How can I synchronously determine a JavaScript Pro

Question

I have a pure JavaScript Promise (built-in implementation or poly-fill):

var promise = new Promise(function (resolve, reject) { /* ... */ });

From the specification, a Promise can be one of:

• 'settled' and 'resolved'
• 'settled' and 'rejected'
• 'pending'

I have a use case where I wish to interrogate the Promise synchronously and determine:

• is the Promise settled?

• if so, is the Promise resolved?

I know that I can use #then() to schedule work to be performed asynchronously after the Promise changes state. I am NOT asking how to do this.

This question is specifically about synchronous interrogation of a Promise's state. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

I've written a little npm package, promise-value, which provides a promise wrapper with a resolved flag:

https://www.npmjs.com/package/promise-value

It also gives synchronous access to the promise value (or error). This doesn't alter the Promise object itself, following the wrap rather than extend pattern.

Answer 2

what you can do, is to use a variable to store the state, manually set the state to that variable, and check that variable.

var state = 'pending';

new Promise(function(ff, rjc) {
  //do something async

  if () {//if success
    state = 'resolved';

    ff();//
  } else {
    state = 'rejected';

    rjc();
  }
});

console.log(state);//check the state somewhere else in the code

of course, this means you must have access to the original code of the promise. If you don't, then you can do:

var state = 'pending';

//you can't access somePromise's code
somePromise.then(function(){
  state = 'resolved';
}, function() {
  state = 'rejected';
})

console.log(state);//check the promise's state somewhere else in the code

My solution is more coding, but I think you probably wouldn't have to do this for every promise you use.

Answer 3

You can use an (ugly) hack in Node.js until a native method is offered:

util = require('util');

var promise1 = new Promise (function (resolve) {
}

var promise2 = new Promise (function (resolve) {

    resolve ('foo');
}

state1 = util.inspect (promise1);
state2 = util.inspect (promise2);

if (state1 === 'Promise { <pending> }') {

    console.log('pending'); // pending
}

if (state2 === "Promise { 'foo' }") {

    console.log ('foo') // foo
}

Answer 4

You can make a race with Promise.resolve
It's not synchronous but happens now

function promiseState(p, isPending, isResolved, isRejected) {
  Promise.race([p, Promise.resolve('a value that p should not return')]).then(function(value) {
    if (value == 'a value that p should not return') {
      (typeof(isPending) === 'function') && isPending();
    }else {
      (typeof(isResolved) === 'function') && isResolved(value);
    }
  }, function(reason) {
    (typeof(isRejected) === 'function') && isRejected(reason);
  });
}

A little script for testing and understand their meaning of asynchronously

var startTime = Date.now() - 100000;//padding trick "100001".slice(1) => 00001
function log(msg) {
  console.log((""+(Date.now() - startTime)).slice(1) + ' ' + msg);
  return msg;//for chaining promises
};

function prefix(pref) { return function (value) { log(pref + value); return value; };}

function delay(ms) {
  return function (value) {
    var startTime = Date.now();
    while(Date.now() - startTime < ms) {}
    return value;//for chaining promises
  };
}
setTimeout(log, 0,'timeOut 0 ms');
setTimeout(log, 100,'timeOut 100 ms');
setTimeout(log, 200,'timeOut 200 ms');

var p1 = Promise.resolve('One');
var p2 = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { setTimeout(resolve, 100, "Two"); });
var p3 = Promise.reject("Three");

p3.catch(delay(200)).then(delay(100)).then(prefix('delayed L3 : '));

promiseState(p1, prefix('p1 Is Pending '), prefix('p1 Is Resolved '), prefix('p1 Is Rejected '));
promiseState(p2, prefix('p2 Is Pending '), prefix('p2 Is Resolved '), prefix('p2 Is Rejected '));
promiseState(p3, prefix('p3 Is Pending '), prefix('p3 Is Resolved '), prefix('p3 Is Rejected '));

p1.then(prefix('Level 1 : ')).then(prefix('Level 2 : ')).then(prefix('Level 3 : '));
p2.then(prefix('Level 1 : ')).then(prefix('Level 2 : ')).then(prefix('Level 3 : '));
p3.catch(prefix('Level 1 : ')).then(prefix('Level 2 : ')).then(prefix('Level 3 : '));
log('end of promises');
delay(100)();
log('end of script');

results with delay(0) (comment the while in delay)

00001 end of promises
00001 end of script
00001 Level 1 : One
00001 Level 1 : Three
00001 p1 Is Resolved One
00001 p2 Is Pending undefined
00001 p3 Is Rejected Three
00001 Level 2 : One
00001 Level 2 : Three
00001 delayed L3 : Three
00002 Level 3 : One
00002 Level 3 : Three
00006 timeOut 0 ms
00100 timeOut 100 ms
00100 Level 1 : Two
00100 Level 2 : Two
00101 Level 3 : Two
00189 timeOut 200 ms

and the results of this test with firefox(chrome keep the order)

00000 end of promises
00100 end of script
00300 Level 1 : One
00300 Level 1 : Three
00400 p1 Is Resolved One
00400 p2 Is Pending undefined
00400 p3 Is Rejected Three
00400 Level 2 : One
00400 Level 2 : Three
00400 delayed L3 : Three
00400 Level 3 : One
00400 Level 3 : Three
00406 timeOut 0 ms
00406 timeOut 100 ms
00406 timeOut 200 ms
00406 Level 1 : Two
00407 Level 2 : Two
00407 Level 3 : Two

promiseState make .race and .then : Level 2

Answer 5

If you're using ES7 experimental you can use async to easily wrap the promise you want to listen.

async function getClient() {
  let client, resolved = false;
  try {
    client = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
      let client = new Client();

      let timer = setTimeout(() => {
         reject(new Error(`timeout`, 1000));
         client.close();
      });

      client.on('ready', () => {
        if(!resolved) {
          clearTimeout(timer);
          resolve(client);
        }
      });

      client.on('error', (error) => {
        if(!resolved) {
          clearTimeout(timer);
          reject(error);
        }
      });

      client.on('close', (hadError) => {
        if(!resolved && !hadError) {
          clearTimeout(timer);
          reject(new Error("close"));
        }
      });
    });

    resolved = true;
  } catch(error) {
    resolved = true;
    throw error;
  }
  return client;
}