Related
Given the following examples, why is outerScopeVar undefined in all cases?
var outerScopeVar;
var img = document.createElement('img');
img.onload = function() {
outerScopeVar = this.width;
};
img.src = 'lolcat.png';
alert(outerScopeVar);
var outerScopeVar;
setTimeout(function() {
outerScopeVar = 'Hello Asynchronous World!';
}, 0);
alert(outerScopeVar);
// Example using some jQuery
var outerScopeVar;
$.post('loldog', function(response) {
outerScopeVar = response;
});
alert(outerScopeVar);
// Node.js example
var outerScopeVar;
fs.readFile('./catdog.html', function(err, data) {
outerScopeVar = data;
});
console.log(outerScopeVar);
// with promises
var outerScopeVar;
myPromise.then(function (response) {
outerScopeVar = response;
});
console.log(outerScopeVar);
// with observables
var outerScopeVar;
myObservable.subscribe(function (value) {
outerScopeVar = value;
});
console.log(outerScopeVar);
// geolocation API
var outerScopeVar;
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function (pos) {
outerScopeVar = pos;
});
console.log(outerScopeVar);
Why does it output undefined in all of these examples? I don't want workarounds, I want to know why this is happening.
Note: This is a canonical question for JavaScript asynchronicity. Feel free to improve this question and add more simplified examples which the community can identify with.
One word answer: asynchronicity.
Forewords
This topic has been iterated at least a couple of thousands of times here in Stack Overflow. Hence, first off I'd like to point out some extremely useful resources:
#Felix Kling's answer to "How do I return the response from an asynchronous call?". See his excellent answer explaining synchronous and asynchronous flows, as well as the "Restructure code" section.
#Benjamin Gruenbaum has also put a lot of effort into explaining asynchronicity in the same thread.
#Matt Esch's answer to "Get data from fs.readFile" also explains asynchronicity extremely well in a simple manner.
The answer to the question at hand
Let's trace the common behavior first. In all examples, the outerScopeVar is modified inside of a function. That function is clearly not executed immediately; it is being assigned or passed as an argument. That is what we call a callback.
Now the question is, when is that callback called?
It depends on the case. Let's try to trace some common behavior again:
img.onload may be called sometime in the future when (and if) the image has successfully loaded.
setTimeout may be called sometime in the future after the delay has expired and the timeout hasn't been canceled by clearTimeout. Note: even when using 0 as delay, all browsers have a minimum timeout delay cap (specified to be 4ms in the HTML5 spec).
jQuery $.post's callback may be called sometime in the future when (and if) the Ajax request has been completed successfully.
Node.js's fs.readFile may be called sometime in the future when the file has been read successfully or thrown an error.
In all cases, we have a callback that may run sometime in the future. This "sometime in the future" is what we refer to as asynchronous flow.
Asynchronous execution is pushed out of the synchronous flow. That is, the asynchronous code will never execute while the synchronous code stack is executing. This is the meaning of JavaScript being single-threaded.
More specifically, when the JS engine is idle -- not executing a stack of (a)synchronous code -- it will poll for events that may have triggered asynchronous callbacks (e.g. expired timeout, received network response) and execute them one after another. This is regarded as Event Loop.
That is, the asynchronous code highlighted in the hand-drawn red shapes may execute only after all the remaining synchronous code in their respective code blocks have executed:
In short, the callback functions are created synchronously but executed asynchronously. You can't rely on the execution of an asynchronous function until you know it has been executed, and how to do that?
It is simple, really. The logic that depends on the asynchronous function execution should be started/called from inside this asynchronous function. For example, moving the alerts and console.logs inside the callback function would output the expected result because the result is available at that point.
Implementing your own callback logic
Often you need to do more things with the result from an asynchronous function or do different things with the result depending on where the asynchronous function has been called. Let's tackle a bit more complex example:
var outerScopeVar;
helloCatAsync();
alert(outerScopeVar);
function helloCatAsync() {
setTimeout(function() {
outerScopeVar = 'Nya';
}, Math.random() * 2000);
}
Note: I'm using setTimeout with a random delay as a generic asynchronous function; the same example applies to Ajax, readFile, onload, and any other asynchronous flow.
This example clearly suffers from the same issue as the other examples; it is not waiting until the asynchronous function executes.
Let's tackle it by implementing a callback system of our own. First off, we get rid of that ugly outerScopeVar which is completely useless in this case. Then we add a parameter that accepts a function argument, our callback. When the asynchronous operation finishes, we call this callback, passing the result. The implementation (please read the comments in order):
// 1. Call helloCatAsync passing a callback function,
// which will be called receiving the result from the async operation
helloCatAsync(function(result) {
// 5. Received the result from the async function,
// now do whatever you want with it:
alert(result);
});
// 2. The "callback" parameter is a reference to the function which
// was passed as an argument from the helloCatAsync call
function helloCatAsync(callback) {
// 3. Start async operation:
setTimeout(function() {
// 4. Finished async operation,
// call the callback, passing the result as an argument
callback('Nya');
}, Math.random() * 2000);
}
Code snippet of the above example:
// 1. Call helloCatAsync passing a callback function,
// which will be called receiving the result from the async operation
console.log("1. function called...")
helloCatAsync(function(result) {
// 5. Received the result from the async function,
// now do whatever you want with it:
console.log("5. result is: ", result);
});
// 2. The "callback" parameter is a reference to the function which
// was passed as an argument from the helloCatAsync call
function helloCatAsync(callback) {
console.log("2. callback here is the function passed as argument above...")
// 3. Start async operation:
setTimeout(function() {
console.log("3. start async operation...")
console.log("4. finished async operation, calling the callback, passing the result...")
// 4. Finished async operation,
// call the callback passing the result as argument
callback('Nya');
}, Math.random() * 2000);
}
Most often in real use cases, the DOM API and most libraries already provide the callback functionality (the helloCatAsync implementation in this demonstrative example). You only need to pass the callback function and understand that it will execute out of the synchronous flow and restructure your code to accommodate for that.
You will also notice that due to the asynchronous nature, it is impossible to return a value from an asynchronous flow back to the synchronous flow where the callback was defined, as the asynchronous callbacks are executed long after the synchronous code has already finished executing.
Instead of returning a value from an asynchronous callback, you will have to make use of the callback pattern, or... Promises.
Promises
Although there are ways to keep the callback hell at bay with vanilla JS, promises are growing in popularity and are currently being standardized in ES6 (see Promise - MDN).
Promises (a.k.a. Futures) provide a more linear, and thus pleasant, reading of the asynchronous code, but explaining their entire functionality is out of the scope of this question. Instead, I'll leave these excellent resources for the interested:
JavaScript Promises - HTML5 Rocks
You're Missing the Point of Promises - domenic.me
More reading material about JavaScript asynchronicity
The Art of Node - Callbacks explains asynchronous code and callbacks very well with vanilla JS examples and Node.js code as well.
Note: I've marked this answer as Community Wiki. Hence anyone with at least 100 reputations can edit and improve it! Please feel free to improve this answer or submit a completely new answer if you'd like as well.
I want to turn this question into a canonical topic to answer asynchronicity issues that are unrelated to Ajax (there is How to return the response from an AJAX call? for that), hence this topic needs your help to be as good and helpful as possible!
FabrÃcio's answer is spot on; but I wanted to complement his answer with something less technical, which focusses on an analogy to help explain the concept of asynchronicity.
An Analogy...
Yesterday, the work I was doing required some information from a colleague. I rang him up; here's how the conversation went:
Me: Hi Bob, I need to know how we foo'd the bar'd last week. Jim wants a report on it, and you're the only one who knows the details about it.
Bob: Sure thing, but it'll take me around 30 minutes?
Me: That's great Bob. Give me a ring back when you've got the information!
At this point, I hung up the phone. Since I needed information from Bob to complete my report, I left the report and went for a coffee instead, then I caught up on some email. 40 minutes later (Bob is slow), Bob called back and gave me the information I needed. At this point, I resumed my work with my report, as I had all the information I needed.
Imagine if the conversation had gone like this instead;
Me: Hi Bob, I need to know how we foo'd the bar'd last week. Jim want's a report on it, and you're the only one who knows the details about it.
Bob: Sure thing, but it'll take me around 30 minutes?
Me: That's great Bob. I'll wait.
And I sat there and waited. And waited. And waited. For 40 minutes. Doing nothing but waiting. Eventually, Bob gave me the information, we hung up, and I completed my report. But I'd lost 40 minutes of productivity.
This is asynchronous vs. synchronous behavior
This is exactly what is happening in all the examples in our question. Loading an image, loading a file off disk, and requesting a page via AJAX are all slow operations (in the context of modern computing).
Rather than waiting for these slow operations to complete, JavaScript lets you register a callback function which will be executed when the slow operation has completed. In the meantime, however, JavaScript will continue to execute other code. The fact that JavaScript executes other code whilst waiting for the slow operation to complete makes the behaviorasynchronous. Had JavaScript waited around for the operation to complete before executing any other code, this would have been synchronous behavior.
var outerScopeVar;
var img = document.createElement('img');
// Here we register the callback function.
img.onload = function() {
// Code within this function will be executed once the image has loaded.
outerScopeVar = this.width;
};
// But, while the image is loading, JavaScript continues executing, and
// processes the following lines of JavaScript.
img.src = 'lolcat.png';
alert(outerScopeVar);
In the code above, we're asking JavaScript to load lolcat.png, which is a sloooow operation. The callback function will be executed once this slow operation has done, but in the meantime, JavaScript will keep processing the next lines of code; i.e. alert(outerScopeVar).
This is why we see the alert showing undefined; since the alert() is processed immediately, rather than after the image has been loaded.
In order to fix our code, all we have to do is move the alert(outerScopeVar) code into the callback function. As a consequence of this, we no longer need the outerScopeVar variable declared as a global variable.
var img = document.createElement('img');
img.onload = function() {
var localScopeVar = this.width;
alert(localScopeVar);
};
img.src = 'lolcat.png';
You'll always see a callback is specified as a function, because that's the only* way in JavaScript to define some code, but not execute it until later.
Therefore, in all of our examples, the function() { /* Do something */ } is the callback; to fix all the examples, all we have to do is move the code which needs the response of the operation into there!
* Technically you can use eval() as well, but eval() is evil for this purpose
How do I keep my caller waiting?
You might currently have some code similar to this;
function getWidthOfImage(src) {
var outerScopeVar;
var img = document.createElement('img');
img.onload = function() {
outerScopeVar = this.width;
};
img.src = src;
return outerScopeVar;
}
var width = getWidthOfImage('lolcat.png');
alert(width);
However, we now know that the return outerScopeVar happens immediately; before the onload callback function has updated the variable. This leads to getWidthOfImage() returning undefined, and undefined being alerted.
To fix this, we need to allow the function calling getWidthOfImage() to register a callback, then move the alert'ing of the width to be within that callback;
function getWidthOfImage(src, cb) {
var img = document.createElement('img');
img.onload = function() {
cb(this.width);
};
img.src = src;
}
getWidthOfImage('lolcat.png', function (width) {
alert(width);
});
... as before, note that we've been able to remove the global variables (in this case width).
Here's a more concise answer for people that are looking for a quick reference as well as some examples using promises and async/await.
Start with the naive approach (that doesn't work) for a function that calls an asynchronous method (in this case setTimeout) and returns a message:
function getMessage() {
var outerScopeVar;
setTimeout(function() {
outerScopeVar = 'Hello asynchronous world!';
}, 0);
return outerScopeVar;
}
console.log(getMessage());
undefined gets logged in this case because getMessage returns before the setTimeout callback is called and updates outerScopeVar.
The two main ways to solve it are using callbacks and promises:
Callbacks
The change here is that getMessage accepts a callback parameter that will be called to deliver the results back to the calling code once available.
function getMessage(callback) {
setTimeout(function() {
callback('Hello asynchronous world!');
}, 0);
}
getMessage(function(message) {
console.log(message);
});
Promises
Promises provide an alternative which is more flexible than callbacks because they can be naturally combined to coordinate multiple async operations. A Promises/A+ standard implementation is natively provided in node.js (0.12+) and many current browsers, but is also implemented in libraries like Bluebird and Q.
function getMessage() {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
setTimeout(function() {
resolve('Hello asynchronous world!');
}, 0);
});
}
getMessage().then(function(message) {
console.log(message);
});
jQuery Deferreds
jQuery provides functionality that's similar to promises with its Deferreds.
function getMessage() {
var deferred = $.Deferred();
setTimeout(function() {
deferred.resolve('Hello asynchronous world!');
}, 0);
return deferred.promise();
}
getMessage().done(function(message) {
console.log(message);
});
async/await
If your JavaScript environment includes support for async and await (like Node.js 7.6+), then you can use promises synchronously within async functions:
function getMessage () {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
setTimeout(function() {
resolve('Hello asynchronous world!');
}, 0);
});
}
async function main() {
let message = await getMessage();
console.log(message);
}
main();
To state the obvious, the cup represents outerScopeVar.
Asynchronous functions be like...
The other answers are excellent and I just want to provide a straight forward answer to this. Just limiting to jQuery asynchronous calls
All ajax calls (including the $.get or $.post or $.ajax) are asynchronous.
Considering your example
var outerScopeVar; //line 1
$.post('loldog', function(response) { //line 2
outerScopeVar = response;
});
alert(outerScopeVar); //line 3
The code execution starts from line 1, declares the variable and triggers and asynchronous call on line 2, (i.e., the post request) and it continues its execution from line 3, without waiting for the post request to complete its execution.
Lets say that the post request takes 10 seconds to complete, the value of outerScopeVar will only be set after those 10 seconds.
To try out,
var outerScopeVar; //line 1
$.post('loldog', function(response) { //line 2, takes 10 seconds to complete
outerScopeVar = response;
});
alert("Lets wait for some time here! Waiting is fun"); //line 3
alert(outerScopeVar); //line 4
Now when you execute this, you would get an alert on line 3. Now wait for some time until you are sure the post request has returned some value. Then when you click OK, on the alert box, next alert would print the expected value, because you waited for it.
In real life scenario, the code becomes,
var outerScopeVar;
$.post('loldog', function(response) {
outerScopeVar = response;
alert(outerScopeVar);
});
All the code that depends on the asynchronous calls, is moved inside the asynchronous block, or by waiting on the asynchronous calls.
In all these scenarios outerScopeVar is modified or assigned a value asynchronously or happening in a later time(waiting or listening for some event to occur),for which the current execution will not wait.So all these cases current execution flow results in outerScopeVar = undefined
Let's discuss each examples(I marked the portion which is called asynchronously or delayed for some events to occur):
1.
Here we register an eventlistner which will be executed upon that particular event.Here loading of image.Then the current execution continuous with next lines img.src = 'lolcat.png'; and alert(outerScopeVar); meanwhile the event may not occur. i.e, funtion img.onload wait for the referred image to load, asynchrously. This will happen all the folowing example- the event may differ.
2.
Here the timeout event plays the role, which will invoke the handler after the specified time. Here it is 0, but still it registers an asynchronous event it will be added to the last position of the Event Queue for execution, which makes the guaranteed delay.
3.
This time ajax callback.
4.
Node can be consider as a king of asynchronous coding.Here the marked function is registered as a callback handler which will be executed after reading the specified file.
5.
Obvious promise (something will be done in future) is asynchronous. see What are the differences between Deferred, Promise and Future in JavaScript?
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-a-promise-and-a-callback-in-Javascript
The short answer is : asynchronicity.
Why asynchronous is needed?
JavaScript is single-threaded, meaning that two bits of the script cannot run at the same time; they have to run one after another. In browsers, JavaScript shares a thread with a load of other stuff that differs from browser to browser. But typically JavaScript is in the same queue as painting, updating styles, and handling user actions (such as highlighting text and interacting with form controls). Activity in one of these things delays the others.
You've probably used events and callbacks to get around this. Here are events:
var img1 = document.querySelector('.img-1');
img1.addEventListener('load', function() {
// image loaded
console.log("Loaded");
});
img1.addEventListener('error', function() {
// error caught
console.log("Error printed");
});
<img class="img-1" src="#" alt="img">
This isn't sneezy at all. We get the image, add a couple of listeners, then JavaScript can stop executing until one of those listeners is called.
Unfortunately, in the example above, it's possible that the events happened before we started listening for them, so we need to work around that using the "complete" property of images:
var img1 = document.querySelector('.img-1');
function loaded() {
// image loaded
console.log("Loaded");
}
if (img1.complete) {
loaded();
} else {
img1.addEventListener('load', loaded);
}
img1.addEventListener('error', function() {
// error caught
console.log("Error printed");
});
<img class="img-1" src="#" alt="img">
This doesn't catch images that errored before we got a chance to listen for them; unfortunately, the DOM doesn't give us a way to do that. Also, this is loading one image. Things get even more complex if we want to know when a set of images have loaded.
Events aren't always the best way
Events are great for things that can happen multiple times on the same object— keyup, touchstart etc. With those events, you don't really care about what happened before you attached the listener.
The two main ways to do it correctly: are callbacks and promises.
Callbacks
Callbacks are functions that are passed inside the arguments of other functions, this procedure is valid in JavaScript because functions are objects and objects can be passed as arguments to functions. The basic structure of the callback function looks something like this:
function getMessage(callback) {
callback();
}
function showMessage() {
console.log("Hello world! I am a callback");
}
getMessage(showMessage);
Promise
Although there are ways to keep the callback hell at bay with vanilla JS, promises are growing in popularity and are currently being standardized in ES6 (see Promise).
A promise is a placeholder representing the eventual result (value) of an asynchronous operation
the promise placeholder will be replaced by the result value (if successful) or reason for failure (if unsuccessful)
If you don't need to know when something happened, but just whether it happened or not, then a promise is what you are looking for.
A promise is a bit like an event listener, except that:
a promise can only succeed or fail once
a promise can't switch from fail to success, or vice versa
once you have a result, the promise is immutable
if a promise has succeeded or failed, and you later add a success/failure callback, the correct callback will be called
it doesn't matter that the event occurred before you added the callback
Note: Always return a result from a function inside a Promise, otherwise there's nothing for the subsequent function to act on.
Promise Terminology
A promise can be:
fulfilled: The action relating to the promise succeeded
the asynchronous operation has completed
the promise has a value
the promise will not change again
rejected: The action relating to the promise failed
the asynchronous operation failed
the promise will never be fulfilled
the promise has a reason indicating why the operation failed
the promise will not change again
pending: Hasn't fulfilled or rejected yet
the asynchronous operation hasn't been completed yet
can transition to fulfilled or rejected
settled: Has been fulfilled or rejected and is thus immutable
How to Create a Promise
function getMessage() {
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
setTimeout(function() {
resolve('Hello world! I am a promise');
}, 0);
});
}
getMessage().then(function(message) {
console.log(message);
});
I want to make a stack of Ajax calls in this way: call(n) starts after call(n-1) finished...
I cannot use async:false for many reasons:
some requests maybe jsonp (the most relevant)
I have other ajax requests that may work meanwhile..
The browser got blocked
I cannot chain my requests this way:
$.post('server.php', {param:'param1'}, function(data){
//process data
$.post('server.php', {param:'param2'}, function(data){
//process data
});
});
Because the number and params of the requests are dynamically created from user input.
A small example that illustrates my problem.
You will see that the server response order is random, what I want to achieve is to have it in order
Response to arg1
Response to arg2
Response to arg3
Response to arg4
Response to arg5
Response to arg6
Any help would be very appreciated, thanks.
Ok, jQuery Ajax returns a Deferred Object, this can help you achieve this.
Here is how to do it:
var args = ['arg1','arg2','arg3','arg4','arg5','arg6'];
deferredPost(0, 5);
function deferredPost(index, max){
var delay = Math.random()*3;
if (index<max){
return $.post('/echo/html/', {html:('Response to '+args[index]), delay:delay},
function(data){
$('#response').append(data+'<br>');
}).then(function(){
deferredPost(index+1, max);
});
} else {
return $.post('/echo/html/', {html:('Response to '+args[index]), delay:delay},
function(data){
$('#response').append(data+'<br>');
});
}
}
DEMO
Here I used then function.
I also recommend to read a little bit more about deferred objects, they can solve a couple of common problems.
This is a job for a queue.
var queue = ['arg1','arg2','arg3','arg4','arg5','arg6'];
function runQueueInOrder() {
if (queue.length === 0) { return; }
var arg = queue.pop();
var delay = Math.random()*3;
$.post('/echo/html/', {html:('Response to '+ arg), delay:delay},
function(data){
$('#response').append(data+'<br>');
}).then(function() {
runQueueInOrder();
});
}
runQueueInOrder();
You don't need to use jQuery's then for this to work if you've encapsulated the processing of the queue in a function. It's handy though. The code is destructive as it removes elements from the original array (but as they are processed, it's usually OK).
The method runQueueInOrder is called to initiate processing.
When there is no more work to be done, the function simply exits. (I've written a version that polls on a timer before, but that's not needed here).
The function grabs the next work arg, calls your post call syntax, and when done uses jQuery's deferred then callback to call the function again (to process the queue further if needed).
(I looked at the other answer and found it confusing to follow, so I took a simpler approach. Using my simple version, you can add new items as new work is discovered--or remove them.).
I just wanted to understand the coding flow of ajax function. let me give one simple example,
function test() { alert("Hello"); alert("World"); }
if you run this function, the first dialog would be Hello and the second would be World, Right? But why in ajax the coding structure doesn't go through in same fashion.
ajaxRequest.open("POST", "pos/write", true);
ajaxRequest.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
ajaxRequest.send("user=Ram"); /* this line can be written anywhere */
ajaxRequest.onreadystatechange = function() {
if(ajaxRequest.readyState == 4 && ajaxRequest.status == 200){
alert("done"); }
// ajaxRequest.send("user=Ram");
as you can see, .send('user=Ram') written above & below the .readyState, but it runs successfully in both case. This is what i want to understand, why doesn't ajax fn() follow the code sequence
You have to keep in mind that .send() is asynchronous. Immediately after .send() is called, you're wiring up the onreadystatechange handler on the same object that will eventually receive the response from pos/write. Even though it appears after the request was initiated, there will always be time for it to run and wire that handler up before the response comes back, the XHR object changes its readyState to 4, and your onreadystatechange event handler is executed.
Ajax and Reflection
I am developing an ajax-based application and wondering, what role reflection plays or might play here?
Probably most importantly I am asking myself, if it would be a good approach to
handle all ajax responses through a single handler,
reflect or interpret the data or error
delegate further processing (e.g. where to inject the html) based upon the analysis.
Is this a budding procedure? What pros and cons come to mind?
Additional clearification
My current implementation, which I am not happy with, looks like this.
Register eventhandlers for user action, which lead to ajax requests.
For each request:
Determine which container is the target for the new content
Validate the ajax response
Pass the result to the appropiate rendering function if everything is as expected
Here is an example
function setGamedayScoringChangeHandlers() {
$("#community").delegate("div.community div.nav", "click", function() {
var orderId = $(this).html();
var communityId = $(this).closest('.communityView ').dashId();
requestGamedayScoringByOrderId(communityId, orderId);
});
}
function requestGamedayScoringByOrderId(communityId, orderId) {
var $targetContainer = $('#community-' + communityId + '-gameday');
$.ajax({
url: '?api=league&func=getGamedayScoringByCommunityIdAndOrderId',
data: {
communityId : communityId,
orderId : orderId
},
success: function(result) {
// custom indicator, that sth. didn't work as supposed
if (result.success === false) {
// a php error couldn't be handled as expected
if (result.error === 'phpRuntimeError') {
// ..
}
// ..
}
else {
renderGamedayScoring(result, $targetContainer);
}
}
});
}
Question
How can this and especially the redundant error checking be simplified? Could Reflection, in a sense of: "Is the response valid? And what does the error message say or data look like?" be a reasonable structure do deal with this? Additionally: Is the "coupling" of the actual ajax request and determing the $targetContainer a "normal" procedure?
Many thanks,
Robson
Yes I think register ajax handler trought one pipe is a good way, because it is more easy to control, you will have less redundant code and less boarding effects. If I look at your code comments it seems the response is not as you expect. I use to do like this for controling a group of ajax request talking with server script. I build one request object like :
// myscript.js
var rqPHP = {
url:'php/dispatcher.php', type:'POST', dataType:'json',
success:function(json, status, jXHR){
//console.log('rqPHP.succes : ', json);
if(!json) return console.warn('[rqPHP.success] json is null');
if(!json.cmd) return console.warn('[rqPHP.success] json.cmd is null');
if(!json.res) return console.warn('[rqPHP.success] json.res is null');
if(json.err && json.err.length){ console.warn('[rqPHP.success errors cmd:'+json.cmd+'] '+json.err);}
// so if no errors, dispatch actions based on original command asked
switch(json.cmd){
case 'loadfile' :
// do whatever with response
break;
case 'savefile' :
// do whatever with response
break;
}
},
error:function(jXHR, status, err){
console.warn('[rqPHP.error] ', status,',',err,',',jXHR.responseText);
}
};
then when use this object trought all my group of different actions and I precise wich action and arguments I pass. I use to ask for a json data so I am able to receive an easy parsing response, so I am able to return the original command asked, and some details on errors that may occured for example, and when I need to fire the request :
// myscript.js
rqPHP.data = {'cmd':'loadfile', 'filename':'file.dat', 'arg2':'other argument'};
$.ajax(rqPHP);
Then an example of one server script that will respond :
// dispatcher.php
$pv = $_POST;
$res = '';
$err = array();
// you check the command asked for :
switch(strtolower($pv['cmd'])){
case 'savefile' :
// do whatever
break;
case 'loadfile' :
// do whatever
if(any error){
$err[] = $loadError;// push error with whatever details you'll retrieve in javascript
}else{
$res = ',"res":"'.$dataLoaded.'"';// format json response so you'll check the var exist
}
break;
}
$jsonRes = '{"cmd":"'.$pv['cmd'].'"'.$res.',"err":"'.implode('|', $err).'"}';// json result
print $jsonRes;
They may be some errors, it is just for the principe, I hope that will help, just some last advices :
you should better use the requestObject.data to pass any arguments instead of setting the url like you did, this is much more easy because jQuery does the properly encoding work
you may use POST so the url stay clean, post vars are 'hidden'
in your case, because you may want to centralize server actions with ONE server script, you should use 'json' as dataType because it is much easier to retrieve details from the response, such errors. You have to distinct the ajax error that is trigger when the url doesn't exist, or access denied, well when the server replies it just can't respond to this request, and distinct the properly response of your server script, I mean the script responds well but it may occur an command error, for example for a 'loadfile' command, the argument fileUrl may be wrong or unreadable, so the action is done but the response will be not valid for you...
If you plan to fire many loads for differents parts (I mean you may don't wait response for an ajax before loading a new one), it should be better to set main success and errors functions for keeping centralization and then build one new request object each time you make a load
function rqSuccess(json, status, jXHR){
// put same checking code as before, then you can also retrieve some particular variables
// here, 'this' should correspond to the request object used for the $.ajax so :
console.log('myTarget is : ', this.myTarget, ' , myVariable is : ', this.myVariable);
}
function rqError(jXHR, status, err){
// put same checking code
}
// then each time you want make one or many independant calls, build a new request object
var myRq = {url:'dispatcher.php',type:'POST',dataType:'json',
success:rqSuccess,
error:rqError,
myTarget:$('#myblock'),// any variable you want to retrieve in response functions
myVariable:'Hello !',// after all it is an object, you can store anything you may need, just be carefull of reserved variables of the ajax object (see jQuery $.ajax doc)
// the data object is sanitized and sended to your server script, so put only variables it will need
data : {'cmd':'loadfile',...}
}
$.ajax(myRq);
// you may load an other independant one without waiting for the response of the first
var myRq2 = {...myTarget:$('#anotherblock'), data:{'cmd':'anotheraction'}...}
$.ajax(myRq2);
As a first step, you should change the error handling on the serverside to produce a non-OK/200 response for error cases, e.g. throw a 500. Then have that handled as an actual error on the clientside, along with other errors, instead of putting it through the success-callback.
That way you can use jQuery's abstractions for global error handling: http://api.jquery.com/ajaxError
I've build a livesearch with the jQuery.ajax() method. On every keyup events it receives new result data from the server.
The problem is, when I'm typing very fast, e.g. "foobar" and the GET request of "fooba" requires more time than the "foobar" request, the results of "fooba" are shown.
To handle this with the timeout parameter is impossible, I think.
Has anyone an idea how to solve this?
You can store and .abort() the last request when starting a new one, like this:
var curSearch;
$("#myInput").keyup(function() {
if(curSearch) curSearch.abort(); //cancel previous search
curSearch = $.ajax({ ...ajax options... }); //start a new one, save a reference
});
The $.ajax() method returns the XmlHttpRequest object, so just hang onto it, and when you start the next search, abort the previous one.
Assign a unique, incrementing ID to each request, and only show them in incrementing order. Something like this:
var counter = 0, lastCounter = 0;
function doAjax() {
++counter;
jQuery.ajax(url, function (result) {
if (counter < lastCounter)
return;
lastCounter = counter;
processResult(result);
});
}
You should only start the search when the user hasn't typed anything for a while (500ms or so). This would prevent the problem you're having.
An excellent jQuery plugin which does just that is delayedObserver:
http://code.google.com/p/jquery-utils/wiki/DelayedObserver
Make it so each cancels the last. That might be too much cancellation, but when typing slows, it will trigger.
That seems like an intense amount of traffic to send an ajax request for every KeyUp event. You should wait for the user to stop typing - presumably that they are done, for at least a few 100 milliseconds.
What I would do is this:
var ajaxTimeout;
function doAjax() {
//Your actual ajax request code
}
function keyUpHandler() {
if (ajaxTimeout !== undefined)
clearTimeout(ajaxTimeout);
ajaxTimeout = setTimeout(doAjax, 200);
}
You may have to play with the actual timeout time, but this way works very well and does not require any other plugins.
Edit:
If you need to pass in parameters, create an inline function (closure).
...
var fun = function() { doAjax(params...) };
ajaxTimeout = setTimeout(fun, 200);
You will want some kind of an ajax queue such as:
http://plugins.jquery.com/project/ajaxqueue
or http://www.protofunc.com/scripts/jquery/ajaxManager/
EDIT:Another option, study the Autocomplete plug-in code and emulate that.(there are several Autocomplete as well as the one in jquery UI
OR just implement the Autocomplete if that serves your needs