Checking for delayed asynchronous code in NodeJS

Question

A little ticky question, First, I have a plugin:

exports.action = function(){
  // Running synchronous code
  runMyRequest("path/to/url", function(){
    // My code is asynchronous
  });
}

Then I call this plugin from a require:

var plugin = require('myplugin')
plugin.action();
// continue stuff

Question: Is there any ways at "continue stuff" to check if "My code is asynchronous" is running or finished ? And so wait for it ?

Note: In my real code plugins must call a callback(). The purpose of this question is to do something if plugin's code forget to call my callback()

Answer 1

I don't believe so but you can use setTimeout to call a function if the plugin doesn't call the callback in a specific period of time. If the callback is called you clear the timeout.

Answer 2

Question: ... And so wait for it ?

I've recently created a simple abstraction named WaitFor to call async functions in sync mode (based on Fibers): https://github.com/luciotato/waitfor

First, "action" should have a callback as parameter, because as it is written in your example, it is an async function (returns immediately) but it doesn't have a callback.

your code with wait.for:

exports.action = function(callback){
  // Running synchronous code
  runMyRequest("path/to/url", function(){
    // My code is asynchronous
    ...
    callback(err,data);
  });
}

Then call this plugin from a require:

var wait = require('wait.for')
var plugin = require('myplugin')

...in a fiber...
wait.for(plugin.action); // waits until callback is called (WITHOUT BLOCKING NODE)
// continue stuff 

Wait.for will give you other advantages, like sequential try-catch programming, when needed.