Develop Reference

How to update an array data in database using NodeJs Async?

I am new to NodeJs and I'm finding the Non Blocking and Asynchronous nature of JS extremely difficult to understand and handle,
I have a piece of code which is supposed to Iterate an array
and for every iteration, I'm supposed to make a DB update.
Can someone provide the correct implementation of Async library functions and help fix my code?
Code example -
function updateFunction(conn, requestBody, callback) {
let arr = [];
async.each(requestBody.arr, function(item, callback) {
let sqlData = []
let columns = "";
if(item.columnData != null){
sqlData.push(item.columnData);
columns += "`columnName` = ?,";
}
if(columns != ''){
columns = columns.substring(0,columns.length-1);
let sqlQuery = 'UPDATE someTable SET '+columns
+' WHERE id = "' + item.id + '"';
conn.query(sqlQuery, sqlData, function (err, result) {
if (err) {
return callback(err, false);
}
})
}
else{
return callback(null, false);
}
columns = "";
sqlData = [];
},
function(err, results) {
//Code never reaches here, don't know why
if (err) {
return callback(err, false);
}
else{
return callback(null, true);
}
});
} // END

During your database query call, on a successful query your callback is not called, therefore causing your code to never reach the final callback.
You will want to add another return statement after your if (err) { return callback(err); } to let async know your database query is finished.
And another thing, according to the docs, the async each method's final callback does not invoke with results in its callback.
A callback which is called when all iteratee functions have finished, or an error occurs. Invoked with (err).
Therefore, it is not required for you to pass a value into the callback statement within your iteratee function.
Modify your code to do this and it will work.
conn.query(sqlQuery, sqlData, function (err, result) {
if (err) {
return callback(err);
}
return callback(null);
})
Hope this helps.

conn.query(sqlQuery, sqlData, async function (err, result) {
if (err) {
return await callback(err, false);
}
})
Something like this.. so the function callback is async here and we gave await which actually waits until the return call is finished..

how to can i handle multiple callbacks return values in nodejs?

I am trying to perform sql queries based on the callback results in if conditions but i am unable to write the code .so please provide som information in code
app.get('/resell-property', function(req, res) {
var data = {}
data.unit_price_id = 1;
function callback(error, result) {
if (result.count == 0) {
return hp_property_sell_request.create(data)
}
else if (result.count > 0) {
return hp_unit_price.findAll({
where: {
unit_price_id: data.unit_price_id,
hp_property_id: data.property_id,
hp_unit_details_id: data.unit_details_id
}
})
}
}
hp_property_sell_request.findAndCountAll({
where: {
unit_price_id: data.unit_price_id
}
}).then(function (result) {
if (result) {
callback(null, result);
}
});
});
In this how can i write the callbacks for
hp_property_sell_request.create(data) ,hp_unit_price.findAll({
where: {
unit_price_id: data.unit_price_id,
hp_property_id: data.property_id,
hp_unit_details_id: data.unit_details_id
}
})
In that after returning result again i have to handle callbacks and perform this query
if(result.request_id){
return hp_unit_price.findAll({
where:{
unit_price_id:result.unit_price_id,
hp_property_id:result.property_id,
hp_unit_details_id:result.unit_details_id
}
}).then(function (result){
if(result.is_resale_unit==0 && result.sold_out==0){
return Sequelize.query('UPDATE hp_unit_price SET resale_unit_status=1 WHERE hp_unit_details_id='+result.unit_details_id+' and hp_property_id='+result.property_id)
}
})
}

The promise resolve function takes only one input argument, so if you need to pass in multiple stuff, you have to enclose them in a single object. Like, if you have to go with something like:
database.openCollection()
.then(function(collection){
var result = collection.query(something);
var resultObject = { result: result, collection: collection };
})
.then(function(resultObject){
doSomethingSyncronousWithResult(resultObject.result);
resultObject.collection.close();
});
You can't use Promise all if all of your stuff isn't a result of a promise resolve, you might need to go with something like this.
Disclaimer: The code example is a very poor one, but it explains the concept.

I would suggest you to learn about Promises, particularly Bluebird.
You can promisify traditional callback methods.
I would also create model level functions in different files. Here's an example.
parent.js
const db = require("./connections/database"); // connection to database
const getChildForParent = function (parentId, childId, callback) {
db.find({parent: parentId, child_id: childId}, "childrenTable", function(err, result) {
if (err) {
return callback(err);
}
return callback(null, result);
});
};
children.js
const db = require("./connections/database"); // connection to database
const getToysForChild = function (childId, callback) {
db.find({toy_belongs_to: parentId}, "toysTable", function(err, result) {
if (err) {
return callback(err);
}
return callback(null, result);
});
};
Then in controller you can do something like this:
const Bluebird = require("bluebird");
const Parent = require("./parent.js");
const Child = require("./child.js");
// Promisifying adds "Async" at the end of your methods' names (these are promisified)
Bluebird.promisifyAll(Parent);
Bluebird.promisifyAll(Child);
// Just an example.
app.get("/parent/:parentId/children/:childId", function(req, res) {
return Bluebird.try(function() {
return User.getChildForParentAsync(req.params.parentId, req.params.childId);
}).then(function(child) {
return Child.getToysForChildAsync(child.child_id);
}).then(function(toys) {
// Do something with toys.
});
});
Of course you can do much more with this and this is not the only way.
Also you can use Promise.all(). This method is useful for when you want to wait for more than one promise to complete.
Let's say you have a list of urls that you want to fetch and process the results after all the data has been fetched.
var urls = [url1, url2, url3, url4, url5 .......... ];
var Bluebird = require("bluebird");
var request = require("request"); // callback version library
Bluebird.promisifyAll(request);
// create a list which will keep all the promises
var promises = [];
urls.forEach(function(url) {
promises.push(request.getAsync(url1));
});
// promises array has all the promises
// Then define what you want to do on completion.
Bluebird.all(promises).then(function(results) {
// results is an array with result a url in an index
// process results.
});

I would recommend to use Promises to solve that. If you need all results of all Requests, when they are all done Promise.all() will do that for you. Your basic could look like that:
var req1 = new Promise(function(res, rej){
var req = new XMLHttpRequest()
…
req.addEventListener('load', function (e) {
res(e);
})
var req2 = //similar to the above
Promise.all([req1, req2, …]).then(function(values){
//all requests are done here and you can do your stuff
});
You can also use the new fetch api, which creates Promises like so:
var req1 = fetch(…);
var req2 = fetch(…);
Promise.all([req1, re2, …]).then(…);

Waiting for data from async nested Functions within JQuery $.each in Javascript

this is a follow up question to Asynchron Errorhandling inside $.each. As mentioned in the comments there, i want to handle data after the last async job from a $.each loop.
So for instance:
var errors = 0;
var started = 0;
var successful = 0;
$.each(..., function(){
started++;
connection.query('INSERT INTO tableName SET ?', post, function(err, result)
{
if (err) {
if (err.code === 'ER_DUP_ENTRY')
{ errors++; }
else
{ throw err; }
} else { successful++;}
if (started == successful + errors) {
// all done
console.log(errors + " errors occurred");
}
});
});
In this case everything logs out properly when the // all done comment is reached. But what if i want to use this data later on instead of just logging it out.
Is there a way to wait for this data outside of the $.each scope? Or do i always have to handle everything in the nested function?

You can use promises instead
var promises = [];
$.each(..., function() {
var promise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {;
connection.query('INSERT INTO tableName SET ?', post, function(err, result) {
if (err) {
resolve(err.code);
} else {
resolve(result);
}
});
});
promises.push(promise);
});
var result = Promise.all(promises);
And then when you want to use the data, you do
result.then(function(data) {
// use data array looking like ["result data", "result data", "ER_DUP_ENTRY" .. etc]
})

Node.js: How to run asynchronous code sequentially

I have this chunk of code
User.find({}, function(err, users) {
for (var i = 0; i < users.length; i++) {
pseudocode
Friend.find({
'user': curUser._id
}, function(err, friends) * * ANOTHER CALLBACK * * {
for (var i = 0; i < friends.length; i++) {
pseudocode
}
console.log("HERE I'm CHECKING " + curUser);
if (curUser.websiteaccount != "None") {
request.post({
url: 'blah',
formData: blah
}, function(err, httpResponse, body) { * * ANOTHER CALLBACK * *
pseudocode
sendMail(friendResults, curUser);
});
} else {
pseudocode
sendMail(friendResults, curUser);
}
});
console.log("finished friend");
console.log(friendResults);
sleep.sleep(15);
console.log("finished waiting");
console.log(friendResults);
}
});
There's a couple asynchronous things happening here. For each user, I want to find their relevant friends and concat them to a variable. I then want to check if that user has a website account, and if so, make a post request and grab some information there. Only thing is, that everything is happening out of order since the code isn't waiting for the callbacks to finish. I've been using a sleep but that doesn't solve the problem either since it's still jumbled.
I've looked into async, but these functions are intertwined and not really separate, so I wasn't sure how it'd work with async either.
Any suggestions to get this code to run sequentially?
Thanks!

I prefer the promise module to q https://www.npmjs.com/package/promise because of its simplicity
var Promises = require('promise');
var promise = new Promises(function (resolve, reject) {
// do some async stuff
if (success) {
resolve(data);
} else {
reject(reason);
}
});
promise.then(function (data) {
// function called when first promise returned
return new Promises(function (resolve, reject) {
// second async stuff
if (success) {
resolve(data);
} else {
reject(reason);
}
});
}, function (reason) {
// error handler
}).then(function (data) {
// second success handler
}, function (reason) {
// second error handler
}).then(function (data) {
// third success handler
}, function (reason) {
// third error handler
});
As you can see, you can continue like this forever. You can also return simple values instead of promises from the async handlers and then these will simply be passed to the then callback.

I rewrote your code so it was a bit easier to read. You have a few choices of what to do if you want to guarantee synchronous execution:
Use the async library. It provides some helper functions that run your code in series, particularly, this: https://github.com/caolan/async#seriestasks-callback
Use promises to avoid making callbacks, and simplify your code APIs. Promises are a new feature in Javascript, although, in my opinion, you might not want to do this right now. There is still poor library support for promises, and it's not possible to use them with a lot of popular libraries :(
Now -- in regards to your program -- there's actually nothing wrong with your code at all right now (assuming you don't have async code in the pseucode blocks). Your code right now will work just fine, and will execute as expected.
I'd recommend using async for your sequential needs at the moment, as it works both server and client side, is essentially guaranteed to work with all popular libraries, and is well used / tested.
Cleaned up code below
User.find({}, function(err, users) {
for (var i = 0; i < users.length; i++) {
Friend.find({'user':curUser._id}, function(err, friends) {
for (var i = 0; i < friends.length; i++) {
// pseudocode
}
console.log("HERE I'm CHECKING " + curUser);
if (curUser.websiteaccount != "None") {
request.post({ url: 'blah', formData: 'blah' }, function(err, httpResponse, body) {
// pseudocode
sendMail(friendResults, curUser);
});
} else {
// pseudocode
sendMail(friendResults, curUser);
}
});
console.log("finished friend");
console.log(friendResults);
sleep.sleep(15);
console.log("finished waiting");
console.log(friendResults);
}
});

First lets go a bit more functional
var users = User.find({});
users.forEach(function (user) {
var friends = Friend.find({
user: user._id
});
friends.forEach(function (friend) {
if (user.websiteaccount !== 'None') {
post(friend, user);
}
sendMail(friend, user);
});
});
Then lets async that
async.waterfall([
async.apply(Users.find, {}),
function (users, cb) {
async.each(users, function (user, cb) {
async.waterfall([
async.apply(Friends.find, { user, user.id}),
function (friends, cb) {
if (user.websiteAccount !== 'None') {
post(friend, user, function (err, data) {
if (err) {
cb(err);
} else {
sendMail(friend, user, cb);
}
});
} else {
sendMail(friend, user, cb);
}
}
], cb);
});
}
], function (err) {
if (err) {
// all the errors in one spot
throw err;
}
console.log('all done');
});
Also, this is you doing a join, SQL is really good at those.

You'll want to look into something called promises. They'll allow you to chain events and run them in order. Here's a nice tutorial on what they are and how to use them http://strongloop.com/strongblog/promises-in-node-js-with-q-an-alternative-to-callbacks/

You can also take a look at the Async JavaScript library: Async It provides utility functions for ordering the execution of asynchronous functions in JavaScript.

Note: I think the number of queries you are doing within a handler is a code smell. This problem is probably better solved at the query level. That said, let's proceed!
It's hard to know exactly what you want, because your psuedocode could use a cleanup IMHO, but I'm going to what you want to do is this:
Get all users, and for each user
a. get all the user's friends and for each friend:
send a post request if the user has a website account
send an email
Do something after the process has finished
You can do this many different ways. Vanilla callbacks or async work great; I'm going to advocate for promises because they are the future, and library support is quite good. I'll use rsvp, because it is light, but any Promise/A+ compliant library will do the trick.
// helpers to simulate async calls
var User = {}, Friend = {}, request = {};
var asyncTask = User.find = Friend.find = request.post = function (cb) {
setTimeout(function () {
var result = [1, 2, 3];
cb(null, result);
}, 10);
};
User.find(function (err, usersResults) {
// we reduce over the results, creating a "chain" of promises
// that we can .then off of
var userTask = usersResults.reduce(function (outerChain, outerResult) {
return outerChain.then(function (outerValue) {
// since we do not care about the return value or order
// of the asynchronous calls here, we just nest them
// and resolve our promise when they are done
return new RSVP.Promise(function (resolveFriend, reject){
Friend.find(function (err, friendResults) {
friendResults.forEach(function (result) {
request.post(function(err, finalResult) {
resolveFriend(outerValue + '\n finished user' + outerResult);
}, true);
});
});
});
});
}, RSVP.Promise.resolve(''));
// handle success
userTask.then(function (res) {
document.body.textContent = res;
});
// handle errors
userTask.catch(function (err) {
console.log(error);
});
});
jsbin

Chek the return from a promise function before proceeding. Wrong approach?

Background: I have a PHP background and this is my first application using MEAN stack.
I need to save a record but before I must to check if there is any record under the same id already saved in the DB.
In PHP I would do something like this:
Once the user clicks "Save":
1) Call the function to check if an entry with that id already exists
2) If it doesnt, call the save function.
In Javascript, I'm getting a little confused with Promises and so on.
Can somebody give me some light here?
Right now, I'm doing the following:
In the save api, I call this function to check if the record already exists in the DB:
recordExists = findTranscationByBill(billId);
function findTransactionByBill(billId){
results = new promise(function(resolve, reject){
Transactions.find({billId : billId},function(err, transactions){
if(err)
reject("Error: "+err);
//console.log(transactions);
resolve(transactions);
});
});
results.then(function(data){
console.log('Promise fullfilled: '+ data);
}, function(error){
console.log('Promise rejected: ' + error);
});
return $results;
}
The problem is that I think I'm not using promise properly, as my variable doesn't get populated (because its Async).
In the console.log I see that the promise is being fulfilled however, the variable returns as [object Object]
I'm stucked with this problem because I don't know if I should carry on thinking as PHP mindset or if there is a different approach used in Javascript.
Thanks in advance!

In my opinion you could just as well use a callback for this, and since MongoDB has a count method, why not use it
function findTransactionByBill(billId, callback){
Transactions.count({billId : billId}, function(err, count){
if (err) {
callback(err, false);
} else {
callback(null, count !== 0);
}
});
}
and to use it
findTransactionByBill(billId, function(err, exists) {
if (err) {
// handle errors
} else if ( ! exists ) {
// insert into DB
}
}

I think the right function is:
function findTransactionByBill(billId){
var results = new promise(function(resolve, reject){
Transactions.find({billId : billId},function(err, transactions){
if(err) {
reject(err);
} else {
if (transactions.length === 0) {
reject('No any transaction');
} else {
//console.log(transactions);
resolve(transactions);
}
});
});
results.then(function(data){
console.log('Promise fullfilled: '+ data);
}, function(error){
console.log('Promise rejected: ' + error);
});
return results;
}
And then use it like this:
recordExists = findTranscationByBill(billId);
recordExists.then(function() {
// resolved, there are some transactions
}, function() {
// rejected. Error or no any transactions found
// may be you need to check reject result to act differently then no transactions and then error
});

I assume you are using mongodb native drive.
I think mongodb doesn't have promise built-in supported. So you have to promisify it by a little help from promise library. Please refer this if you want to use bluebird.
After promisifying, the code should looks like that (using bluebird):
Promise = require('bluebird');
// Promisify...
var _db = null;
var client = MongoClient.connectAsync('mongodb://localhost:27017/test')
.then(function(db) {
_db = db
return db.collection("myCollection").findOneAsync({ id: 'billId' })
})
.then(function(item) {
if (item)
_db.save(item);
})
.catch (err) {
// error handling
}
The above code is not perfect, because it introduced a global var, so the better version may be
Promise = require('bluebird');
// Promisify...
var client = MongoClient.connectAsync('mongodb://localhost:27017/test')
.then(function(db) {
return Promise.prop({
item: db.collection("myCollection").findOneAsync({ id: 'billId' },
db: db
})
})
.then(function(result) {
var item = result.item;
var db = result.db
if (item)
db.save(item);
})
.catch (err) {
// error handling
}
You need to check bluebird to know how to use it. Also they are many other promise libraries like q, when, but all are similar stuff.