How to wrap async function calls into a sync function in Node.js or Javascript?

Question

Suppose you maintain a library that exposes a function getData. Your users call it to get actual data:
var output = getData();
Under the hood data is saved in a file so you implemented getData using Node.js built-in fs.readFileSync. It's obvious both getData and fs.readFileSync are sync functions. One day you were told to switch the underlying data source to a repo such as MongoDB which can only be accessed asynchronously. You were also told to avoid pissing off your users, getData API cannot be changed to return merely a promise or demand a callback parameter. How do you meet both requirements?

Asynchronous function using callback/promise is the DNA of JavasSript and Node.js. Any non-trivial JS app is probably permeated with this coding style. But this practice can easily lead to so called callback pyramid of doom. Even worse, if any code in any caller in the call chain depends on the result of the async function, those code has to be wrapped in callback function as well, imposing a coding style constraint on caller. From time to time I find the need to encapsulate an async function (often provided in a 3rd party library) into a sync function in order to avoid massive global re-factoring. Searching for a solution on this subject usually ended up with Node Fibers or npm packages derived from it. But Fibers just cannot solve the problem I am facing. Even the example provided by Fibers' author illustrated the deficiency:

...
Fiber(function() {
    console.log('wait... ' + new Date);
    sleep(1000);
    console.log('ok... ' + new Date);
}).run();
console.log('back in main');

Actual output:

wait... Fri Jan 21 2011 22:42:04 GMT+0900 (JST)
back in main
ok... Fri Jan 21 2011 22:42:05 GMT+0900 (JST)

If function Fiber really turns async function sleep into sync, the output should be:

wait... Fri Jan 21 2011 22:42:04 GMT+0900 (JST)
ok... Fri Jan 21 2011 22:42:05 GMT+0900 (JST)
back in main

I have created another simple example in JSFiddle and looking for code to yield expected output. I'll accept a solution that only works in Node.js so you are free to require any npm package despite not working in JSFiddle.

Answer 1

deasync turns async function into sync, implemented with a blocking mechanism by calling Node.js event loop at JavaScript layer. As a result, deasync only blocks subsequent code from running without blocking entire thread, nor incuring busy wait. With this module, here is the answer to the jsFiddle challenge:

function AnticipatedSyncFunction(){
  var ret;
  setTimeout(function(){
      ret = "hello";
  },3000);
  while(ret === undefined) {
    require('deasync').runLoopOnce();
  }
  return ret;    
}


var output = AnticipatedSyncFunction();
//expected: output=hello (after waiting for 3 sec)
console.log("output="+output);
//actual: output=hello (after waiting for 3 sec)

(disclaimer: I am the co-author of deasync. The module was created after posting this question and found no workable proposal.)

Answer 2

There is a npm sync module also. which is used for synchronize the process of executing the query.

When you want to run parallel queries in synchronous way then node restrict to do that because it never wait for response. and sync module is much perfect for that kind of solution.

Sample code

/*require sync module*/
var Sync = require('sync');
    app.get('/',function(req,res,next){
      story.find().exec(function(err,data){
        var sync_function_data = find_user.sync(null, {name: "sanjeev"});
          res.send({story:data,user:sync_function_data});
        });
    });


    /*****sync function defined here *******/
    function find_user(req_json, callback) {
        process.nextTick(function () {

            users.find(req_json,function (err,data)
            {
                if (!err) {
                    callback(null, data);
                } else {
                    callback(null, err);
                }
            });
        });
    }

reference link: https://www.npmjs.com/package/sync

Answer 3

You've got to use promises:

const asyncOperation = () => {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        setTimeout(()=>{resolve("hi")}, 3000)
    })
}

const asyncFunction = async () => {
    return await asyncOperation();
}

const topDog = () => {
    asyncFunction().then((res) => {
        console.log(res);
    });
}

I like arrow function definitions more. But any string of the form "() => {...}" could also be written as "function () {...}"

So topDog is not async despite calling an async function.

EDIT: I realize a lot of the times you need to wrap an async function inside a sync function is inside a controller. For those situations, here's a party trick:

const getDemSweetDataz = (req, res) => {
    (async () => {
        try{
            res.status(200).json(
                await asyncOperation()
            );
        }
        catch(e){
            res.status(500).json(serviceResponse); //or whatever
        }
    })() //So we defined and immediately called this async function.
}

Utilizing this with callbacks, you can do a wrap that doesn't use promises:

const asyncOperation = () => {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        setTimeout(()=>{resolve("hi")}, 3000)
    })
}

const asyncFunction = async (callback) => {
    let res = await asyncOperation();
    callback(res);
}

const topDog = () => {
    let callback = (res) => {
        console.log(res);
    };

    (async () => {
        await asyncFunction(callback)
    })()
}

By applying this trick to an EventEmitter, you can get the same results. Define the EventEmitter's listener where I've defined the callback, and emit the event where I called the callback.

Answer 4

If function Fiber really turns async function sleep into sync

Yes. Inside the fiber, the function waits before logging ok. Fibers do not make async functions synchronous, but allow to write synchronous-looking code that uses async functions and then will run asynchronously inside a Fiber.

From time to time I find the need to encapsulate an async function into a sync function in order to avoid massive global re-factoring.

You cannot. It is impossible to make asynchronous code synchronous. You will need to anticipate that in your global code, and write it in async style from the beginning. Whether you wrap the global code in a fiber, use promises, promise generators, or simple callbacks depends on your preferences.

My objective is to minimize impact on the caller when data acquisition method is changed from sync to async

Both promises and fibers can do that.

Answer 5

Nowadays this generator pattern can be a solution in many situations.

Here an example of sequential console prompts in nodejs using async readline.question function:

var main = (function* () {

  // just import and initialize 'readline' in nodejs
  var r = require('readline')
  var rl = r.createInterface({input: process.stdin, output: process.stdout })

  // magic here, the callback is the iterator.next
  var answerA = yield rl.question('do you want this? ', r=>main.next(r))    

  // and again, in a sync fashion
  var answerB = yield rl.question('are you sure? ', r=>main.next(r))        

  // readline boilerplate
  rl.close()

  console.log(answerA, answerB)

})()  // <-- executed: iterator created from generator
main.next()     // kick off the iterator, 
                // runs until the first 'yield', including rightmost code
                // and waits until another main.next() happens

Answer 6

I can't find a scenario that cannot be solved using node-fibers. The example you provided using node-fibers behaves as expected. The key is to run all the relevant code inside a fiber, so you don't have to start a new fiber in random positions.

Lets see an example: Say you use some framework, which is the entry point of your application (you cannot modify this framework). This framework loads nodejs modules as plugins, and calls some methods on the plugins. Lets say this framework only accepts synchronous functions, and does not use fibers by itself.

There is a library that you want to use in one of your plugins, but this library is async, and you don't want to modify it either.

The main thread cannot be yielded when no fiber is running, but you still can create plugins using fibers! Just create a wrapper entry that starts the whole framework inside a fiber, so you can yield the execution from the plugins.

Downside: If the framework uses setTimeout or Promises internally, then it will escape the fiber context. This can be worked around by mocking setTimeout, Promise.then, and all event handlers.

So this is how you can yield a fiber until a Promise is resolved. This code takes an async (Promise returning) function and resumes the fiber when the promise is resolved:

framework-entry.js

console.log(require("./my-plugin").run());

async-lib.js

exports.getValueAsync = () => {
  return new Promise(resolve => {
    setTimeout(() => {
      resolve("Async Value");
    }, 100);
  });
};

my-plugin.js

const Fiber = require("fibers");

function fiberWaitFor(promiseOrValue) {
  var fiber = Fiber.current, error, value;
  Promise.resolve(promiseOrValue).then(v => {
    error = false;
    value = v;
    fiber.run();
  }, e => {
    error = true;
    value = e;
    fiber.run();
  });
  Fiber.yield();
  if (error) {
    throw value;
  } else {
    return value;
  }
}

const asyncLib = require("./async-lib");

exports.run = () => {
  return fiberWaitFor(asyncLib.getValueAsync());
};

my-entry.js

require("fibers")(() => {
  require("./framework-entry");
}).run();

When you run node framework-entry.js it will throw an error: Error: yield() called with no fiber running. If you run node my-entry.js it works as expected.

Answer 7

You shouldn't be looking at what happens around the call that creates the fiber but rather at what happens inside the fiber. Once you are inside the fiber you can program in sync style. For example:

function f1() {
    console.log('wait... ' + new Date);
    sleep(1000);
    console.log('ok... ' + new Date);   
}

function f2() {
    f1();
    f1();
}

Fiber(function() {
    f2();
}).run();

Inside the fiber you call f1, f2 and sleep as if they were sync.

In a typical web application, you will create the Fiber in your HTTP request dispatcher. Once you've done that you can write all your request handling logic in sync style, even if it calls async functions (fs, databases, etc.).

Answer 8

Making Node.js code sync is essential in few aspects such as database. But actual advantage of Node.js lies in async code. As it is single thread non-blocking.

we can sync it using important functionality Fiber() Use await() and defer () we call all methods using await(). then replace the callback functions with defer().

Normal Async code.This uses CallBack functions.

function add (var a, var b, function(err,res){
       console.log(res);
});

 function sub (var res2, var b, function(err,res1){
           console.log(res);
    });

 function div (var res2, var b, function(err,res3){
           console.log(res3);
    });

Sync the above code using Fiber(), await() and defer()

fiber(function(){
     var obj1 = await(function add(var a, var b,defer()));
     var obj2 = await(function sub(var obj1, var b, defer()));
     var obj3 = await(function sub(var obj2, var b, defer()));

});

I hope this will help. Thank You

Answer 9

I struggled with this at first with node.js and async.js is the best library I have found to help you deal with this. If you want to write synchronous code with node, approach is this way.

var async = require('async');

console.log('in main');

doABunchOfThings(function() {
  console.log('back in main');
});

function doABunchOfThings(fnCallback) {
  async.series([
    function(callback) {
      console.log('step 1');
      callback();
    },
    function(callback) {
      setTimeout(callback, 1000);
    },
    function(callback) {
      console.log('step 2');
      callback();
    },
    function(callback) {
      setTimeout(callback, 2000);
    },
    function(callback) {
      console.log('step 3');
      callback();
    },
  ], function(err, results) {
    console.log('done with things');
    fnCallback();
  });
}

this program will ALWAYS produce the following...

in main
step 1
step 2
step 3
done with things
back in main

Answer 10

Javascript is a single threaded language, you don't want to block your whole server! Async code eliminates, race conditions by making dependencies explicit.

Learn to love asynchronous code!

Have a look at promises for asynchronous code without creating a pyramid of callback hell. I recommend the promiseQ library for node.js

httpGet(url.parse("http://example.org/")).then(function (res) {
    console.log(res.statusCode);  // maybe 302
    return httpGet(url.parse(res.headers["location"]));
}).then(function (res) {
    console.log(res.statusCode);  // maybe 200
});

http://howtonode.org/promises

EDIT: this is by far my most controversial answer, node now has yield keyword, which allows you to treat async code as if it were sychronous. http://blog.alexmaccaw.com/how-yield-will-transform-node