Javascript Promises confusion - javascript

I'm trying to figure out Promises with Parse.
What I want to do is get a lot of jobs, and then perform an update for each job.
var queryJobs = new Parse.Query("Jobs");
queryJobs.find().then(function (results) {
// Loop thorugh all jobs
for (var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
var job = results[i];
// Here. I want to run an update on all object and then continue.
}
return ????;
}).then(function () {
status.success("Finish");
}, function () {
status.error("Error");
});
I tried this without luck. The push block is never executed.
var queryJobs = new Parse.Query("Jobs");
queryJobs.find().then(function (results) {
var promises = [];
// Loop thorugh all jobs
for (var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
var job = results[i];
promises.push((function () {
// This is never executed.
var promise = new Parse.Promise();
var query = new Parse.Query("Jobs");
query.first({
success: function (object) {
// ... Do something here....
promise.resolve();
},
error: function () {
promise.resolve();
}
});
promise.resolve();
return promise;
}));
}
return Parse.Promise.when(promises);
}).then(function () {
status.success("Finish");
}, function () {
status.error("Error");
});
Thanks in advance
UPDATE
I've changed the code, and I get into the callback, however, the query is not executed.
...
promises.push((function () {
// GET HERE
var promise = new Parse.Promise();
var query = new Parse.Query("Jobs");
query.first({
success: function (object) {
console.log("CALLBACK");
promise.resolve();
},
error: function () {
console.log("CALLBACK");
promise.resolve();
}
});
}()));
return Parse.Promise.when(promises);

Here is how I would set this up:
var failure = new Parse.Promise();
var success = new Parse.Promise();
var queryJobs = new Parse.Query("Jobs");
queryJobs.each
(
function( job )
{
//Do your changes to the job
return job.save().then
(
function( job )
{
return Parse.Promise.as( "job saved" );
},
function( error )
{
failure.reject("There was an error trying to save a job: " + error.message);
return failure;
}
);
}
).then
(
function( results )
{
success.resolve("Successfully updated all the jobs" )
return success;
},
function( error )
{
failure.reject("There was an error trying to query for Jobs: " + error.message);
return failure;
}
).then
(
function( success )
{
response.success( success );
},
function( failure )
{
response.error( failiure );
}
);
This may not work out of the box, but it has a few key features that may help you.
1) I know that one of the perks that is mentioned in the blog post and what not announces promises is that you can get rid of pyramid code, but if you want descriptive error messages, the pyramid code is a necessary evil. My first promise (queryJobs.each in this case) always has two .then()'s. The second one always just does response.error( failure ) and response.success( success ).
2) I create two promises, although you can use just one. I prefer two so it is clear where I'm failing / succeeding. I return these where I reach a dead end/ the finish line.
3) I used query.each instead of query.find. query.find() is limited to 1000 results, which, while it will probably be more than enough for a long time, will eventually cause you to hit your limit, and you'd need to start paginating your results. Using query.each will perform your function on every single object that could be returned by the query. One perk of query.each vs query.find and iterating through the results is that query.each performs it's callback on each object asynchronously, rather than a linear iteration.
4) In this case it would probably be better just to have return job.save() inside of the each block, but I wanted to show how I do the nested promise returns. This is what allows me to have very specific success / error statements. This is important because even if one link in your promise chain fails, you will keep executing the next links. The exception to this is if a promise is rejected and you don't have an error function until your last chain. The error will get passed from link to link until it finds an error function, which is fine, except it limits how much you can customize your error messages.
I'll also note that what you have is probably going to return the same object again and again for that query.first() method, rather than working with the specific job from the first query. Like, you are iterating through your jobs, but instead of doing anything with each job, you're getting the first job and doing something with it again and again. I don't think that's what you actually wanted, but maybe this is meant to be a "learn promises" post rather than something functional.
Anyway, hope I helped a bit. Let me know if you have questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
edit: I know my style varies greatly from others'. I like opening and closing brackets on a new line, for the most part. I actually read in javascript that this can sometimes cause errors. I forget the specific cases, but this is not one of them. But feel free to edit the style back to how you prefer it.

You have to add promises to promises, not functions. You need to call the function so that it returns the promise:
promises.push((function () {
// ...
}()));
// ^^
Furthermore you have to remove the promise.resolve(); call before the return statement. The promise should only be resolved after the query succeeded. As it currently is, the promise is resolved immediately.

Related

Node.JS How to set a variable outside the current scope

I have some code that I cant get my head around, I am trying to return an array of object using a callback, I have a function that is returning the values and then pushing them into an array but I cant access this outside of the function, I am doing something stupid here but can't tell what ( I am very new to Node.JS )
for (var index in res.response.result) {
var marketArray = [];
(function () {
var market = res.response.result[index];
createOrUpdateMarket(market, eventObj , function (err, marketObj) {
marketArray.push(marketObj)
console.log('The Array is %s',marketArray.length) //Returns The Array is 1.2.3..etc
});
console.log('The Array is %s',marketArray.length) // Returns The Array is 0
})();
}
You have multiple issues going on here. A core issue is to gain an understanding of how asynchronous responses work and which code executes when. But, in addition to that you also have to learn how to manage multiple async responses in a loop and how to know when all the responses are done and how to get the results in order and what tools can best be used in node.js to do that.
Your core issue is a matter of timing. The createOrUpdateMarket() function is probably asynchronous. That means that it starts its operation when the function is called, then calls its callback sometime in the future. Meanwhile the rest of your code continues to run. Thus, you are trying to access the array BEFORE the callback has been called.
Because you cannot know exactly when that callback will be called, the only place you can reliably use the callback data is inside the callback or in something that is called from within the callback.
You can read more about the details of the async/callback issue here: Why is my variable unaltered after I modify it inside of a function? - Asynchronous code reference
To know when a whole series of these createOrUpdateMarket() operations are all done, you will have to code especially to know when all of them are done and you cannot rely on a simple for loop. The modern way to do that is to use promises which offer tools for helping you manage the timing of one or more asynchronous operations.
In addition, if you want to accumulate results from your for loop in marketArray, you have to declare and initialize that before your for loop, not inside your for loop. Here are several solutions:
Manually Coded Solution
var len = res.response.result.length;
var marketArray = new Array(len), cntr = 0;
for (var index = 0, index < len; index++) {
(function(i) {
createOrUpdateMarket(res.response.result[i], eventObj , function (err, marketObj) {
++cntr;
if (err) {
// need error handling here
}
marketArray[i] = marketObj;
// if last response has just finished
if (cntr === len) {
// here the marketArray is fully populated and all responses are done
// put your code to process the marketArray here
}
});
})(index);
}
Standard Promises Built Into Node.js
// make a version of createOrUpdateMarket that returns a promise
function createOrUpdateMarketAsync(a, b) {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
createOrUpdateMarket(a, b, function(err, marketObj) {
if (err) {
reject(err);
return;
}
resolve(marketObj);
});
});
}
var promises = [];
for (var i = 0; i < res.response.result.length; i++) {
promises.push(createorUpdateMarketAsync(res.response.result[i], eventObj));
}
Promise.all(promises).then(function(marketArray) {
// all results done here, results in marketArray
}, function(err) {
// an error occurred
});
Enhanced Promises with the Bluebird Promise library
The bluebird promise library offers Promise.map() which will iterate over your array of data and produce an array of asynchronously obtained results.
// make a version of createOrUpdateMarket that returns a promise
var Promise = require('bluebird');
var createOrUpdateMarketAsync = Promise.promisify(createOrUpdateMarket);
// iterate the res.response.result array and run an operation on each item
Promise.map(res.response.result, function(item) {
return createOrUpdateMarketAsync(item, eventObj);
}).then(function(marketArray) {
// all results done here, results in marketArray
}, function(err) {
// an error occurred
});
Async Library
You can also use the async library to help manage multiple async operations. In this case, you can use async.map() which will create an array of results.
var async = require('async');
async.map(res.response.result, function(item, done) {
createOrUpdateMarker(item, eventObj, function(err, marketObj) {
if (err) {
done(err);
} else {
done(marketObj);
}
});
}, function(err, results) {
if (err) {
// an error occurred
} else {
// results array contains all the async results
}
});

Promises for loop angular confused

I understand using promises in simple scenarios but currently really confused on how to implement something when using a for loop and some updates to local sqlite database.
Code is as follows
surveyDataLayer.getSurveysToUpload().then(function(surveys) {
var q = $q.defer();
for (var item in surveys) {
var survey = surveys[item];
// created as a closure so i can pass in the current item due to async process
(function(survey) {
ajaxserviceAPI.postSurvey(survey).then(function(response) {
//from response update local database
surveyDataLayer.setLocalSurveyServerId(survey, response.result).then(function() {
q.resolve; // resolve promise - tried only doing this when last record also
})
});
})(survey) //pass in current survey used to pass in item into closure
}
return q.promise;
}).then(function() {
alert('Done'); // This never gets run
});
Any help or assistance would be appreciated. I'm probably struggling on how best to do async calls within loop which does another async call to update and then continue once completed.
at least promises have got me out of callback hell.
Cheers
This answer will get you laid at JS conferences (no guarantees though)
surveyDataLayer.getSurveysToUpload().then(function(surveys) {
return Promise.all(Object.keys(surveys).map(function(key) {
var survey = surveys[key];
return ajaxserviceAPI.postSurvey(survey).then(function(response){
return surveyDataLayer.setLocalSurveyServerId(survey, response.result);
});
}));
}).then(function() {
alert('Done');
});
This should work (explanations in comments):
surveyDataLayer.getSurveysToUpload().then(function(surveys) {
// array to store promises
var promises = [];
for (var item in surveys) {
var survey = surveys[item];
// created as a closure so i can pass in the current item due to async process
(function(survey) {
var promise = ajaxserviceAPI.postSurvey(survey).then(function(response){
//returning this promise (I hope it's a promise) will replace the promise created by *then*
return surveyDataLayer.setLocalSurveyServerId(survey, response.result);
});
promises.push(promise);
})(survey); //pass in current survey used to pass in item into closure
}
// wait for all promises to resolve. If one fails nothing resolves.
return $q.all(promises);
}).then(function() {
alert('Done');
});
Awesome tutorial: http://ponyfoo.com/articles/es6-promises-in-depth
You basically want to wait for all of them to finish before resolving getSurveysToUpload, yes? In that case, you can return $q.all() in your getSurveysToUpload().then()
For example (not guaranteed working code, but you should get an idea):
surveyDataLayer.getSurveysToUpload().then(function(surveys) {
var promises = [];
// This type of loop will not work in older IEs, if that's of any consideration to you
for (var item in surveys) {
var survey = surveys[item];
promises.push(ajaxserviceAPI.postSurvey(survey));
}
var allPromise = $q.all(promises)
.then(function(responses) {
// Again, we want to wait for the completion of all setLocalSurveyServerId calls
var promises = [];
for (var index = 0; index < responses.length; index++) {
var response = responses[index];
promises.push(surveyDataLayer.setLocalSurveyServerId(survey, response.result));
}
return $q.all(promises);
});
return allPromise;
}).then(function() {
alert('Done'); // This never gets run
});

Working with promises, doing a save

I have the following cloud function returning immediately, with promise full-filled but without doing its job. Can any one see why?
function myFunction(newValArray)
{
console.log("Entered myFunction.");
var query,classPromise;
query = new Parse.Query("myClass");
classPromise = (query.find().then
(function(result) {
result[0].set("myField", result[0].get("myField")+1);
result[0].save(null,{}).then
(function() {
console.log("1)newValArray:"+newValArray.length.toString());
newValArray.push(result[0].get("myField"));
console.log("2)newValArray:"+newValArray.length.toString());
return Parse.Promise.as();
});
}));
return Parse.Promise.when(classPromise);
}
If I then use this code for :
myFunction(newLTR).then
(function() {
console.log("myFunction FULL-FILLED.");
}
I can see the messages "Entered myFunction." and "myFunction FULL-FILLED." in the logs.
But I never see "1)newValArray:..." neither do I see "2)newValArray:..."
I have also checked that the passed parameter has not been processed as expected.
If I replace myFunction with the following version, it doesn't make any difference:
function myFunction(newValArray)
{
console.log("Entered myFunction.");
var query,classPromise;
query = new Parse.Query("Configuration");
classPromise = (query.find().then
(function(result) {
result[0].set("myField", result[0].get("myField")+1);
result[0].save(null,{
success:function(configRcd) {
console.log("1)newValArray:"+newValArray.length.toString());
newValArray.push(configRcd.get("myField"));
console.log("2)newValArray:"+newValArray.length.toString());
return Parse.Promise.as();
},
error:function(error) {
console.log("Something went wrong in incrementLastTouchReference.");
}});
}));
return Parse.Promise.when(classPromise);
}
That's a terrible way to write your promises. The whole reason you want to use promises in the first place, is so you can chain callbacks. In your example it's the worst of both worlds, the complexity of promises but you're still nesting.
The second issue is that you really need to place a final error handler. Any errors emitted right now might just disappear. always end with a catch.
I rewrote your first function to correctly do promises, but I can't guarantee if there's not something else wrong. Hopefully it helps you along your way:
function myFunction(newValArray)
{
console.log("Entered myFunction.");
var query,classPromise;
query = new Parse.Query("myClass");
classPromise = query.find()
.then(function(result) {
result[0].set("myField", result[0].get("myField")+1);
return result[0].save(null,{});
}).then(function() {
console.log("1)newValArray:" + newValArray.length.toString());
newValArray.push(result[0].get("myField"));
console.log("2)newValArray:"+newValArray.length.toString());
return Parse.Promise.as();
}).then(function(result) {
// I added this third then clause. You were returning
// Parse.Promise.as() so presumably you wanted to do something
// with that. Before this then clause it got discarded, with my
// change the result of Parse.Promise.as() is thrown in the
// 'result' argument in this function.
}).catch(function(err) {
// If an error is thrown in any part of the change, it will
// bubble to this final catch statement.
// Do something with err! Log it or whatever ;)
})
return Parse.Promise.when(classPromise);
}

New $.Deferred object with the old callbacks

Please forgive me if this is a stupid question. I have been trying for hours and my brain have just stopped working.
I have such system that consists of three AJAX calls. Server response of first call usually is a 200 Success; but second and third queries are fragile because they are image uploading, and on the server side, I have so much validation rules that client's images mostly fail.
window.AjaxCall = function () {
// to pass to $.ajax call later
this.args = arguments;
// xhr status
this.status = null;
// xhr results (jqXHR object and response)
this.xhrResponse = {};
this.dfr = new $.Deferred();
// to provide an easier interface
this.done = this.dfr.done;
this.fail = this.dfr.fail;
this.then = this.dfr.then;
};
AjaxCall.prototype.resetDfr = function () {
this.dfr = new $.Deferred();
};
AjaxCall.prototype.resolve = function () {
this.dfr.resolve(
this.xhrResponse.result,
this.xhrResponse.jqXHR
);
this.resetDfr();
};
AjaxCall.prototype.reject = function () {
this.dfr.reject(
this.xhrResponse.jqXHR
);
this.resetDfr();
};
AjaxCall.prototype.query = function () {
var _this = this;
// if query hasn't run yet, or didn't return success, run it again
if (_this.status != 'OK') {
$.ajax.apply(_this, _this.args)
.done(function (result, textStatus, jqXHR) {
_this.xhrResponse.result = result;
_this.xhrResponse.jqXHR = jqXHR;
_this.resolve();
})
.fail(function (jqXHR) {
_this.xhrResponse.jqXHR = jqXHR;
_this.reject();
})
.always(function (a, b, c) {
var statusCode = (typeof c !== 'string'
? c
: a).status;
if (statusCode == 200) {
_this.status = 'OK';
}
});
}
// if query has been run successfully before, just skip to next
else {
_this.resolve();
}
return _this.dfr.promise();
};
AjaxCall class is as provided above, and I make the three consecutive calls like this:
var First = new AjaxCall('/'),
Second = new AjaxCall('/asd'),
Third = new AjaxCall('/qqq');
First.then(function () {
console.log('#1 done');
}, function() {
console.error('#1 fail');
});
Second.then(function () {
console.log('#2 done');
}, function() {
console.error('#2 fail');
});
Third.then(function () {
console.log('#3 done');
}, function() {
console.error('#3 fail');
});
var toRun = function () {
First.query()
.then(function () {
return Second.query();
})
.then(function () {
return Third.query()
});
};
$('button').click(function () {
toRun();
});
Those code are in a testing environment. And by testing environment, I mean a simple HTML page and basic server support for debugging.
Home page (/) always returns 200 Success.
/asd returns 404 Not Found for the first 3 times and 200 Success once as a pattern (i.e. three 404s -> one 200 -> three 404s -> one 200 -> three 404s -> ... ).
/qqq returns 404 Not Found all the time.
When I click the only button on the page, first query returns success and second fails as expected. When I click the button second time, first query skips because it was successful last time and second fails again, also as expected.
The problem here is:
before I used the resetDfr method because the dfr is alreay resolved or rejected, it doesn't react to resolve and reject methods anymore.
When I call the resetDfr method in the way I show in the example, dfr is able to get resolved or rejected again, but the callbacks of the old dfr are not binded with the new dfr object and I couldn't find a way to clone the old callbacks into the new dfr.
What would be your suggestion to accomplish what I'm trying to do here?
Promises represent a single value bound by time. You can't conceptually "reuse" a deferred or reset it - once it transitions it sticks. There are constructs that generalize promises to multiple values (like observables) but those are more complicated in this case - it's probably better to just use one deferred per request.
jQuery's AJAX already provides a promise interface. Your code is mostly redundant - you can and should consider using the existent tooling.
Let's look at $.get:
It already returns a promise so you don't need to create your own deferred.
It already uses the browser cache, unless your server prohibits HTTP caching or the browser refuses it only one request will be made to the server after a correct response arrived (assuming you did not explicitly pass {cache: false} to its parameters.
If making post requests you can use $.post or more generally $.ajax for arbitrary options.
This is how your code would roughly look like:
$("button").click(function(){
var first = $.get("/");
var second = first.then(function(){
return $.get("/asd");
});
var third = second.then(function(){
return $.get("/qqq");
});
});
The reason I put them in variables is so that you will be able to unwrap the result yourself later by doing first.then etc. It's quite possible to do this in a single chain too (but you lose access to previous values if you don't explicitly save them.
For the record - it wasn't a stupid question at all :)

What happens with $q.all() when some calls work and others fail?

What happens with $q.all() when some calls work and others fail?
I have the following code:
var entityIdColumn = $scope.entityType.toLowerCase() + 'Id';
var requests = $scope.grid.data
.filter(function (rowData, i) {
return !angular.equals(rowData, $scope.grid.backup[i]);
})
.map(function (rowData, i) {
var entityId = rowData[entityIdColumn];
return $http.put('/api/' + $scope.entityType + '/' + entityId, rowData);
});
$q.all(requests).then(function (allResponses) {
//if all the requests succeeded, this will be called, and $q.all will get an
//array of all their responses.
console.log(allResponses[0].data);
}, function (error) {
//This will be called if $q.all finds any of the requests erroring.
var abc = error;
var def = 99;
});
When all of the $http calls work then the allResponses array is filled with data.
When one fails the it's my understanding that the second function will be called and the error variable given details.
However can someone help explain to me what happens if some of the responses work and others fail?
I believe since the promise library is based on Q implementation, as soon as the first promise gets rejected, the reject callback is called with the error. It does not wait for other promises to resolved. See documentation of Q https://github.com/kriskowal/q. For Q.all this is what is mentioned
The all function returns a promise for an array of values. When this
promise is fulfilled, the array contains the fulfillment values of the
original promises, in the same order as those promises. If one of the
given promises is rejected, the returned promise is immediately
rejected, not waiting for the rest of the batch.
It's been a while since this question was posted, but maybe my answer might still help someone. I solved a similar problem on my end by simply resolving all promises, but with a return I could process later and see if there were any errors. Here's my example used to preload some image assets:
var loadImg = function(imageSrc) {
var deferred = $q.defer();
var img = new Image();
img.onload = function() {
deferred.resolve({
success: true,
imgUrl: imageSrc
});
};
img.onerror = img.onabort = function() {
deferred.resolve({
success: false,
imgUrl: imageSrc
});
};
img.src = imageSrc;
return deferred.promise;
}
Later I can see which ones are errorious:
var promiseList = [];
for (var i = 0; i < myImageList.length; i++) {
promiseList[i] = loadImg(myImageList[i]);
}
$q.all(promiseList).then(
function(results) {
for (var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
if (!results[i].success) {
// these are errors
}
}
}
);
Edit: Only supported in Kris Kowal's Q - but still a useful tidbit
If you want to process all of them without rejecting right away on failure use allSettled
Here's what the docs say:
If you want to wait for all of the promises to either be fulfilled or
rejected, you can use allSettled.
Q.allSettled(promises)
.then(function (results) {
results.forEach(function (result) {
if (result.state === "fulfilled") {
var value = result.value;
} else {
var reason = result.reason;
}
});
});
Here is a small answer to it.
In this fiddle you can see how it works, if an error occurs in some promise.
$q.all([test1(), test2()]).then(function() {
// success
}, function() {
// error
});
http://jsfiddle.net/wd9w0ja4/
I've found a new angular package which add the allSettled functionality to $q in angular:
https://github.com/ohjames/angular-promise-extras
In my case I needed to know when last promise has been resolved no matter if successful or fail. $q.all was not an option because if one fails it goes down immediately. I needed this to make sure user will be redirected no matter what but only if all data are processed (or not) so they can be loaded on next page. So I ended up with this:
Each promise/call implemented also fail callback where "redirect" function is called in both success and fail callbacks.
In this function counter is set, which is increased with each call. If this reaches the number of promises/calls, redirect to next view is made.
I know it's quite a lame way to do it but it worked for me.
Could you not simply handle the error condition on your $http promises before passing them to $q? Promises are chained, so this should work:
return $http.put('/api/' + $scope.entityType + '/' + entityId, rowData).then(function(r){return r;}, angular.noop);
Obviously you could change the noop into any transformation you want but this prevents the rejection which prevents $q.all from failing.

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