Develop Reference

How to repeat iteration based on number of retries

I am uploading file chunks to Dropbox and I need to add a simple retry into my loop. So if the first attempt fails, retry another 2 times before giving up.
To give some context. Im uploading a file in chunks to Dropbox. But, I need to allow the script to fail gracefully. Asking the script to repeat the upload 3 times before I kill the upload and give the user an error.
For example (not actual attempt just a concept):
var retries = 3;
jQuery(dropbox.chunks).each(function(index, chunk){
var result = anothingFunction();
if (result == true) {
//continue the loop
}
if (result == false) {
retries--;
if (retries > 0) {
//Retry this iteration
}
if (retries = 0) {
//Kill the entire loop as this upload clearly is not going to happen.
}
}
}

NodeJS and Mongoose Callback inside a For Loop

So here's the problem. I have a REST API that handles a booking creation, however, before saving the booking inside mongo it validates if there is a clash with another booking.
exports.create = function(req, res) {
var new_type = new Model(req.body);
var newBooking = new_type._doc;
//check if the new booking clashes with existing bookings
validateBooking.bookingClash(newBooking, function(clash){
if(clash == null) // no clashes, therefore save new booking
{
new_type.save(function(err, type) {
if (err)
{
res.send(err); //error saving
}
else{
res.json(type); //return saved new booking
}
});
}
else //clash with booking
{
//respond with "clashDate"
}
});
};
Here you have the validation function to check if there is a clash with bookings on the same day:
exports.bookingClash = function (booking, clash) {
//find the bookings for the same court on the same day
var courtId = (booking.courtId).toString();
Model.find({courtId: courtId, date: booking.date}, function(err, bookings) {
if(err == null && bookings == null)
{
//no bookings found so no clashes
clash(null);
}
else //bookings found
{
//for each booking found, check if the booking start hour falls between other booking hours
for(var i = 0; i<bookings.length ; i++)
{
//here is where I check if the new booking clashes with bookings that are already in the DB
{
//the new booking clashes
//return booking date of the clash
clash(clashDate); //return the clashDate in order to tell the front-end
return;
}
}
//if no clashes with bookings, return null
clash(null);
}
});
};
So, ALL of this works with one single new booking. However, now I want to be able to handle a recursive booking (booking that is made weekly). I have recreated the "create" function and call the validateBooking.bookingClash function inside a for loop.
Unfortunately, when I run this, it calls the bookingClash function perfectly, but when it reaches the line making the search in the database:
Model.find({courtId: courtId, date: booking.date}, function(err, bookings)
It does not wait for the callback and before handling the response "clash", makes i++ and continues.
How can I make it work and wait for the callback?
var array = req.body;
var clashes = [];
for(var i = 0; i<array.length;i++)
{
validateBooking.bookingClash(array[i], function(clash)
{
if(clash)
{
clashes.push(clash);
}
else{
console.log("no clash");
}
}
}

Seems like a basic async call problem, for loops do not wait for callbacks to be called.
You could use async 'series' function for exmaple instead of the for loop. This way each find will get called after the previous one.
Mongoose also has a promise based syntax which can help you : http://mongoosejs.com/docs/promises.html

You Can use async eachSeries
async.eachSeries(users, function iterator(user, callback) {
if(something) {
//thing you want to do
callback();
} else {
callback();
}
}

Since you are using callback functions there are two ways you could try to solve this:
1) use some external library that allows you to perform an asynchronous map operation and run all the checks for each clash. Once they are done check the combined results for a clash and proceed accordingly
I would suggest using the async library
your code would look something like:
async.map(array,(entry,callback) => validateBooking.bookingClash(entry,callback),(error,mappingResults)=>{...})
2) you could try to change this function to a recursive one
`function recursiveValidation(arrayToCheck,mainCallback){
if(arrayToCheck.length === 0) {
return cb(null} // end of array without errors
}
validateBooking.bookingClash(_.head(arrayToCheck), function(clash)
{
if(clash)
{
return mainCallback(clash);
}
return recursiveValidation(_.tail(arrayToCheck),mainCallback);
}
}`
The above code is just a mockup but it should show the point.
The _ is lodash

No need to changing anything in your code except the declaration use let instead of var and your loop should work.
var array = req.body;
var clashes = [];
`
for(**let** i = 0; i<array.length;i++)
{
validateBooking.bookingClash(array[i], function(clash)
{
if(clash)
{
clashes.push(clash);
}
else{
console.log("no clash");
}
}
}`
You have to understand the difference between let and var. Also why var cannot be used for running async code inside a loop.
Learn about let: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Statements/let

I found the way to get this done after trying all of your answers.
What I had to do was this:
validateBooking.singleBooking(new_type._doc, newBookingClubId, function (clash) {
if (clash == null) // no clash
{
validatorArray.push(0);
if(validatorArray.length == array.length) //has received everything from mongo
{
console.log("Clashes: " + clashes.toString());
if(validatorArray.indexOf(1) > -1) //contains a clash
{
var error = {
code: 409,
message: "409 Conflict",
clashes: clashes
};
errorsHandler.handleError(error, res);
}
This way, I created an array called "validatorArray" that was called every time I received something back from Mongo.
This way I could easily compare the length of the array of bookings and the validatorArray length. When they were equal, it meant that it had received everything back from mongo and could send back the response.
Thanks for the help!

Simplest possible irrevocable timout / cooldown function?

I'm trying to add a 1 second cooldown to my send-message system (as in, you can send 1 message per second max). So my initial thought was simply to create a timeout, and before attempting in sending to check if it exists still. That turned out to take more line of code than I anticipated initially.
Is there something I'm missing here? Isn't there something as simple as:
//inside some message sending function
if(!mySuperCooldown)
{
//send message
mySuperCooldown = cooldown(1000);
}
Everything else I construct successfully ends up taking loads of lines, and it appears to me as something someone thought of before. Thank you, and excuse my illiteracy.

Have a flag that allows messages, and set it to false when a message is sent. Then set a timeout for 1000 milliseconds that resets the flag to true.
var allowMessage = true;
function sendMessage(msg) {
if (allowMessage) {
//do something
allowMessage = false;
setTimeout(() => allowMessage = true, 1000);
}
}

Make a higher order function that turns a normal function into one that is rate limited:
function rate_limit(delay, func) {
var last_call = null;
return function() {
if (last_call && (Date.now() - last_call <= delay)) {
return;
}
last_call = Date.now();
return func();
};
}
You can then rate limit any function:
var my_function = rate_limit(1000, function() {
console.log('foo');
});
Running my_function() will only call your original function once per second.

Navigating in a WinJS app always throws an exception

Every time I try to perform a navigation in the ready function of a page, the application crashes.
Specifically, it fails at the WinJS.Navigation.navigate("/pages/login/login.html", {}); line below:
// This function is called whenever a user navigates to this page. It
// populates the page elements with the app's data.
ready: function (element, options) {
var listView = element.querySelector(".groupeditemslist").winControl;
listView.groupHeaderTemplate = element.querySelector(".headertemplate");
listView.itemTemplate = element.querySelector(".itemtemplate");
listView.oniteminvoked = this._itemInvoked.bind(this);
// Set up a keyboard shortcut (ctrl + alt + g) to navigate to the
// current group when not in snapped mode.
listView.addEventListener("keydown", function (e) {
if (appView.value !== appViewState.snapped && e.ctrlKey && e.keyCode === WinJS.Utilities.Key.g && e.altKey) {
var data = listView.itemDataSource.list.getAt(listView.currentItem.index);
this.navigateToGroup(data.group.key);
e.preventDefault();
e.stopImmediatePropagation();
}
}.bind(this), true);
this._initializeLayout(listView, appView.value);
listView.element.focus();
initialize();
}
function initialize() {
// Check if user is logged in
if (is_logged_in !== true) {
WinJS.Navigation.navigate("/pages/login/login.html", {});
}
else {
// TODO: Replace the data with your real data.
// You can add data from asynchronous sources whenever it becomes available.
generateSampleData().forEach(function (item) {
list.push(item);
});
}
}
Anyone know why this happens?

There are a couple routes you could take here:
Catch the unhandled exception and ignore it
Structure your code to avoid setting up the error condition
To ignore the error you can setup a WinJS.Application.onerror handler that can deal with unhandled exceptions. Here's a forum post that guides you in this solution: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winappswithhtml5/thread/686188b3-852d-45d5-a376-13115dbc889d
In general, I'd say you're better off avoiding the exception all together. To that end - What's happening here is that only one navigation event (promise) can occur at a time. The navigation promise used to navigate to groupedItems is still running when you're inside of the ready function. When you call initialize, which then calls WinJS.Navigation.navigate("/pages/login/login.html", {}); it sees this and tries to first cancel the currently running navigation promise which results in the exception you're seeing.
Instead, you can use the window.setImmediate function to setup your call to initialize() to run after the current script block exits. To do this, replace your call to initialize() with:
window.setImmediate(this.initialize.bind(this));

If your running your code on the RTM version after coming from the Release Preview this should sort your problem.
function initialize() {
// Check if user is logged in
if (is_logged_in !== true) {
WinJS.Navigation.navigate("/pages/login/login.html", {});
}
else {
// TODO: Replace the data with your real data.
// You can add data from asynchronous sources whenever it becomes available.
generateSampleData().forEach(function (item) {
list.push(item);
});
}
}
var markSupportedForProcessing = WinJS.Utilities.markSupportedForProcessing;
var requireSupportedForProcessing = WinJS.Utilities.requireSupportedForProcessing;
markSupportedForProcessing(initialize);
requireSupportedForProcessing(initialize);
You should probably take a look at the migration docs which details what the above is actually for and why: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30706

Javascript Variable Sometimes Undefined

I know this question has been asked several times, but I couldn't seem to find a solution that worked for me in any of the previous questions. I have a variable that gets set when my HTML page is done loading, but sometimes when my code tries to access that variable, it says that it is undefined. I'm not sure why, since I believe I am waiting for everything to load properly. This exception seems to happen randomly, as most of the time all the code runs fine. Here's a simplified version of my code:
var globalVar;
function initStuff(filePath) {
// I wait till the HTML page is fully loaded before doing anything
$(document).ready(function(){
var video = document.getElementById("videoElementID");
// My parseFile() function seems to run smoothly
var arrayOfStuff = parseFile(filePath);
if (arrayOfStuff == null) {
console.error("Unable to properly parse the file.");
} else {
setGlobalVariable(arrayOfStuff);
video.addEventListener("play", updateVideoFrame, false);
}
});
}
function setGlobalVariable(arrayOfStuff) {
window.globalVar = arrayOfStuff;
}
function updateVideoFrame() {
// A bunch of other code happens first
// This is the line that fails occasionally, saying
// "window.globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray[0] is undefined"
var test = window.globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray[0].aProperty;
}
The only thing that I can think of that might be causing this problem is some sort of synchronicity issue. I don't see why that would be the case, though. Help please!
Edit:
In case the asynchronicity issue is coming from my parseFile(xmlFile) method, here is what I'm doing there. I thought it couldn't possibly be causing the issue, since I force the method to happen synchronously, but in case I'm wrong, here it is:
function parseKML(xmlFile) {
var arrayOfStuff = new Array();
// Turn the AJAX asynchronicity off for the following GET command
$.ajaxSetup( { async : false } );
// Open the XML file
$.get(xmlFile, {}, function(xml) {
var doc = $("Document", xml);
// Code for parsing the XML file is here
// arrayOfStuff() gets populated here
});
// Once I'm done processing the XML file, I turn asynchronicity back on, since that is AJAX's default state
$.ajaxSetup( { async : true } );
return arrayOfStuff;
}

The first thing you should do in your code is figure out which part of:
window.globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray[0]
is undefined.
Since you have multiple chained property references and array references, it could be many different places in the chain. I'd suggest either set a breakpoint right before your reference it examine what's in it or use several console.log() statement sto output each nested piece of the structure in order to find out where your problem is.
console.log("globalVar = " + globalVar);
console.log("globalVar[0] = " + globalVar[0]);
console.log("globalVar[0].aProperty = " + globalVar[0].aProperty);
console.log("globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray = " + globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray);
console.log("globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray[0] = " + globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray[0]);
If the problem is that globalVar isn't yet set, then you have a timing problem or an initialization problem.
If the problem is that one of the other properties isn't set, then you aren't initializing globalVar with what you think you are.
You may also want to write your code more defensibly so it fails gracefully if some of your data isn't set properly.

You need to use defensive programming.
http://www.javascriptref.com/pdf/ch23_ed2.pdf
Example:
var video = document.getElementById("videoElementID") || 0;
-
if( video && video.addEventListener ){
video.addEventListener("play", updateVideoFrame, false);
}
Here's another version of your code.
window.globalVar = globalVar || [];
function setGlobalVariable(arrayOfStuff) {
window.globalVar = arrayOfStuff;
}
function updateVideoFrame() {
// A bunch of other code happens first
// This is the line that fails occasionally, saying
// "window.globalVar[0].aProperty.anArray[0] is undefined"
if( window.globalVar ){
var g = window.globalVar || [];
var d = (g[0] || {})["aProperty"];
// etc...
}else{
console.error( "test error." );
}
}
function initStuff(filePath) {
// I wait till the HTML page is fully loaded before doing anything
$(document).ready(function () {
var video = $("#videoElementID");
// My parseFile() function seems to run smoothly
var arrayOfStuff = parseFile(filePath) || [];
if (arrayOfStuff == null || video == null ) {
console.error("Unable to properly parse the file.");
} else {
setGlobalVariable(arrayOfStuff);
video.bind("play", updateVideoFrame);
}
});
}