Loading modules JS - javascript

I'm having a synchronization and loading issues with some JS modules when the program starts. This error only shows up once at the beginning and then everything works, so it is an obvious sync problem.
The code:
//pyramid of doom
function initGame(){
initWorld(function(){
initPlayer(function(){
initBots(function(){
console.log("Game Loaded!");
update();
})
})
});
}
function initWorld(callback){
world.init(worldParams);
callback&&callback();
}
function initPlayer(callback){
player.init(scene,playerParams,world.getPhysicModel());
callback&&callback();
}
function initBots(callback){
bots.init(scene,botsParams,world.getPhysicModel());
callback&&callback();
}
function update() {
world.update(1/60);
player.update();
bots.update();
}
initGame();
The following is the error I'm getting.
Bots.js:112 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'mixer' of undefined
at Bots.update (Bots.js:112)
at update (Final.html:160)
What am I doing wrong? How can I synchronize the execution of the init functions?
(What I think that is going on is that the execution of initBots doesn't reach it end before the udpdate function starts to run.)
You can find the Bots.js module in my repository at ( 1 )

In bots.init you execute new THREE.ColladaLoader().load which looks to be asynchronous.
In its callback, you fill your _bots array (self._bots[modelLoaded] = bot;).
However, you execute bots.init() and do not wait for these asynchronous calls to complete before executing the initBots function callback. In the case of initGame execution, this callback executes update(), which in turn executes bots.update(), which tries to access this._bots[i].mixer with i index up to this._botsParams.length, i.e. a pre-defined value that does not account for how many items have been actually filled in _bots array.
Hence your error message: the array has no items yet at some indices, and trying to read a property on undefined throws an error.
Conclusion: common asynchronous issue.

You need to be passing the callbacks into the init functions. Guessing from a brief look at your bots code, they are not expecting to receive callbacks so you might be in for a rebuild.
You can't tell from the outside of an async function if it is done yet!
Equivalent to what you are doing:
let result = undefined
function takeTime () {
setTimeout(function() {
result = 'hello!'
}, 100)
}
function callback () {
console.log(result)
}
function run (callback) {
takeTime()
callback && callback()
}
run(callback) // undefined! takeTime has not finished yet
What you need to be doing:
let result = undefined
function takeTime (callback) {
setTimeout(function() {
result = 'hello!'
callback()
}, 100)
}
function callback () {
console.log(result)
}
function run (callback) {
callback && takeTime(callback)
}
run(callback) // 'hello!', the callback was only called once the takeTime function completed

Related

Repeating JavaScript function and returning to initial callback?

Is it possible to call a function in JavaScript that calls itself again, and after it calls itself again, finally runs the initial callback function?
I will explain what I mean in code...
//on page load
getProviderNextAppointment(null, function(nextAppointment) {
otherFunction(); //<----- how can I always end up back here, no matter what?
});
//getProviderNextAppointment function
function getProviderNextAppointment(startDate, callback) {
getNextAppointment('provider', startDate, function(data) {
//if provider has schedule
if(!$.isEmptyObject(data.AllProviders)) {
//set provider params
//nextAppointment = data.x
//callback
if(typeof callback === 'function') {
return callback(nextAppointment); //callback from call on page load
}
} else {
if(data.ErrorCode !== 'StartDateTooFarInFuture') {
/*---------->
* this is where we this function calls itself again;
* but when it hits the callback above (provider
* has schedule), or when it hits the callback
* below (last group of appointments), it
* should run the initial callback to
* execute otherFunction()
<----------*/
getProvidersNextAppointment(data.LatestDate);
} else { //hit last group of appointments
if(typeof callback === 'function') {
return callback(null); //callback from call on page load
}
}
}
});
}
I did not include getNextAppointment() function, because it is irrelevant to the question. Just know that it is calling an API that is returning the appointment information, as well as a LatestDate property that we are using as the startDate for the next API call. We are also looking for a response for the ErrorCode property that says it's the end of the results, so that we are not looping forever.
If you need to keep a reference to the initial callback function, then you could just pass it on via the recursive call.
Change the recursive call from this:
getProvidersNextAppointment(data.LatestDate);
to:
getProvidersNextAppointment(data.LatestDate, callback);
Now the nested function context will have a reference to the original callback function, and this could in theory cascade further down the recursion tree until the callback function is finally executed.

Execute asynchronous javascript code every X seconds

How to execute asynchronous js code (written in node.js) every X seconds and ensure that the new execute/call won't be started before the callback (success, error) from asynchronous function is executed. Code example:
asyncFunc(function(successData){
// do something with successData
}, function(errorData){
// do something with errorData
});
setInterval comes to my mind firstly, but I think it won't ensure what I want, if the callback doesn't execute inside interval, it will go to the queue.
EDIT: To simplify case, repeat async function call 1 second after its callback finishes.
You can use setTimeout like this:
(function loop() {
asyncFunc(function(successData){
setTimeout(loop, X);
}, function(errorData){
// If you still want to continue:
setTimeout(loop, X);
});
})(); // execute immediately
This will start the delay when the async call triggers the callback.
Consider abstracting the problem with a re-usable method that'll allow you to specify the function to call, the interval at which it's called, and the callbacks to invoke:
function repeatAsync(func, interval, success, error) {
(function loop() {
func(
() => {
success();
setTimeout(loop, interval);
},
() => {
error();
setTimeout(loop, interval);
}
);
})(); // invoke immediately
}
If you want the chain of calls to be broken on error, replace the second argument to func with just error, i.e. func( () => { ... }, error)

Interpreting output after using callback in javascript

I am new to javascript and I am trying to understand callbacks. I am not able to understand why 20 is getting printed before 10. My understanding is for a callback function like - func1(parameter,func2()) , func2() is the callback function, which gets executed after func1 executes with the "parameter" passed to func1. Is my understanding correct?
function timePass(length){
console.log("finished after doing timePass for "+length +" seconds")
}
timePass(10,timePass(20));
OUTPUT BELOW:
finished after doing timePass for 20 seconds
finished after doing timePass for 10 seconds
You are not really creating a callback function but actually calling timePass(20) before everything else on your last line of code.
To pass a callback function you should do something like this:
function timePass(length,callback){
console.log("finished after doing timePass for "+length +" seconds")
if(typeof(callback) == "function")
callback(20);
}
timePass(10,timePass);
This is because you execute the function timePass and then - adding the result as argument number 2.
Explaining what is happening:
First you define new function "timePass", The function printing on the console.
Second you execute timePass(10, /*But here you execute it again*/ timePass(20)).
The function timePass(20) will be executed first because you added ().
() == execute. If you just pass the name of the function, it will be passed as function. When you use () it will be executed and then the result will be passed as argument.
EXAMPLE OF USING CALLBACK
function timePass(length, callbackFunction){
console.log("finished after doing timePass for "+length +" seconds");
// check if the function caller is included callback parameter
// and check if it is function - to prevent errors.
if (callbackFunction && typeof callbackFunction == "function") {
// Execute the callback (timePass)
callbackFunction(20);
}
}
// Here you say, Execute timePass with arg 10, and then call timePass
timePass(10, timePass);
// and now callbackFunction defined above will be == timePass
// You can do also
timePass(10, anotherFunction)
// So another function will be executed after console.log()
USE CASES
Most often callbacks are used while we working with async code.
For example: Jsfiddle
// Imagine we have function which will request the server for some data.
function getData(index) {
// The request - response will took some time
// 0.1s ? 15s ? We don't know how big is the data we downloading.
var data;
// Imagine this is an AJAX call, not timeout.
setTimeout(function() {
// after 30ms we recieved 'server data'
data = 'server data';
},30)
return data;
}
var users = getData('users');
console.log(users); // undefined - because we returned "data" before the AJAX is completed.
/*
So we can change the function and adding an callback.
*/
function getAsyncData(index, callback) {
var data;
// Imagine this is an AJAX call, not timeout.
setTimeout(function() {
// after 30ms we recieved 'server data'
data = 'server data';
callback(data);
},30)
}
getAsyncData('users', function(data) {
console.log(data); // 'server data'
});
// OR
function processData(data) {
console.log(data);
}
getAsyncData('users', processData); // processData also logs 'server data'
basically when the interpreter is looking at this, it will call timepass(20) to evaluate the result (which is nothing as you have no return returning something), which then it tries to pass into the outer function.
i.e.
doFunction( doSomethingElse() );
if doSomethingElse returns 1, it must evaluate that before it can pass that 1 into doFunction.
Fundamentally, you have not actually passed a callback, you have called the function. Perhaps you meant:
callback = function() { somecode; }
target = function(data, callback) { console.log('hi'); callback(); }
target(10, callback);
notice the lack of () i.e. callback not callback()

Return object into async.each function in node.js

I want to understand one thing about async module in node.js.
I have created a function that map an object from a form to a model object and return this object.
This object is a video with an array of tags.
My question is where can I return the video ? I know normally it is inside the async callback function but if I do that, the object returned is undefined.
Whereas If i return the video object at the end of the whole function, it works but it's not safe as I'm not sure, my async is finished...
By the way, I don't understand the callback function passed in argument to async.each and
called after video.products.push(tag); . What does this function do?
Regards
in my mapping.js :
exports.video = function(object) {
var video = new Video();
video.name = object.name;
video.products = [];
async.each(object.tags, function(tago, callback) {
tag = {
"name" : tago.name
}
video.products.push(tag);
callback();
} ,
function(err) {
if( err ) {
console.log('Error' + error);
throw err;
}
logger.debug("into async" + video);
}
);
logger.debug("end function " );
**//return video;**
}
in my video.js :
var video = mapping.video(object);
logger.debug(video); // return undefined
The simple answer is that you can't - at least not via easy or obvious approach. As its name suggests, async is a library for queuing up asynchronous function calls into the event loop. So your exports.video function simply kicks off a bunch of asynchronous functions, which execute one after the other on an unpredictable time-frame, and then returns immediately. No matter where you try to return your video object within the scope of your function calls which are instantiated by async, the exports.video function will already have returned.
In this case it doesn't really seem like you need asynchronous function calls for what you're doing. I'd suggest that you replace your use of async with something like Underscore's each method, which executes synchronously, instead.
http://documentcloud.github.io/underscore/#each
You'd need to define a callback for your exports.video function e.g..
exports.video = function(object, callback) {
// video code (snip)...
async.each(object.tags,
function eachTag(tag, done) {
// code run for each tag object (snip)...
done();
},
function finished(err) {
// code run at the end (snip)...
callback(thingThatsReturned);
});
};
...and call it like this:
var videoUtils = require('videoUtils');
var tags = getTags();
videoUtils.video({ tags: tags }, function(thingThatsReturned) {
// do something with 'thingThatsReturned'
});
By the way, I don't understand the callback function passed in
argument to async.each and called after video.products.push(tag); .
What does this function do?
The async.each function will call the 'eachTag' function above (2nd argument) for each item in your array. But because it's done asynchronously, and you might do something else async in the function (hit a database/api etc.), it needs to know when that function for that particular array item has finished. Calling done() tells async.each that the function has finished processing. Once all the functions are finished processing (they've all called done()), async.each will run the 'finished' function above (3rd argument).
This is pretty standard async stuff for Node.js, but it can be tricky to get ones head around it at first. Hang in there :-)
Edit: It looks like your code isn't doing anything asynchronous. If it was, then the above code would be the way to do it, otherwise the following code would work better:
exports.video = function(object) {
// video code (snip)...
if (Array.isArray(object.tags)) {
object.tags.forEach(function eachTag(tag) {
// code run for each tag object (snip)...
});
}
return thingThatsReturned;
};
...and call it...
var videoUtils = require('videoUtils');
var tags = getTags();
var thingThatsReturned = videoUtils.video({ tags: tags });

Return true and setimout

Why doesn't this function return true?
function test(str) {
window.setTimeout(function() {
if(str == 'ok') {
return true;
}
}, 1000);
}
console.log(test('ok'));
That's not exactly what i want to do.
I have a function nammed test() who does some actions after 1 second.
I want to execute next function, when test() is finished (so after the timeout).
How i can know when test i finished ?
Tracing your code, here's what happens.
test() is invoked.
setTimeout schedules a function to be called 1000 ms later.
test() concludes execution, no return statement was executed, so undefined is returned instead.
about 1000 ms later the scheduled function fires.
The scheduled function returns true to nothing.
In other words, it just doesn't work that way. The JS interpreter does not pause, it continues over the timeout. You cannot pause execution in JS.
Instead you typically use callbacks:
function test(str, callback) {
window.setTimeout(function() {
if (str === 'ok') {
callback(true);
}
}, 1000);
}
// logs 'true' 1000 ms later
test('ok', function(result) {
console.log(result);
});
// logs nothing, callback never fires
test('NOTOK!', function(result) {
console.log(result);
});
This code will do more what you seem to have expected.
It does not return true because the setTimeout call is asynchronous. Also, the return value true in your code comes from an inner function.
The normal way of handling such program flow is to pass a callback to the asynchronous function.
function test(str, callback) {
window.setTimeout(function() {
callback(str == 'ok');
}, 1000);
}
test('ok', function (result) {
console.log(result);
});
The function passed as the second argument to test() will be called when setTimeout executes the code. The argument to the callback function will tell if str is was ok or not.
For starters, settimeout is an asynchronous method, so the actual function test() will have finished and returned before the settimout code runs.
Secondly however, you are only returning true from the settimeout function not the test function, so you will never get anything other than false.
It doesn't return true because asynchronous function setTimeout() will execute after 1000 ms and console.log will execute in normal fashion without waiting of your 'test' function.

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