Array returning Undefined because of asynchrony - javascript

I am accessing the API Trello, but I came across the following problem:
Trello access the information, getting the id of each existing row, the code is as follows:
var x;
var numberCardsByList = [];
trello.get("/1/boards/[idBoard]/lists/all", function(err, data) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log("Number of list: " + data.length);
for(var i=0; i<data.length; i++){
x = data[i];
findNumberCards(x);
}
});
As you can see, after getting the size, I walk all these queues with is, within the loop, attach each row in a variable x and call a function that aims to get the number of cards that queue. The code for the number of cards is as follows:
function findNumberCards(x){
trello.get("/1/lists/"+x.id+"/cards", function(err, dados){
if(err) throw err;
console.log("Name List: " + x.name + " have " + dados.length + " cards");
numberCardsByList[x.name] = dados.length;
});
}
Until then all right, but when I try to access the vector numberCardsByList after the end of the search in Trello, it returns undefined:
var x;
var numberCardsByList = [];
trello.get("/1/boards/[idBoard]/lists/all", function(err, data) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log("Quantidade de Filas: " + data.length);
for(var i=0; i<data.length; i++){
x = data[i];
findNumberCards(x);
}
});
console.log(numberCardsByList);
I am aware that it is because of asynchrony, however, can not solve.

The problem you're facing has been solved many times before. If you want to know more, search for the keyword "Promise". If you're familiar with jQuery, try and look up: $.whenAll, $.ajax().done, $.ajax().always, etc.
If you want to come up with a light weight solution yourself, here's a pointer:
By the time you get to your console.log(numberCardsByList), your requests triggered by findNumberCards haven't yet completed, making the Array empty. You'll need to make sure you know when all findNumberCards requests have completed and then log them. Alternatively, you could log them every time one of them completes.
There are roughly two approaches:
Keep track of your open requests and call a function when a request is handled.
Observe your numberCardsByList object and call a function whenever items are added (you won't know if they were added async or synchronously)
I'd suggest going with the first approach. Check out this example code and the comments:
var numberCardsByList = {};
// This array will store the url for every open request
var openRequests = [];
var removeRequest = function(url) {
var index = openRequests.indexOf(url);
if (index === -1) return;
// Remove url from array
openRequests = openRequests
.slice(0, index)
.concat(openRequests
.slice(index + 1));
};
// This will be called whenever one request completes
var onComplete = function(url) {
removeRequest(url);
// When all have completed, we can call our callback
if (openRequests.length === 0) {
onAllComplete();
}
});
// This will be called when there are no open requests left
var onAllComplete = function(data) {
console.log(numberCardsByList);
}
trello.get("/1/boards/[idBoard]/lists/all", function(err, data) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log("Number of list: " + data.length);
for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
x = data[i];
findNumberCards(x);
}
});
function findNumberCards(x) {
var url = "/1/lists/" + x.id + "/cards";
// Before we make the request, we register it:
openRequests.push(url);
trello.get(url, function(err, dados) {
numberCardsByList[x.name] = dados.length;
// When it is completed, we call onComplete
onComplete(url);
});
};
Note that this onAllComplete isn't 100% safe: it might be called multiple times if a request finishes before the next one is started.
Concluding:
If you can, I'd use a library to handle promises. If you want to try and build something yourself, you could try and keep track of the requests and execute a callback when they've all completed.

Keep in mind my above code most likely wont work for you as i dont know whats going on in your code so this is an example / explanation how to deal with your problem.
Since you are unfamiliar with async operation i will assume you dont have a prior knowledge of promises and therefore give you a less optimal solution - however promises are alot better and you should defintely learn them.
You need to execute sequence procedures inside the result of the async code.
First you'll create a function for the second operation for example:
function numberCardsByList (param1,param2){.....}
You will then change fineNumberCards to also accept a callback:
function findNumberCards(x, callback){
trello.get("/1/lists/"+x.id+"/cards", function(err, dados){
if(err) throw err;
console.log("Name List: " + x.name + " have " + dados.length + " cards");
numberCardsByList[x.name] = dados.length;
});
// pass in any params you need.
callback();
}
And then you will pass the newly created function numberCardsByList to findNumberCards or wherever you want it.
trello.get("/1/boards/[idBoard]/lists/all", function(err, data) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log("Number of list: " + data.length);
for(var i=0; i<data.length; i++){
x = data[i];
// and here we are calling findNumberCards and passing in the callback..
findNumberCards(x, numberCardsByList);
}
});
That is generally how you will deal with async operation, you will pass a callback for the next operation to be executed.
update
here is an example of how this is done with another scenario just to demonstrate the point farther.
we start by getting user
service.getUser(userName, function(err,user){
if(user) {
// we get user picture passing getPictureSize as callback
getUserPicture(user.picture, getPictureSize)
}
})
we get the pictureURL
function getUserPicture(picName, cb){
service.getPictureURL(picName, function(err, pictureURL){
if(pictureURL) {
// we then call the callback - the next async operation we want.
cb(pictureURL);
}
});
}
we get picture size - which is the last operation
function getPictureSize(pictureURL){
service.getPictureSize(pictureURL, function(err, pictureSize){
$('.picName').attr('src', picName);
$('.picName').width(pictureSize.width);
$('.picName').height(pictureSize.height);
});
}
I hope that clarify things a little.

Related

Node js : execute function with all iteration

Maybe this is a general issue, and i need a solution to my case : due to the non blocking aspect of javascript , I don't find how can I execute my function with all iteration in for loop , and here is my example ,
var text_list=[]
for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
var element = array[index];
tesseract.process("img"+i+".jpg", options, function (err, text) {
if (err) {
return console.log("An error occured: ", err);
}
text_list.push(text)
});
}
console.log(text_list) //
And the result as if I do :
tesseract.process("img"+9+".jpg"...
tesseract.process("img"+9+".jpg"...
tesseract.process("img"+9+".jpg"...
.
.
.
and what i need is :
tesseract.process("img"+0+".jpg"...
tesseract.process("img"+1+".jpg"...
tesseract.process("img"+2+".jpg"...
.
.
.
Your question does not really explain what result you are getting and your code looks like it's missing parts of the code. So, all I can really do here to help is to explain generically (using your code where possible) how to solve this class of problem.
If you are ending up with a lot of results that all reference the last value of i in your loop, then you are probably trying to reference i in an async callback but because the callback is called sometime later, the for loop has already finished long before the callback executes. Thus, your value of i is sitting on the last value it would have in the for loop. But, your question doesn't actually show code that does that, so this is just a guess based on the limited result you describe. To solve that type of issue, you have make sure you're separately keeping track of i for each iteration of the loop. There are many ways to do that. In ES6, using let in the for loop definition will solve that entire issue for you. One can also construct a closure, use .forEach(), etc...
Async operations with a loop require extra work and coding to deal with. The modern solution is to convert your async operations to use promises and then use features such as Promise.all() to both tell you when all the async operations are done and to keep the results in order for you.
You can also code it manually without promises. Here's a manual version:
const len = 10;
let text_list = new Array(10);
let doneCnt = 0;
let errFlag = false;
// using let here so each invocation of the loop gets its own value of i
for (let i = 0; i < len; i++) {
tesseract.process("img"+i+".jpg", options, function (err, text) {
if (err) {
console.log("An error occured: ", err);
// make sure err is wrapped in error object
// so you can tell errors in text_list array from values
if (!(err instanceof Error)) {
err = new Error(err);
}
text_list[i] = err;
errFlag = true;
} else {
text_list[i] = text;
}
// see if we're done with all the requests
if (++doneCnt === len) {
if (errFlag) {
// deal with situation where there were some errors
} else {
// put code here to process finished text_list array
}
}
});
}
// you can't process results here because async operations are not
// done yet when code here runs
Or, using promises, you can make a "promisified" version of tesseract.process() and then use promise functionality to track multiple async operations:
// make promisified version of tesseract.process()
tesseract.processP = function(img, options) {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
tesseract.process(img, options, function(err, text) {
if (err) {
reject(err)
} else {
resolve(text);
}
});
});
}
const len = 10;
let promises = [];
for (let i = 0; i < len; i++) {
promises.push(tesseract.processP("img"+i+".jpg", options));
}
Promise.all(promises).then(function(results) {
// process results array here (in order)
}).catch(function(err) {
// handle error here
});

Javascript function doesn't return query result

I am trying to figure out why one of my queries won't return the value from a query...my code looks like this:
var client = new pg.Client(conString);
client.connect();
var query = client.query("SELECT count(*) as count FROM sat_scores")
// Don't use demo key in production. Get a key from https://api.nasa.gov/index.html#apply-for-an-api-key
function getNEO(callback) {
var data = '';
query.on('rows', function(rows) {
console.log("Row count is: %s", rows[0].count)
data += rows[0].count;
});
query.on('end', function() {
callback(data);
});
}
with that, getNEO returns a blank...but if I set var data = '4', then getNEO returns 4....the query should return 128 but it just returns a blank...
First of all, getNEO() doesn't return anything - I'm operating on the assumption that you call getNEO() exactly once for your query, and pass in a callback to handle the data, and that callback is what's not getting the appropriate data?
My typical recommendation for troubleshooting things like this is to simplify your code, and try and get really close to any example code given (for instance):
var client = new pg.Client(conString);
// define your callback here, in theory
client.connect(function (err) {
if (err) throw err;
var query = client.query("SELECT count(*) as count FROM sat_scores"),
function(err, result) {
if (err) throw err;
console.log(result.rows.length);
}
);
});
... I'm doing a couple things here you'll want to note:
It looks like the client.connect() method is asynchronous - you can't just connect and then go run your query, you have to wait until the connection is completed, hence the callback. Looking through the code, it looks like it may emit a connect event when it's ready to send queries, so you don't have to use a callback on the connect() method directly.
I don't see a data event in the documentation for the query object nor do I see one in the code. You could use the row event, or you could use a callback directly on the query as in the example on the main page - that's what I've done here in the interest of simplicity.
I don't see the count property you're using, and row[0] is only going to be the first result - I think you want the length property on the whole rows array if you're looking for the number of rows returned.
I don't know if you have a good reason to use the getNEO() function as opposed to putting the code directly in procedurally, but I think you can get a closer approximation of what you're after like this:
var client = new pg.Client(conString);
// define your callback here, in theory
client.connect();
function getNEO(callback) {
client.on('connect', function () {
var query = client.query("SELECT count(*) as count FROM sat_scores"));
query.on('end', function(result) {
callback(result.rowCount);
});
});
}
... so, you can call your getNEO() function whenever you like, it'll appropriately wait for the connection to be completed, and then you can skip tracking each row as it comes; the end event receives the result object which will give you all the rows and the row count to do with what you wish.
so here is how I was able to resolve the issue....I moved the var query inside of the function
function getNEO(state, callback) {
var conString = "postgres://alexa:al#alexadb2.cgh3p2.us-east-1.redshift.amazonaws.com:5439/alexa";
var client = new pg.Client(conString);
client.connect();
var data = '';
var query = client.query("SELECT avg(Math) as math, avg(Reading) as reading FROM sat_scores WHERE State = '" + state + "'");
console.log("query is: %s", query);
query.on('row', function(row) {
console.log("Row cnt is: %s", row.math);
console.log("row is: " + row)
data += row;
});
console.log("made it");
query.on('end', function() {
callback(data);
});
}

Node & MySQL - connection.query inside connection.query - Object property not accessible

I got a pretty awkward problem.
I create a pool, connect to the database, create a connection and query, get the results, do a bunch of stuff, then I have to create another connection and query, but actually it has to be dynamically so I loop over my Array teacherHours containing the data.
Then more Code is happening, and I have to create an extra loop, because certain elements of my teacherHours Array have to try multiple times to get the correct response from the upcoming query.
So another loop follows, which is supposed to loop as long as availableHours > 0. Now, here is where it all goes left.
A buch of code happens inside the second loop, I prepare my second query, call connection.query() and inside of the callback function I prepare my third query (after doing some other stuff) and this is actually where Node kicks me out.
It gives me TypeError: Cannot read property 'tid' of undefined. tid needs to be accessed for my third query, so I try to access it just like I did before but Node doesn't allow it.
I know that the queries return useful data (rows) so it can't be a problem of querying but receiving no data. Actually I console.log("the rowRIDS"+rowRIDS); the result of the second query and I see that it returns 2 rows and just after that it gives me the error.
What is also strange to me, all the console.logs inside my my two loops are being logged, and my console.log of the second query (containing the 2 rows) are being logged after the loops ran through, since the queries are nested shouldn't the returned 2 rows and the error appear within the first iteration of the loop, since the code should access the second query at that point.
BTW, I've tried to set a hardcoded number instead of the tid just to get the next property datum to be an error. I kind of got a feeling as if the variable teacherHours is out of scope, but it is supposed to be a global variable.
To get a better feeling of what I'm talking about I copied the code and uncommented all the javascript code, where I populate and calculate stuff. Any help would be really great, its been almost 7 hours of try & error without any luck. Thank You!
pool.getConnection(function(err, connection){
if (err) throw err;
connection.query('SELECT * FROM teachers_teaching_tbl WHERE fwdid = 1 ', function(err, rows, fields) {
if (err) {
console.error('error querying: ' + err.stack);
return;
}
rowArray=rows;
console.log(rowArray);
//
// HERE HAPPENS
// A LOOOOT OF STUFF
//
// AND teacherHours IS BEING POPULATED
//
// THEN COMES A FOR LOOP
for(var i=0; i<teacherHours.length;i++){
//
// MORE STUFF
//
//AND ANOTHER LOOP
while(availableHours>0){//do{ ORIGINALLY I TRIED WITH A DO WHILE LOOP
//
// AGAIN A BUNCH OF STUFF
//
// NOW I'M PREPARING MY NEXT QUERY
//
var myQueryGetFreeRoom=" SELECT rms.rid FROM rooms_tbl as rms WHERE NOT EXISTS ( ";
myQueryGetFreeRoom+=" SELECT NULL FROM classes_tbl as cls ";
myQueryGetFreeRoom+=" WHERE ( (cls.bis > '"+bisMinus1+"' AND cls.bis <= '"+realBis+"' ) OR ( cls.von > '"+bisMinus1+"' AND cls.von < '"+realBis+"' ) ) AND (cls.datum = '"+teacherHours[i].datum.getFullYear()+"-"+(teacherHours[i].datum.getMonth()+1)+"-"+teacherHours[i].datum.getDate()+"') AND (cls.rid=rms.rid) ) ";
//
//
connection.query(myQueryGetFreeRoom, function(err, rowRIDS, fields) {
if (err) {
console.error('error querying: ' + err.stack);
return;
}
roomIDs=rowRIDS;
console.log("the rowRIDS"+rowRIDS);
//
// MORE STUFF
// HAPPENING
//
if(roomIDs.length>0){
//
// PREPARING QUERY NO.3 - WHICH IS WHERE MY ERROR POINTS - TO THE USE OF tid PROPERTY
//
var myQueryBookClass = " INSERT INTO classes_tbl ( rid , tid , belegtAnz, datum, von , bis ) ";
myQueryBookClass+=" VALUES ( "+Math.floor(Math.random() * roomIDs.length)+", "+teacherHours[i].tid+" , 0, '"+teacherHours[i].datum.getFullYear()+"-"+(teacherHours[i].datum.getMonth()+1)+"-"+teacherHours[i].datum.getDate()+"' , '"+bisMinus1+"' , '"+realBis+"' ) ";
console.log("myQueryBookClass: "+myQueryBookClass);
availableHours = 0;
//
// HERE WAS SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW QUERY 3 - myQueryBookClass
//
// BUT SINCE I DONT EVEN GET INSIDE HERE IT IS IN COMMENTS
//
/*connection.query(myQueryBookClass, function(err, insertRows, fields){
if(err){
console.error('error querying: '+err.stack);
return;
}
console.log("Inserted Rows: "+ insertRows);
}); */
} else {
availableHours= availableHours - 1;
//
// STUFF HAPPENING
//
}
});
availableHours= availableHours - 1;
}//while(availableHours>0);
//
}
connection.release(function(err){
if (err){
console.error('error disconnecting: ' + err.stack);
return;
}
});
});
});
I think you are coming from a non-async language like Python, Java, etc. which is why Node, i.e. JavaScript, seems to screw things up for you, but actually it isn't.
The problem you have in your code is that you execute async functions like query synchronously all at the same time in the same while loop. You need to use a module like async which helps to run and collect results asynchronously.
Here is the updated code.
var async = require('async'),
connection;
async.waterfall([
function (cb) {
pool.getConnection(cb);
},
function (conn, cb) {
connection = conn;
connection.query('SELECT * FROM teachers_teaching_tbl WHERE fwdid = 1', cb);
},
function (rows, fields, cb) {
rowArray = rows;
console.log(rowArray);
// HERE HAPPENS
// A LOOOOT OF STUFF
//
// AND teacherHours IS BEING POPULATED
//
// THEN COMES A FOR LOOP
async.eachSeries(teacherHours, function (teacherHour, done) {
// MORE STUFF
//
//AND ANOTHER LOOP
async.whilst(function () {
return availableHours > 0;
}, function (cb) {
// AGAIN A BUNCH OF STUFF
//
// NOW I'M PREPARING MY NEXT QUERY
//
var myQueryGetFreeRoom =
"SELECT rms.rid FROM rooms_tbl AS rms WHERE NOT EXISTS ("
+ "SELECT NULL FROM classes_tbl AS cls"
+ " WHERE ("
+ "(cls.bis > '" + bisMinus1 + "' AND cls.bis <= '" + realBis + "')"
+ " OR (cls.von > '" + bisMinus1 + "' AND cls.von < '" + realBis + "')"
+ ") AND ("
+ "cls.datum = '" + teacherHour.datum.getFullYear() + "-" + (teacherHour.datum.getMonth() + 1) + "-" + teacherHour.datum.getDate() + "'"
+ ") AND cls.rid = rms.rid";
async.waterfall([
function (cb) {
connection.query(myQueryGetFreeRoom, cb);
},
function(rowRIDS, fields, cb) {
roomIDs = rowRIDS;
console.log("the rowRIDS" + rowRIDS);
//
// MORE STUFF
// HAPPENING
//
if (roomIDs.length > 0) {
//
// PREPARING QUERY NO.3 - WHICH IS WHERE MY ERROR POINTS - TO THE USE OF tid PROPERTY
//
var myQueryBookClass = "INSERT INTO classes_tbl (rid, tid, belegtAnz, datum, von, bis) VALUES ("
+ Math.floor(Math.random() * roomIDs.length)
+ ", " + teacherHour.tid
+ ", 0, '" + teacherHour.datum.getFullYear() + "-" + (teacherHour.datum.getMonth() + 1) + "-" + teacherHour.datum.getDate() + "', '" + bisMinus1 + "', '" + realBis + "')";
console.log("myQueryBookClass: " + myQueryBookClass);
availableHours = 0;
//
// HERE WAS SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW QUERY 3 - myQueryBookClass
//
// BUT SINCE I DONT EVEN GET INSIDE HERE IT IS IN COMMENTS
//
connection.query(myQueryBookClass, function (err, insertRows, fields) {
if (err) {
console.error('error querying: '+err.stack);
return;
}
console.log("Inserted Rows: "+ insertRows);
// Here do whatever you need to do, then call the callback;
cb();
});
} else {
--availableHours;
//
// STUFF HAPPENING
//
cb();
}
}
], function (err) {
if (!err) {
// Notice that you are decrementing the `availableHours` twice here and above.
// Make sure this is what you want.
--availableHours;
}
cb(err);
});
}, done);
}, function (err) {
connection.release(function (err) {
if (err) {
console.error('error disconnecting: ' + err.stack);
return;
}
});
});
}
], function (err) {
conn && pool.release(conn);
err && throw err;
});
Next time please format your code properly for better readability which will help yourself to get answers faster, and split your question text into paragraphs for the same purpose.
Explanation
There are four nested async flows:
async.waterfall
-> async.eachSeries
-> async.whilst
-> async.waterfall
Basically, the async.waterfall library allows you to execute a list of functions in series.
Every next function will be executed only after the previous function has returned the response.
To indicate that a function is completed and the results are available, it has to call the callback, in our case it is cb (you can call it whatever you like, eg. callback). The rule is to call it, otherwise, the next function will never be executed because the previous one doesn't seem to have finished its work.
Once the previous function has completed, it calls the provided cb with the following signature:
cb(err, connection);
If there was an error while requesting for a connection, the entire async.waterfall will interrupt and the final callback function will be executed.
If there was no error, the connection will be provided as a second argument. async module passes all arguments of the previous function to the next function as the first, second, etc. arguments which is why the second function receives the conn as the first argument.
Every next function will receive the callback cb as the last argument, which you must eventually call when the job is done.
Thus, in the first async.waterfall flow:
It requests a new database connection.
Once the connection is available, the next function is executed which sends a query to the database.
Waits for the query results, then once the results are available, it is ready to run the next function which iterates over each row.
async.eachSeries allows to iterate over a gives array of values sequentially.
In the second async.eachSeries flow:
It iterates over each element in the teacherHours array sequentially.
Once each element is processed (however you want), you must call the done callback. Again, you could have called this as cb like in the previous async.waterfall or callback. done is just for clarity that the process is done.
Then we have the async.whilst which provides the same logic as the normal while () {} statement but handles the loop asynchronously.
In this third async.whilst flow:
Calls the first function. Its return value indicates whether it has to continue the loop, i.e. call the second asynchronous function.
If the return value is truthful (availableHours > 0), then the second function is called.
When the async function is done, it must call the provided callback cb to indicate that it is over. Then async module will call the first function to check if it has to continue the loop.
In this asynchronous function inside async.whilst we have another async.waterfall because you need to send queries to the database for each teacherHour.
In this last fourth async.watercall flow:
It sends the SELECT query to the database.
Waits for the response. Once the rowRIDS are available, it calls the second function in the waterfall.
If there are rowRIDS (roomIDs.length > 0), it sends the INSERT query to the database.
Once done, it calls the callback cb.
If there were no rowRIDs, it calls the callback cb, too, to indicate that the job is done.
It is a great thing that JavaScript is asynchronous. It might be difficult at the beginning when you convert from other synchronous languages, but once you get the idea, it will be hard to thing synchronously. It becomes so intuitive that you will start thinking why other languages don't work asynchronous.
I hope I could explain the above code thoroughly. Enjoy JavaScript! It's awesome!

Array filled in the wrong order

I have a strange problem, when I push my result in my array, the result isn't at the right position in my array (for example the result instead of being at the index number 1 is at the index 3), and when I re-run my module results change of position randomly in the array .
var cote = function(links, callback) {
var http = require('http');
var bl = require('bl');
var coteArgus = [];
for (i = 0; i < links.length; i ++) {
http.get('http://www.website.com/' + links[i], function(response) {
response.pipe(bl(function(err, data) {
if (err) {
callback(err + " erreur");
return;
}
var data = data.toString()
newcoteArgus = data.substring(data.indexOf('<div class="tx12">') + 85, data.indexOf(';</span>') - 5);
myresult.push(newcoteArgus);
callback(myresult);
}));
});
}
};
exports.cote = cote;
The problem lies in the fact that although the for is synchronous the http.get and the pipe operation are not (I/O is async in nodejs) so the order of the array depends on which request and pipe finishes first which is unknown.
Try to avoid making async operations in a loop, instead use libraries like async for flow control.
I think this can be done in the right order, using async map
Here a sample with map and using request module.
// There's no need to make requires inside the function,
// is better just one time outside the function.
var request = require("request");
var async = require("async");
var cote = function(links, callback) {
var coteArgus = [];
async.map(links, function(link, nextLink) {
request("http://www.website.com/" + link, function(err, response, body) {
if (err) {
// if error so, send to line 28 with a error, exit from loop.
return nextLink(err);
}
var newcoteArgus = body.substring(
body.indexOf("<div class='tx12'>") + 85,
body.indexOf(";</span>") - 5
);
// pass to next link, and add newcoteArgus to the final result
nextLink(null, newcoteArgus);
});
},
function(err, results) {
// if there's some errors, so call with error
if(err) return callback(err);
// there's no errors so get results as second arg
callback(null, results);
});
};
exports.cote = cote;
One more thing, i'm not sure, really what you are doing in the part where you search html content in the responses but there's a really good library to work with JQuery selectors from server side maybe can be useful for you.
Here's how you should call the function
// Call function sample.
var thelinks = ["features", "how-it-works"];
cote(thelinks, function(err, data) {
if(err) return console.log("Error: ", err);
console.log("data --> ", data);
});

node.js nested callback, get final results array

I am doing a for loop to find the result from mongodb, and concat the array. But I am not getting the final results array when the loop is finished. I am new to node.js, and I think it's not working like objective-c callback.
app.get('/users/self/feed', function(req, res){
var query = Bill.find({user: req.param('userId')});
query.sort('-createdAt');
query.exec(function(err, bill){
if (bill) {
var arr = bill;
Following.findOne({user: req.param('userId')}, function(err, follow){
if (follow) {
var follows = follow.following; //this is a array of user ids
for (var i = 0; i < follows.length; i++) {
var followId = follows[i];
Bill.find({user: followId}, function(err, result){
arr = arr.concat(result);
// res.send(200, arr);// this is working.
});
}
} else {
res.send(400, err);
}
});
res.send(200, arr); //if put here, i am not getting the final results
} else {
res.send(400, err);
}
})
});
While I'm not entirely familiar with MongoDB, a quick reading of their documentation shows that they provide an asynchronous Node.js interface.
That said, both the findOne and find operations start, but don't necessarily complete by the time you reach res.send(200, arr) meaning arr will still be empty.
Instead, you should send your response back once all asynchronous calls complete meaning you could do something like:
var billsToFind = follows.length;
for (var i = 0; i < follows.length; i++) {
var followId = follows[i];
Bill.find({user: followId}, function(err, result){
arr = arr.concat(result);
billsToFind -= 1;
if(billsToFind === 0){
res.send(200, arr);
}
});
}
The approach uses a counter for all of the inner async calls (I'm ignoring the findOne because we're currently inside its callback anyway). As each Bill.find call completes it decrements the counter and once it reaches 0 it means that all callbacks have fired (this works since Bill.find is called for every item in the array follows) and it sends back the response with the full array.
That's true. Your codes inside for will be executed in parallel at the same time (and with the same value of i I think). If you added console.log inside and after your for loop you will found the outside one will be printed before inside one.
You can wrap the code that inside your for into array of functions and execute them by using async module (https://www.npmjs.org/package/async) in parallel or series, and retrieve the final result from async.parallel or async.series's last parameter.

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