We Keep Coding

Promise.all() and catching errors

I wrote a snippet of code that gets some a JSON from the Foursquare API. From this JSON, I get IDs of venues. These IDs are then used to get more details from those specific venues by issuing a fetch() request for every ID, and mapping those requests in an array. That array is then passed into Promise.all(). When the API is available, everything works, but it's the error catching that I can't get my head around.
fetch(`https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/search?${params}`)
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => {
const venueIds = data.response.venues.map(venue => venue.id)
const venuePromises = venueIds.map(venueId => {
fetch(`https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/${venueId}?${otherParams}`)
.then(response => {
// Must check for response.ok, because
// catch() does not catch 429
if (response.ok) {
console.log('ok')
return response.json()
} else {
Promise.reject('Error when getting venue details')
}
})
})
Promise.all(venuePromises).then(data => {
const venues = data.map(entry => entry.response.venue) // Error for this line
this.parseFsqData(venues)
}).catch((e) => {console.log(e); getBackupData()})
}).catch((e) => {console.log(e); getBackupData()})
function getBackupData() {
console.log('backup')
}
When the API is not available, I get the following console errors (and more of the same):
TypeError: Cannot read property 'response' of undefined
at MapsApp.js:97
at Array.map (<anonymous>)
at MapsApp.js:97
backup
api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/4b7efa2ef964a520c90d30e3?client_id=ANDGBLDVCRISN1JNRWNLLTDNGTBNB2I4SZT4ZQYKPTY3PDNP&client_secret=QNVYZRG0JYJR3G45SP3RTOTQK0SLQSNTDCYXOBWUUYCGKPJX&v=20180323:1 Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 429 ()
Uncaught (in promise) Error when getting venue details
I don't understand why then() after Promise.all() is entered, because response is never ok (there is no ok logged in console). Also, I don't understand why the console.log()'s in the catch() blocks aren't executed, or why they are empty. I don't see any caught error information in console, but still the getBackupData function is called. Finally, it is unclear why the last message in console indicates that the error is uncaught, as I expected reject() to make Promise.all() fail.
How can I tactfully catch any errors (included those not normally caught by catch(), such as 429 errors) and call getBackupData when any errors occur?

Your issues are related: namely, the Promise chain must be returned. If you do not return the Promise, you disconnect any of the caller's Promise#catch handling, and any errors in your Promise / then code will result in unhandled promise rejection errors, such as what you have obtained:
Uncaught (in promise) Error when getting venue details
This uncaught promise rejection appears in your code that handles the resolution of fetch:
if (response.ok) {
console.log('ok')
return response.json()
} else {
Promise.reject('Error when getting venue details') // <----
}
Since this code is being used to construct your venuePromises array, its return value will populate venuePromises. If the response was ok, that array element will have the response JSON from return response.json(). If the response failed, there is no return statement that executes, so the array element has the value undefined. Thus, venuePromises would look like this:
[
{ /** some object for successful response */ },
undefined,
{ /** some other object */ },
...
]
Thus when this array is accessed by your Promise.all's success handler, you get the TypeError since you expected all elements of venuePromises to be valid. This TypeError is caught by the Promise.all's .catch handler (which is why it is logged, and you receive the "backup" text in your log).
To fix, you need to return the Promise.reject, and also the Promise.all. Note that there are some cases of implicit return, but I find it nicer to be explicit, especially if the statement spans multiple lines. Since you're returning the Promise.all statement, you can offload its .then and .catch to the caller, resulting in one less nesting level, and one fewer duplicated .catch handler.
fetch(`https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/search?${params}`)
.then(response => response.json())
.then(jsonData => {
const venueIds = jsonData.response.venues.map(venue => venue.id);
const venuePromises = venueIds.map(venueId => {
let link = `https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/${venueId}?${otherParams}`;
return fetch(link).then(response => {
// Must check for response.ok, because catch() does not catch 429
if (response.ok) {
console.log('ok');
return response.json();
} else {
console.log(`FAILED: ${link}`);
// Return a Promise
return Promise.reject(`Error when getting venue details for '${venueId}'`);
}
});
});
return Promise.all(venuePromises);
})
.then(venueData => {
const venues = venueData.map(entry => entry.response.venue);
this.parseFsqData(venues);
})
.catch(e => {console.log(e); getBackupData()});
function getBackupData() {
console.log('backup')
}

Try returning the rejected promise.
return Promise.reject('Error when getting venue details')

When working with promises you should return inner promises instad of working with inner "thens".
Check this:
fetch(`https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/search?${params}`)
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => {
const venueIds = data.response.venues.map(venue => venue.id);
const venuePromises = venueIds.map(venueId => {
fetch(`https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/${venueId}?${otherParams}`)
.then(response => {
// Must check for response.ok, because
// catch() does not catch 429
if (response.ok) {
console.log('ok')
return response.json()
} else {
return Promise.reject('Error when getting venue details')
}
})
});
return Promise.all(venuePromises)
})
.then(venueValues => {
const venues = venueValues.map(entry => entry.response.venue); // Error for this line
this.parseFsqData(venues);
})
.catch((e) => {console.log(e); getBackupData()})
function getBackupData() {
console.log('backup')
}
When returning Promise.all as a value, you're returning a promise so that you can chain further "then" callbacks. The last catch shall capture all promise rejects.
You're also missing the return in the else clause
Hope this helps

I believe the solution is fairly simple; The response of the nested fetch method is missing a return statement. You should get rid of that mysterious error once it is in place.
const venuePromises = venueIds.map(venueId => {
<missing return statement here> fetch(`https://api.foursquare.com/v2/venues/${venueId}?${otherParams}`)
.then(response => {

How do I handle an error and then immediately break out of a promise chain?

So I have an Express app that uses middleware to parse JSON POST requests and then populate a req.body object. Then I have a promise chain that validates the data against a schema using Joi, and then stores it in a database.
What I would like to do is check if an error was thrown after one of these processes, handle it appropriately by sending a status code, then COMPLETELY ABORT the promise chain. I feel like there should be some EXTREMELY CLEAN AND SIMPLE way to do this, (perhaps some sort of break statement?) but I can't find it anywhere. Here is my code. I left comments showing where I hope to abort the promise chain.
const joi = require("joi");
const createUserSchema = joi.object().keys({
username: joi.string().alphanum().min(4).max(30).required(),
password: joi.string().alphanum().min(2).max(30).required(),
});
//Here begins my promise chain
app.post("/createUser", (req, res) => {
//validate javascript object against the createUserSchema before storing in database
createUserSchema.validate(req.body)
.catch(validationError => {
res.sendStatus(400);
//CLEANLY ABORT the promise chain here
})
.then(validatedUser => {
//accepts a hash of inputs and stores it in a database
return createUser({
username: validatedUser.username,
password: validatedUser.password
})
.catch(error => {
res.sendStatus(500);
//CLEANLY ABORT the promise chain here
})
//Only now, if both promises are resolved do I send status 200
.then(() => {
res.sendStatus(200);
}
)
});

You can't abort a promise chain in the middle. It's going to either call a .then() or a .catch() later in the chain (assuming there are both and assuming your promises resolve or reject).
Usually, the way you handle this is you put one .catch() at the end of the chain and it examines the type of error and takes appropriate action. You don't handle the error earlier in the chain. You let the last .catch() handle things.
Here's what I would suggest:
// helper function
function err(status, msg) {
let obj = new Error(msg);
obj.status = status;
return obj;
}
//Here begins my promise chain
app.post("/createUser", (req, res) => {
//validate javascript object against the createUserSchema before storing in database
createUserSchema.validate(req.body).catch(validationError => {
throw err("validateError", 400)
}).then(validatedUser => {
//accepts a hash of inputs and stores it in a database
return createUser({
username: validatedUser.username,
password: validatedUser.password
}).catch(err => {
throw err("createUserError", 500);
});
}).then(() => {
// success
res.sendStatus(200);
}).catch(error => {
console.log(error);
if (error && error.status) {
res.sendStatus(error.status);
} else {
// no specific error status specified
res.sendStatus(500);
}
});
});
This has several advantages:
Any error propagates to the last .catch() at the end of the chain where it is logged and an appropriate status is sent in just one place in the code.
Success is handled in just one place where that status is sent.
This is infinitely extensible to more links in the chain. If you have more operations that can have errors, they can "abort" the rest of the chain (except the last .catch() by just rejecting with an appropriate error object).
This is somewhat analogous to the design practice of not having lots of return value statements all over your function, but rather accumulating the result and then returning it at the end which some people consider a good practice for a complicated function.
When debugging you can set breakpoints in one .then() and one .catch() to see the final resolution of the promise chain since the whole chain goes through either the last .then() or the last .catch().

.catch returns a resolved Promise by default. You want a rejected Promsise. So, you should return a rejected promise from inside the .catch, so that future .thens won't execute:
.catch(validationError => {
res.sendStatus(400);
return Promise.reject();
})
But note that this will result in a console warning:
Uncaught (in promise) ...
So it would be nice to add another .catch to the end, to suppress the error (as well as catch any other errors that come along):
const resolveAfterMs = ms => new Promise(res => setTimeout(() => {
console.log('resolving');
res();
}), ms);
console.log('start');
resolveAfterMs(500)
.then(() => {
console.log('throwing');
throw new Error();
})
.catch(() => {
console.log('handling error');
return Promise.reject();
})
.then(() => {
console.log('This .then should never execute');
})
.catch(() => void 0);
If you want to avoid all future .thens and future .catches, I suppose you could return a Promise that never resolves, though that doesn't really sound like a sign of a well-designed codebase:
const resolveAfterMs = ms => new Promise(res => setTimeout(() => {
console.log('resolving');
res();
}), ms);
console.log('start');
resolveAfterMs(500)
.then(() => {
console.log('throwing');
throw new Error();
})
.catch(() => {
console.log('handling error');
return new Promise(() => void 0);
})
.then(() => {
console.log('This .then should never execute');
})
.catch(() => {
console.log('final catch');
});

A cleaner solution for what you are trying to accomplish might be to use express-validation, which is a simple wrapper around joi that provides you with express middleware for validation of the body, params, query, headers and cookies of an express request based on your Joi schema.
That way, you could simply handle any Joi validation errors thrown by the middleware within your "generic" express error handler, with something like:
const ev = require('express-validation');
app.use(function (err, req, res, next) {
// specific for validation errors
if (err instanceof ev.ValidationError)
return res.status(err.status).json(err);
...
...
...
}
If you don't want to use the express-validation package, you could write your own simple middleware that does more or less the same thing, as described here (see example here).

One strategy is to separate your error handling in subpromises which have their individual error handling. If you throw an error from them, you'll bypass the main promise chain.
Something like:
return Promise.resolve().then(() => {
return createUserSchema.validate(req.body)
.catch(validationError => {
res.sendStatus(400);
throw 'abort';
});
}).then(validatedUser => {
// if an error was thrown before, this code won't be executed
// accepts a hash of inputs and stores it in a database
return createUser({
username: validatedUser.username,
password: validatedUser.password
}).catch(error => {
// if an error was previously thrown from `createUserSchema.validate`
// this code won't execute
res.sendStatus(500);
throw 'abort';
});
}).then(() => {
// can put in even more code here
}).then(() => {
// it was not aborted
res.sendStatus(200);
}).catch(() => {
// it was aborted
});
You can skip the Promise.resolve().then() wrapping, but it's included for illustrative purposes of the general pattern of subdividing each task and its error handling.

Using mongoose promises with async/await

I'm trying to get the hang of using Mongoose promises with the async/await functionality of Node.js. When my function printEmployees is called I want to save the list of employees which are queried by the orderEmployees function. While, the console.log statement inside orderEmployees returns the expected query, the console.log inside of printEmployees returns undefined, suggesting that I'm not returning the promise correctly.
I'm new to promises so entirely possible that I'm not correctly understanding the paradigm... any help is much appreciated.
printEmployees: async(company) => {
var employees = await self.orderEmployees(company);
// SECOND CONSOLE.LOG
console.log(employees);
},
orderEmployees: (companyID) => {
User.find({company:companyID})
.exec()
.then((employees) => {
// FIRST CONSOLE.LOG
console.log(employees);
return employees;
})
.catch((err) => {
return 'error occured';
});
},

In order to make orderEmployees behave like async functions, you have to return the resulting promise. There are two rules to follow when using promises without async/await keywords:
A function is asynchronous if it returns a Promise
If you have a promise (for example returned by an async function) you must either call .then on it or return it.
When you are using async/await then you must await on promises you obtain.
This said you will notice that you do not return the promise generated inside orderEmployees. Easy to fix, but its also easy to rewrite that function to async too.
orderEmployees: (companyID) => {
return User.find({company:companyID}) // Notice the return here
.exec()
.then((employees) => {
// FIRST CONSOLE.LOG
console.log(employees);
return employees;
})
.catch((err) => {
return 'error occured';
});
},
or
orderEmployees: async(companyID) => {
try {
const employees = await User.find({company:companyID}).exec();
console.log(employees);
return employees;
} catch (err) {
return 'error occured';
}
},
PS: the error handling is somewhat flawed here. We usually do not handle errors by returning an error string from a function. It is better to have the error propagate in this case, and handle it from some top-level, UI code.

You need to return your Promise.
Currently, you are awaiting on a function that returns undefined.
await only actually "waits" for the value if it's used with a Promise.
Always keep in mind that you can only await Promises or async functions, which implicitly return a Promise1.
orderEmployees: (companyID) => {
return User.find({ company:companyID }).exec()
}
Also really important, you should throw instead of return in your .catch handler. Returning from within a .catch handler will cause the promise chain to trigger it's .then instead of it's .catch thus breaking the error handling chain.
Better yet, don't include .catch at all and let the the actual error bubble up the promise chain, instead of overriding it with your own non-descriptive 'error occured' message.
Error conditions should throw the error, not return it.
1 You can also await non-Promises, but only for values that are evaluated synchronously.

You are not returning a Promise from orderEmployees.
printEmployees: async(company) => {
var employees = await self.orderEmployees(company);
// SECOND CONSOLE.LOG
console.log(employees);
},
orderEmployees: (companyID) => {
return User.find({company:companyID})
.exec()
.then((employees) => {
// FIRST CONSOLE.LOG
console.log(employees);
return employees;
})
.catch((err) => {
return 'error occured';
});
},

You need to return a Promise from orderEmployees
orderEmployees: companyId => User.find({ companyId }).exec()
If you want to do some error handling or pre-processing before you return then you can keep your code as is but just remember to return the result (promises are chainable).

if you're going to use async/await then it works like this.
await in front of the function that returns a promise.
async in front of the wrapping function.
wrap the function body inside try/catch block.
Please have a look on this function, it is a middleware
before i execute a specific route in express.
const validateUserInDB = async (req, res, next) => {
try {
const user = await UserModel.findById(req.user._id);
if (!user) return res.status(401).json({ message: "Unauthorized." });
req.user = user;
return next();
} catch (error) {
return res.status(500).json({ message: "Internal server error." })
}
}
The code after await is waiting the promise to be resolved.
Catch block catches any error happened inside the try block even if the error that is triggered by catch method comes from awaiting promise.

Promise chaining, chain promise object

I would like to chain promise object, but the problem that the second then block is executed before the chained promise object got resolved.
service.webService1()
.then(data => {
if (data.flag) { // true
return service.webService2() // returns a promise
}
return $q.resolve({})
})
.then(data => {
// some logic
// data is undefined here, should be the result of
// service.webService2() call
})
.catch(err => {
// err handling
})

The problem that I forgot to return my promise in the service.webService2() function. Thanks :)

Returning an Axios Promise from function

Can someone please explain why returning an Axios promise allows for further chaining, but returning after applying a then()/catch() method does not?
Example:
const url = 'https://58f58f38c9deb71200ceece2.mockapi.io/Mapss'
function createRequest1() {
const request = axios.get(url)
request
.then(result => console.log('(1) Inside result:', result))
.catch(error => console.error('(1) Inside error:', error))
return request
}
function createRequest2() {
const request = axios.get(url)
return request
.then(result => console.log('(2) Inside result:', result))
.catch(error => console.error('(2) Inside error:', error))
}
createRequest1()
.then(result => console.log('(1) Outside result:', result))
.catch(error => console.error('(1) Outside error:', error))
createRequest2()
.then(result => console.log('(2) Outside result:', result))
.catch(error => console.error('(2) Outside error:', error))
<script src="https://unpkg.com/axios#0.16.1/dist/axios.min.js"></script>
https://jsfiddle.net/nandastone/81zdvodv/1/
I understand that Promise methods should return a value to be chained, but why is there a difference between these two return methods?

Your first example returns the original promise. Your second example returns a different promise, the one created by calling catch.
The critical differences between the two are:
In your second example, you're not passing on the resolution value, so the promise returned by your then is resolved with undefined (the return value of console.log).
In your second example, you're converting rejections into resolutions with undefined (by returning the result of console.log out of catch). A catch handler that doesn't throw or return a promise that's rejected converts a rejection into a resolution.
One of the key things about promise chains is that they transform the result; every call to then or catch creates a new promise, and their handlers can modify what's sent downstream as the result passes through them.
The usual pattern would indeed be to return the result of the chain, but for the functions in the chain to either intentionally transform the result or pass it on. Normally, you wouldn't have a catch handler except at the terminal end of the chain, unless you're using it to correct the error condition (intentionally converting a rejection into a resolution).
If you wanted to just log what passed through while still allowing callers to see it but did want to return the result of the chain for whatever reason, you'd do this:
return request
.then(result => { console.log(result); return result; })
.catch(error => { console.error(error); return Promise.reject(error); });
or using throw:
return request
.then(result => { console.log(result); return result; })
.catch(error => { console.error(error); throw error; });