//EDITED FOR CLARITY
I am trying to chain dispatches with redux thunk
function simple_action(){
return {type: "SIMPLE_ACTION"}
}
export function async_action(){
return function(dispatch, getState){
return dispatch(simple_action).then(()=>{...});
}
}
How do I get the dispatch to return a promise from the store?
MORE SPECIFICALLY:
I am probably just not understanding something here, but in all the examples with redux-thunk
, they call a separate async event (like fetch
), which obviously returns a Promise
.
What I'm specifically looking for is when I dispatch an action to the store: How do I make certain the store has processed that action completely before anything else happens in the function action_creator()
above.
Ideally, I would like the store to return some sort of promise, but I don't understand how or where that happens?
Here you have an example on how to dispatch and chain async action. https://github.com/gaearon/redux-thunk
The thunk middleware knows how to turn thunk async actions into actions, so you just have to have your simple_action() to be a thunk and the thunk middleware will do the job for you, if the middleware see a normal action, he will dispatch this action as normal action but if it's an async function it will turn your async action into normal action.
So your simple_action need to be a thunk ( A thunk is a function that returns a function.) Like this for example:
function makeASandwichWithSecretSauce(forPerson) {
return function (dispatch) {
return fetchSecretSauce().then(
sauce => dispatch(makeASandwich(forPerson, sauce)),
error => dispatch(apologize('The Sandwich Shop', forPerson, error))
);
};
}
When using the makeASandwichWithSecretSauce function you can use the dispatch function
store.dispatch(
makeASandwichWithSecretSauce('Me')
);
And even
// It even takes care to return the thunk’s return value
// from the dispatch, so I can chain Promises as long as I return them.
store.dispatch(
makeASandwichWithSecretSauce('My wife')
).then(() => {
console.log('Done!');
});
Here a complete example on how you can write action creators that dispatch actions and async actions from other action creators, and build your control flow with Promises.
function makeSandwichesForEverybody() {
return function (dispatch, getState) {
if (!getState().sandwiches.isShopOpen) {
// You don’t have to return Promises, but it’s a handy convention
// so the caller can always call .then() on async dispatch result.
return Promise.resolve();
}
//Do this action before starting the next one below
dispatch(simple_action());
// We can dispatch both plain object actions and other thunks,
// which lets us compose the asynchronous actions in a single flow.
return dispatch(
makeASandwichWithSecretSauce('My Grandma')
).then(() =>
Promise.all([
dispatch(makeASandwichWithSecretSauce('Me')),
dispatch(makeASandwichWithSecretSauce('My wife'))
])
).then(() =>
dispatch(makeASandwichWithSecretSauce('Our kids'))
).then(() =>
dispatch(getState().myMoney > 42 ?
withdrawMoney(42) :
apologize('Me', 'The Sandwich Shop')
)
);
};
}
//apologize and withdrawMoney are simple action like this for example
return {
type: "END_SUCESS"
}
//usage
store.dispatch(
makeSandwichesForEverybody()
).then(() =>
console.log("Done !");
);
To create you own promises you can use a library like bluebird.
//EDIT :
To be sure that the store has processed that action completely before anything else happens in the function action_creator() you can dispatch this simple_action before action_creator(); // I added this comment to the code //Do this action before starting the next one below
dispatch
will return whatever the action/function it calls returns; so if you want to chain certain activities (as per your example), your action would need to return a Promise
.
As @Aaleks mentions, if your action were a thunk
you can create a scenario where you return a Promise
, then you could do as you mention.
BTW I think naming your thunk
action_creator
is a bit misleading, as simple_action
is actually an Action Creator in Redux parlance - have edited accordingly :)
This is a pattern I've been using recently:
export const someThenableThunk = someData => (dispatch, getState) => Promise.resolve().then(() => {
const { someReducer } = getState();
return dispatch({
type: actionTypes.SOME_ACTION_TYPE,
someData,
});
});
When you dispatch(someThenableThunk('hello-world'))
, it returns a Promise
object that you can chain further actions to.