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How to force sequential execution for asynchronously called functions

I'm new to the idea of asynchronous code, and am still trying to wrap my brain around how everything works.
I'm building a Node Express application which will interface with a database. When running in a development environment I want it to interface with a Sqlite database. (The production database will not use Sqlite. This only applies to creating a small development environment.)
My problem is I'm having trouble controlling the execution order and timing of queries to the database.
I would like to build my SqliteDatabase.js file such that it can only execute queries sequentially, despite the fact that functions in this file will be called by other parts of the program that are running asynchronously.
How can I acheive this?
For reference, here is how I currently have my SqliteDatabase.js file set up:
var debug = require('debug')('app:DATABASE');
var sqlite = require('sqlite3').verbose();
open = function() {
var db = new sqlite.Database('./test-database.db', sqlite.OPEN_READWRITE | sqlite.OPEN_CREATE, function(err) {
if (err) {
debug("We've encountered an error opening the sqlite database.");
debug(err);
} else {
debug("Sqlite database opened successfully.");
}
});
return db;
}
executeSQLUpdate = function(sql, next) {
var db = open();
db.serialize(function() {
console.log("executing " + sql);
db.run(sql);
db.close();
next();
});
}
exports.executeSQLUpdate = executeSQLUpdate;
Is there some way to build a queue, and make it so when the "executeSQLUpdate" function is called, the request is added to a queue, and is not started until all previous requests have been completed?
To give an example, take a look at this code which utilises my SqliteDatabase.js file:
ar database = require('../../bin/data_access/SqliteDatabase.js');
var createTestTableStmt = "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS Test(\n" +
"Name TEXT PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL UNIQUE,\n" +
"Age INT NOT NULL,\n" +
"Gender TEXT NOT NULL\n" +
");";
var clearTestTableStmt = "DELETE FROM Test;";
var testInsertStmt = "INSERT INTO Test (Name, Age, Gender)\n" +
"VALUES (\"Connor\", 23, \"Male\");";
createTable = function() {
database.executeSQLUpdate(createTestTableStmt, clearTable);
}
clearTable = function() {
database.executeSQLUpdate(clearTestTableStmt, insertRow);
}
insertRow = function() {
database.executeSQLUpdate(testInsertStmt, function() {
console.log("Done!");
});
}
createTable();
9 times out of 10 the above code works fine, but every once in a while, the "insert row" function is called before the "clearTable" function is called, which throws an error because of a violated database constraint.
How can I change my implementation of the SqliteDatabase.js file to avoid this issue?

You can use async to do this using await. This code will wait for each asynchronous database call to complete before executing the next line.
async function createTable() {
await database.executeSQLUpdate(createTestTableStmt);
await database.executeSQLUpdate(clearTestTableStmt);
await database.executeSQLUpdate(testInsertStmt);
console.log("Done!");
}
Your console.log statement will only execute once all three have completed.
I should also mention that you need a try...catch block around the three database calls to trap any errors and provide an alternate exit point if something should go wrong.

I realized why the callback function next() was sometimes being called before db.run(sql)
It turns out that db.run() is itself an asychronous function. I updated my code, and added a callback to the db.run() line to make sure we don't skip ahead until it's done.
Here's what it looks like now:
executeSQLUpdate = function(sql, next) {
var db = open();
db.run(sql, function(err) {
db.close(function() {
if (next) next(err);
});
});
}
Nesting each asynchronous function in the previous function's callback, makes each function execute in order.
Thanks to everyone who gave me hints that helped me figure out what the problem was.

How to do first n times async loops then one time function in callback way?

It is not a question about how to do post multipart form in nodejs.
But how to do such logic(first do a n times loops(async) then one time function(async)) in callback way?
for example, client will post multipart form with normal form fields:
req.files[n]: contains n images, needs to save to server's local filesystem
req.body: contains post.title, post.content, post.user
In normal way(php, java...), sample code would be
array savedPath = [];
// save images to local filesystem
foreach image in files
savedPath.push(saveImageToLocal(image))
// append saved images path to post
var post = req.body;
post.images = savedPath;
Posts.insert(post)
But in nodejs, callback way, how can i write it?
var savedPath = [];
saveImageToLocal(files[0], function(path) {
savedPath.push(path);
saveImageToLocal(files[1], function(path) {
savedPath.push(path);
//.... its n elements, how can I write it??
var post = req.body;
post.images = savedPath;
Posts.insert(postfunction(err, result) {
res.send(err, result)
});
});
});
Or
var savedPath = [];
for(i=0;i<n;i++) {
savesaveImageToLocalTo(files[i], function(path) {
savedPath.push(path);
});
}
waitSaveToFinished() ??
var post = req.body;
post.images = savedPath;
Posts.insert(postfunction(err, result) {
res.send(err, result)
});
How to do these kind of things in the way of nodejs/callback?

The best way to coordinate multiple asynchronous operation is to use promises. So, if this were my code, I would change or wrap saveImageToLocalTo() and Posts.insert() to return promises and then use promise features for coordinating them. If you're going to be writing much node.js code, I'd suggest you immediately invest in learning how promises work and start using them for all async behavior.
To solve your issue without promises, you'd have to implement a counter and keep track of when all the async operations are done:
var savedPath = [];
var doneCnt = 0;
for(i=0;i<n;i++) {
savesaveImageToLocalTo(files[i], function(path) {
++doneCnt;
savedPath.push(path);
// if all the requests have finished now, then do the next steps
if (doneCnt === n) {
var post = req.body;
post.images = savedPath;
Posts.insert(postfunction(err, result) {
res.send(err, result)
});
}
});
}
This code looks like it missing error handling since most async operations have a possibility of errors and can return an error code.

MongoDB / Javascript Scope Issue

I'm connecting and making an insert with Node/MongoDB, but due to a scope issue, I can't access the connection from the function. Any idea how to make the 'db' variable global scope?
mongodb.connect("mongodb://localhost:27017/userDB", function(err, db) {
if(!err) {
console.log("We are connected");
} else {
console.log(err);
}
});
function RegisterUser(user, pass) {
var collection = db.collection('users');
var docs = [{username:user}, {password: pass}];
collection.insert(docs, {w:1}, function(err, result) {
collection.find().toArray(function(err, items) {});
socket.emit('message', items);
});
}
/var/www/baseball/app.js:80
var collection = db.collection('users'); <--db is not defined
^
ReferenceError: db is not defined
at RegisterUser (/var/www/baseball/app.js:80:20)
at ParseData (/var/www/baseball/app.js:63:6)

In general, only make the connection once, probably as you app starts up. The mongo driver will handle pooling etc., at least, so I was told by experts from MongoLabs. Note that this is very different than what you might do in Java, etc... Save the db value returned by connect() somewhere, perhaps a global or in app, or in a commonly used one of your modules. Then use it as needed in RegisterUser, DeleteUser, etc.

More of a node question really, but probably worth the tag since it gets asked a bit. So you say there is a scoping issue and you are right as the variable is local to the callback function on the .connect() method and is not visible anywhere else. One way is to dump all your logic inside that callback, so there is no scoping issue, but you probably don't want to do that.
Asking "how do I set a global", is also not really the right approach. Well not directly as there are general funny things about breaking up the "async" pattern of node. So a better approach is with some kind of "singleton" instance where you set the connection only once, but as that is global or can otherwise be "required" in for use in other areas of your application.
Here is one "trivial" approach to demonstrate, but there are many ways to do the same thing:
var async = require('async'),
mongodb = require('mongodb'),
MongoClient = mongodb.MongoClient;
var Model = (function() {
var _db;
var conlock;
return {
getDb: function(callback) {
var err = null;
if ( _db == null && conlock == null ) {
conlock = 1;
MongoClient.connect('mongodb://localhost/test',function(err,db) {
_db = db;
conlock == null;
if (!err) {
console.log("Connected")
}
callback(err,_db);
});
} else if ( conlock != null ) {
var count = 0;
async.whilst(
function() { return ( _db == null ) && (count < 5) },
function(callback) {
count++
setTimeout(callback,500);
},
function(err) {
if ( count == 5 )
err = new Error("connect wait exceeded");
callback(err,_db);
}
);
} else {
callback(err,_db);
}
}
};
})();
async.parallel(
[
function(callback) {
console.log("call model");
Model.getDb(function(err,db) {
if (err) throw err;
if (db != undefined)
console.log("db is defined");
callback();
});
},
function(callback) {
console.log("call model again");
Model.getDb(function(err,db) {
if (err) throw err;
if (db != undefined)
console.log("db is defined here as well");
callback();
})
}
],
function(err) {
Model.getDb(function(err,db) {
db.close();
});
}
);
So out little "Model" object here has a single method in .getDb(), and it also maintains a private variable holding the _db connection once it has been established. The basic logic on that method is to see if _db is defined and where it not then establish a connection with the driver. On the connection callback the _db variable is then set.
The other thing here is the method itself accepts a "callback" so this is how you use it later, where either an error or the current connection will be returned.
The last part is just a demonstration of two functions to be implemented in code. Where in the first call the call to connect to the database is made before following into the callback function provided.
The next time we call though, the connection is already set in the private variable, so that data is merely returned and you don't establish a connection again.
There are various ways to implement this sort of thing, but that is the basic logic pattern to follow. There are many other "helper" implementations that wrap the MongoDB driver to make these sort of things simple, as well as managing connection pools and ensuring the connection is up as well for you, so it may be well worth looking at these even if you are still insistent on doing all the work yourself from the lower level driver base.

First of all, you are only going to be registering users once you have a connection, so do what ever work you need to do in there... so call RegisterUser from within the connection scope. If you want to use the db object within that function you will need to pass in the parameters as db
RegisterUsers(db, user, pass)
you may then use db within the function

Do I ever need to synchronize node.js code like in Java?

I have only recently started developing for node.js, so forgive me if this is a stupid question - I come from Javaland, where objects still live happily sequentially and synchronous. ;)
I have a key generator object that issues keys for database inserts using a variant of the high-low algorithm. Here's my code:
function KeyGenerator() {
var nextKey;
var upperBound;
this.generateKey = function(table, done) {
if (nextKey > upperBound) {
require("../sync/key-series-request").requestKeys(function(err,nextKey,upperBound) {
if (err) { return done(err); }
this.nextKey = nextKey;
this.upperBound = upperBound;
done(nextKey++);
});
} else {
done(nextKey++);
}
}
}
Obviously, when I ask it for a key, I must ensure that it never, ever issues the same key twice. In Java, if I wanted to enable concurrent access, I would make make this synchronized.
In node.js, is there any similar concept, or is it unnecessary? I intend to ask the generator for a bunch of keys for a bulk insert using async.parallel. My expectation is that since node is single-threaded, I need not worry about the same key ever being issued more than once, can someone please confirm this is correct?
Obtaining a new series involves an asynchronous database operation, so if I do 20 simultaneous key requests, but the series has only two keys left, won't I end up with 18 requests for a new series? What can I do to avoid that?
UPDATE
This is the code for requestKeys:
exports.requestKeys = function (done) {
var db = require("../storage/db");
db.query("select next_key, upper_bound from key_generation where type='issue'", function(err,results) {
if (err) { done(err); } else {
if (results.length === 0) {
// Somehow we lost the "issue" row - this should never have happened
done (new Error("Could not find 'issue' row in key generation table"));
} else {
var nextKey = results[0].next_key;
var upperBound = results[0].upper_bound;
db.query("update key_generation set next_key=?, upper_bound=? where type='issue'",
[ nextKey + KEY_SERIES_WIDTH, upperBound + KEY_SERIES_WIDTH],
function (err,results) {
if (err) { done(err); } else {
done(null, nextKey, upperBound);
}
});
}
}
});
}
UPDATE 2
I should probably mention that consuming a key requires db access even if a new series doesn't have to be requested, because the consumed key will have to be marked as used in the database. The code doesn't reflect this because I ran into trouble before I got around to implementing that part.
UPDATE 3
I think I got it using event emitting:
function KeyGenerator() {
var nextKey;
var upperBound;
var emitter = new events.EventEmitter();
var requesting = true;
// Initialize the generator with the stored values
db.query("select * from key_generation where type='use'", function(err, results)
if (err) { throw err; }
if (results.length === 0) {
throw new Error("Could not get key generation parameters: Row is missing");
}
nextKey = results[0].next_key;
upperBound = results[0].upper_bound;
console.log("Setting requesting = false, emitting event");
requesting = false;
emitter.emit("KeysAvailable");
});
this.generateKey = function(table, done) {
console.log("generateKey, state is:\n nextKey: " + nextKey + "\n upperBound:" + upperBound + "\n requesting:" + requesting + " ");
if (nextKey > upperBound) {
if (!requesting) {
requesting = true;
console.log("Requesting new series");
require("../sync/key-series-request").requestSeries(function(err,newNextKey,newUpperBound) {
if (err) { return done(err); }
console.log("New series available:\n nextKey: " + newNextKey + "\n upperBound: " + newUpperBound);
nextKey = newNextKey;
upperBound = newUpperBound;
requesting = false;
emitter.emit("KeysAvailable");
done(null,nextKey++);
});
} else {
console.log("Key request is already underway, deferring");
var that = this;
emitter.once("KeysAvailable", function() { console.log("Executing deferred call"); that.generateKey(table,done); });
}
} else {
done(null,nextKey++);
}
}
}
I've peppered it with logging outputs, and it does do what I want it to.

As another answer mentions, you will potentially end up with results different from what you want. Taking things in order:
function KeyGenerator() {
// at first I was thinking you wanted these as 'class' properties
// and thus would want to proceed them with this. rather than as vars
// but I think you want them as 'private' members variables of the
// class instance. That's dandy, you'll just want to do things differently
// down below
var nextKey;
var upperBound;
this.generateKey = function (table, done) {
if (nextKey > upperBound) {
// truncated the require path below for readability.
// more importantly, renamed parameters to function
require("key-series-request").requestKeys(function(err,nKey,uBound) {
if (err) { return done(err); }
// note that thanks to the miracle of closures, you have access to
// the nextKey and upperBound variables from the enclosing scope
// but I needed to rename the parameters or else they would shadow/
// obscure the variables with the same name.
nextKey = nKey;
upperBound = uBound;
done(nextKey++);
});
} else {
done(nextKey++);
}
}
}
Regarding the .requestKeys function, you will need to somehow introduce some kind of synchronization. This isn't actually terrible in one way because with only one thread of execution, you don't need to sweat the challenge of setting your semaphore in a single operation, but it is challenging to deal with the multiple callers because you will want other callers to effectively (but not really) block waiting for the first call to requestKeys() which is going to the DB to return.
I need to think about this part a bit more. I had a basic solution in mind which involved setting a simple semaphore and queuing the callbacks, but when I was typing it up I realized I was actually introducing a more subtle potential synchronization bug when processing the queued callbacks.
UPDATE:
I was just finishing up one approach as you were writing about your EventEmitter approach, which seems reasonable. See this gist which illustrates the approach. I took. Just run it and you'll see the behavior. It has some console logging to see which calls are getting deferred for a new key block or which can be handled immediately. The primary moving part of the solution is (note that the keyManager provides the stubbed out implementation of your require('key-series-request'):
function KeyGenerator(km) {
this.nextKey = undefined;
this.upperBound = undefined;
this.imWorkingOnIt = false;
this.queuedCallbacks = [];
this.keyManager = km;
this.generateKey = function(table, done) {
if (this.imWorkingOnIt){
this.queuedCallbacks.push(done);
console.log('KG deferred call. Pending CBs: '+this.queuedCallbacks.length);
return;
};
var self=this;
if ((typeof(this.nextKey) ==='undefined') || (this.nextKey > this.upperBound) ){
// set a semaphore & add the callback to the queued callback list
this.imWorkingOnIt = true;
this.queuedCallbacks.push(done);
this.keyManager.requestKeys(function(err,nKey,uBound) {
if (err) { return done(err); }
self.nextKey = nKey;
self.upperBound = uBound;
var theCallbackList = self.queuedCallbacks;
self.queuedCallbacks = [];
self.imWorkingOnIt = false;
theCallbackList.forEach(function(f){
// rather than making the final callback directly,
// call KeyGenerator.generateKey() with the original
// callback
setImmediate(function(){self.generateKey(table,f);});
});
});
} else {
console.log('KG immediate call',self.nextKey);
var z= self.nextKey++;
setImmediate(function(){done(z);});
}
}
};

If your Node.js code to calculate the next key didn't need to execute an async operation then you wouldn't run into synchronization issues because there is only one JavaScript thread executing code. Access to the nextKey/upperBound variables will be done in sequence by only one thread (i.e. request 1 will access first, then request 2, then request 3 et cetera.) In the Java-world you will always need synchronization because multiple threads will be executing even if you didn't make a DB call.
However, in your Node.js code since you are making an async call to get the nextKey you could get strange results. There is still only one JavaScript thread executing your code, but it would be possible for request 1 to make the call to the DB, then Node.js might accept request 2 (while request 1 is getting data from the DB) and this second request will also make a request to the DB to get keys. Let's say that request 2 gets data from the DB quicker than request 1 and update nextKey/upperBound variables with values 100/150. Once request 1 gets its data (say values 50/100) then it will update nextKey/upperBound. This scenario wouldn't result in duplicate keys, but you might see gaps in your keys (for example, not all keys 100 to 150 will be used because request 1 eventually reset the values to 50/100)
This makes me think that you will need a way to sync access, but I am not exactly sure what will be the best way to achieve this.

Batch requests in Node.js

My program is communicating with a web service that only accepts ~10 requests per second. From time to time, my program sends 100+ concurrent requests to the web service, causing my program to crash.
How do I limit concurrent requests in Node.js to 5 per second? Im using the request library.
// IF EVENT AND SENDER
if(data.sender[0].events && data.sender[0].events.length > 0) {
// FIND ALL EVENTS
for(var i = 0; i < data.sender[0].events.length; i++) {
// IF TYPE IS "ADDED"
if(data.sender[0].events[i].type == "added") {
switch (data.sender[0].events[i].link.rel) {
case "contact" :
batch("added", data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
//_initContacts(data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
break;
}
// IF TYPE IS "UPDATED"
} else if(data.sender[0].events[i].type == "updated") {
switch (data.sender[0].events[i].link.rel){
case "contactPresence" :
batch("updated", data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
//_getContactPresence(data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
break;
case "contactNote" :
batch("updated", data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
// _getContactNote(data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
break;
case "contactLocation" :
batch("updated", data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
// _getContactLocation(data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
break;
case "presenceSubscription" :
batch("updated", data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
// _extendPresenceSubscription(data.sender[0].events[i].link.href);
break;
}
}
};
And then the homegrown batch method:
var updated = [];
var added = [];
var batch = function(type, url){
console.log("batch called");
if (type === "added"){
console.log("Added batched");
added.push(url);
if (added.length > 5) {
setTimeout(added.forEach(function(req){
_initContacts(req);
}), 2000);
added = [];
}
}
else if (type === "updated"){
console.log("Updated batched");
updated.push(url);
console.log("Updated length is : ", updated.length);
if (updated.length > 5){
console.log("Over 5 updated events");
updated.forEach(function(req){
setTimeout(_getContactLocation(req), 2000);
});
updated = [];
}
}
};
And an example of the actual request:
var _getContactLocation = function(url){
r.get(baseUrl + url,
{ "strictSSL" : false, "headers" : { "Authorization" : "Bearer " + accessToken }},
function(err, res, body){
if(err)
console.log(err);
else {
var data = JSON.parse(body);
self.emit("data.contact", data);
}
}
);
};

Using the async library, the mapLimit function does exactly what you want. I can't provide an example for your specific use case as you did not provide any code.
From the readme:
mapLimit(arr, limit, iterator, callback)
The same as map only no more than "limit" iterators will be simultaneously
running at any time.
Note that the items are not processed in batches, so there is no guarantee that
the first "limit" iterator functions will complete before any others are
started.
Arguments
arr - An array to iterate over.
limit - The maximum number of iterators to run at any time.
iterator(item, callback) - A function to apply to each item in the array.
The iterator is passed a callback(err, transformed) which must be called once
it has completed with an error (which can be null) and a transformed item.
callback(err, results) - A callback which is called after all the iterator
functions have finished, or an error has occurred. Results is an array of the
transformed items from the original array.
Example
async.mapLimit(['file1','file2','file3'], 1, fs.stat, function(err, results){
// results is now an array of stats for each file
});
EDIT: Now that you provided code, I see that your use is a bit different from what I assumed. The async library is more useful when you know all the tasks to run up front. I don't know of a library off hand that will easily solve this for you. The above note is likely still relevant to people searching this topic so I'll leave it in.
Sorry, I don't have time to restructure your code, but this is an (un-tested) example of a function that makes an asynchronous request while self-throttling itself to 5 requests per second. I would highly recommend working off of this to come up with a more general solution that fits your code base.
var throttledRequest = (function () {
var queue = [], running = 0;
function sendPossibleRequests() {
var url;
while (queue.length > 0 && running < 5) {
url = queue.shift();
running++;
r.get(url, { /* YOUR OPTIONS HERE*/ }, function (err, res, body) {
running--;
sendPossibleRequests();
if(err)
console.log(err);
else {
var data = JSON.parse(body);
self.emit("data.contact", data);
}
});
}
}
return function (url) {
queue.push(url);
sendPossibleRequests();
};
})();
Basically, you keep a queue of all the data to be asynchronously processed (such as urls to be requested) and then after each callback (from a request) you try to launch off as many remaining requests as possible.

This is precisely what node's Agent class is designed to address. Have you done something silly like require('http').globalAgent.maxSockets = Number.MAX_VALUE or passed agent: false as a request option?
With Node's default behavior, your program will not send more than 5 concurrent requests at a time. Additionally, the Agent provides optimizations that a simple queue cannot (namely HTTP keepalives).
If you try to make many requests (for example, issue 100 requests from a loop), the first 5 will begin and the Agent will queue the remaining 95. As requests complete, it starts the next.
What you probably want to do is create an Agent for your web service requests, and pass it in to every call to request (rather than mixing requests in with the global agent).
var http=require('http'), svcAgent = http.Agent();
request({ ... , agent: svcAgent });