id.totalJeeneePrice,
description: id.description,
schemeType:id.schemeType
});
incentiveData.save(function (err, result) {
if (err) {
next(err);
} else {
domain.Events.findOneAndUpdate({
user_id: id.ids
}, {
$inc: {
eventsCredit: id.totalJeeneePrice
}
},{new:true}, function (err, result) {
if (err) {
Logger.info("Update status", err)
next(err);
} else {
Logger.info("Update status", result)
sendContributionNotification(id.ids,id.totalJeeneePrice);
next(null,null);
}
});
}
});

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