Develop Reference

WinJS : Returning promise from a function

I would like to make a function that returns a promise. That promise would contain the data of an asynchronous call made in the function. What I want it to look like :
//Function that do asynchronous work
function f1() {
var url = ...
WinJS.xhr({ url: url }).then(
function completed(request) {
var data = ...processing the request...
...
},
function error(request) {
...
});
}
//Code that would use the result of the asynchronous function
f1().done(function(data) {
...
});
The only way I found to make this work is to pass a callback to f1 and call it when I have the data. Using callbacks though seems to defeat the goal achieved by promises. Is there a way to make it work like above? Also, I could return WinJS.xhr in f1, but the done method of f1 would return the request and not the "data".

There's little to change:
function f1() {
var url = …;
return WinJS.xhr({ url: url }).then(function completed(request) {
// ^^^^^^
var data = …; // processing the request
return data;
// ^^^^^^^^^^^
});
}
//Code that would use the result of the asynchronous function
f1().done(function(data) {
…
}, function error(request) {
… // better handle errors in the end
});
You don't want to return the WinJS.xhr() itself indeed, but you want to return the result of the .then(…) call which is exactly the promise that resolves with the return value of the callback. This is one of the main features of promises :-)

Increment for only after the previous interaction has been finished (callback)

I'm having a problem with callback functions in javascript. What I want to do is: loop on a for and call a function passing i as parameter. With that in mind, I have to loop to the next interaction only after the previous one has been finished. I don't know if this is a problem but inside the function I'm sending i as parameter, I have another callback function. Here is my code:
for(i=0; i<10; i++) {
aux(i, function(success) {
/*
* this should be made interaction by interaction
* but what happens is: while I'm still running my first interaction
* (i=0), the code loops for i=1, i=2, etc. before the response of
* the previous interaction
*/
if(!success)
doSomething();
else
doSomethingElse();
});
}
function aux(i, success) {
... //here I make my logic with "i" sent as parameter
getReturnFromAjax(function(response) {
if(response)
return success(true);
else
return success(false);
});
});
function getReturnFromAjax(callback) {
...
$.ajax({
url: myUrl,
type: "POST",
success: function (response) {
return callback(response);
}
});
}

jQuery's Deferred can be a bit tricky to get right. What you'll have to do is stack your promises in a chain. For example:
var
// create a deferred object
dfd = $.Deferred(),
// get the promise
promise = dfd.promise(),
// the loop variable
i
;
for(i = 0; i < 10; i += 1) {
// use `then` and use the new promise for next itteration
promise = promise.then(
// prepare the function to be called, but don't execute it!
// (see docs for .bind)
aux.bind(null, i, function(success) {
success ? doSomethingElse() : doSomething();
})
);
}
// resolve the deferred object
dfd.resolve();
for this to work, aux must also return a promise, but $.ajax already does this, so just pass it through and everything should work:
in aux:
function aux(i, callback) {
console.log('executing for `aux` with', i);
// return the ajax-promise
return getReturnFromAjax(function(response) {
callback(Boolean(response));
});
}
in getReturnFromAjax:
function getReturnFromAjax(callback) {
// return the ajax-promise
return $.ajax({
url: '%your-url%',
type: '%method%',
success: function (response) {
callback(response);
}
});
}
demo: http://jsbin.com/pilebofi/2/

I'd suggest that you'd look into jQuery's Deferred Objects and jQuery.Deferred()-method instead of making your own callback queue functions (as you are already using jQuery anyway).
Description: A constructor function that returns a chainable utility
object with methods to register multiple callbacks into callback
queues, invoke callback queues, and relay the success or failure state
of any synchronous or asynchronous function.

I don't have experience with jQuery, but your callback looks a bit fishy to me.
In plain JS I'd suggest trying something among the lines of this:
function yourMainFunction
{
function callbackHandler(result)
{
// Code that depends on on the result of the callback
}
getAjaxResults(callbackHandler);
}
function getAjaxResults(callbackHandler)
{
// Create xmlHttpRequest Handler, etc.
// Make your AJAX request
xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = function()
{
if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4 && xmlHttp.status==200)
{
// Do stuff you want to do if the request was successful
// Define a variable with the value(s) you want to return to the main function
callbackHandler(yourReturnVariable);
}
}
}

Getting caller name during ajaxSend or ajaxSuccess

I want to extend all of my application's ajax calls with some special case handlers and be able to refire the method that started the ajax call if I need to. The problem I am having is I cannot get the name of the calling function that triggered the ajax call from my anonymous function event handlers, either ajaxSend or ajaxSuccess. I have tried all of the variations of caller/callee that are commented below plus many others. Here is some sample code:
var ajaxcaller;
$(document).ajaxSend(function(event,xhr,settings){
// Before we fire off our call lets store the caller.
// ajaxcaller = arguments.callee.caller.name;
//alert("get caller:"+arguments.callee.caller.name);
//alert("get caller:"+caller.name);
//alert("get caller:"+this.caller.toString());
//alert("get caller:"+event.caller.toString());
});
$(document).ajaxSuccess(function(event,xhr,settings){
var xobj = $.parseJSON(request.responseText);
if(xobj.ReFire === 1){
//Successful ajax call but not results we expected, let's refire
//Fix some params automagically here then
//SOME CODE HERE THAT Refires my caller
}
});
$(document).ajaxError(function(event,xhr,settings){
var xobj = $.parseJSON(request.responseText);
if(xobj.ReFire === 1){
//Fix some params automagically here then
//SOME CODE HERE THAT Refires my caller
}
});

Here's an idea, however I am not sure how reliable it would be, but you could intercept jQuery.ajax calls and append a caller property to the options that would reference the calling function as well as an args property that would reference the arguments that were passed to that function.
I am sure that if you play around with that idea, you will find a solution to your problem. If you don't like the idea of overriding jQuery.ajax, you could simply make sure to pass those references as options in all your ajax calls.
DEMO: http://jsfiddle.net/zVsk2/
jQuery.ajax = (function (fn) {
return function (options) {
var caller = arguments.callee.caller;
options.caller = caller;
options.args = caller.arguments;
return fn.apply(this, arguments);
};
})(jQuery.ajax);
$(document).ajaxSend(function (e, xhr, options) {
console.log('caller', options.caller);
console.log('args', options.args);
});
function getRecords(someArgument) {
return $.ajax({
url: '/echo/json/',
dataType: 'json',
data: {
json: JSON.stringify({ test: someArgument})
}
});
}
getRecords(1);
getRecords(2);

Tying the result of web service call back to the calling function in Javascript

I'm probably missing something simple but given this JS code:
var WS = {
whoami: function () {
var toReturn;
$.getJSON("/SecurityData/GetCurrentUser", function (data) {
toReturn = data.Email;
});
return toReturn;
}
}
When I call it, if I put a breakpoint on the toReturn = data.Email, the expected data is there but if don't WS.whoami is undefined.
I assume this is because the $.getJSON call is async, but how can I get the desired effect?

Ajax is asynchronous and returns a promise object. Instead, return the promise object and add a callback to it.
var WS = {
whoami: function () {
return $.getJSON("/SecurityData/GetCurrentUser");
}
};
WS.whoami().done(function(data){
alert(data.Email);
});
The only other option would be to make it a synchronous request, however I do not recommend it due to the impact it will have on your UX. You would have to use $.ajax and async:false

A better solution would be to call your function with a callback. This way, your code stays async, and continues when the json call is complete.
var WS = {
whoami: function (callback) {
$.getJSON("/SecurityData/GetCurrentUser", callback);
}
}
WS.whoami(function(data) {
// code that uses var data
});

Javascript module pattern, ajax functions callbacks

var ajaxStuff = (function () {
var doAjaxStuff = function() {
//an ajax call
}
return {
doAjaxStuff : doAjaxStuff
}
})();
Is there any way to make use of this pattern, and fetch the response from a successful ajaxcall when calling my method? Something like this:
ajaxStuff.doAjaxStuff(successHandler(data){
//data should contain the object fetched by ajax
});
Hope you get the idea, otherwise I'll elaborate.

Two things:
1. Add a parameter to the doAjaxStuff function.
2. When invoking doAjaxStuff, pass in an anonymous function (or the name of a function)
var ajaxSuff = (function () {
var doAjaxStuff = function(callback) {
// do ajax call, then:
callback(dataFromAjaxCall);
}
return {
doAjaxStuff : doAjaxStuff
}
})();
// calling it:
ajaxStuff.doAjaxStuff(function(data){
//data should contain the object fetched by ajax
});

Just let doAjaxStuff accept a callback:
var doAjaxStuff = function(callback) {
// an ajax call
// Inside the Ajax success handler, call
callback(response); // or whatever the variable name is
}
Depending on your overall goals, you could also use deferred objects instead (or in addition). This makes your code highly modular. For example:
var doAjaxStuff = function() {
// $.ajax is just an example, any Ajax related function returns a promise
// object. You can also create your own deferred object.
return $.ajax({...});
}
// calling:
ajaxStuff.doAjaxStuff().done(function(data) {
// ...
});

I believe you need to read the jQuery docs for jQuery.ajax. You could make a call as simple as:
$.ajax('/path/to/file').success(function (data) {
doStuff();
})