How can I use the question mark operator to handle errors in Tokio futures?

Question

I have a client handling a Future that does some stuff. Is it possible to use impl Future<Item = (), Error = io::Error> as a return type and make better error handling?

pub fn handle_client(client: Client) -> impl Future<Item = (), Error = io::Error> {
    let magic = client.header.magic;
    let stream_client = TcpStream::connect(&client.addr).and_then(|stream| {
        let addr: Vec<u8> = serialize_addr(stream.local_addr()?, magic)?;
        write_all(stream, addr).then(|result| {
            // some code
            Ok(())
        })
    });
    stream_client
}

I cannot keep the io::Error type through all nested closures/futures. The compiler throws the error

error[E0277]: the `?` operator can only be used in a function that returns `Result` or `Option` (or another type that implements `std::ops::Try`)
   --> src/client.rs:134:29
    |
134 |         let addr: Vec<u8> = serialize_addr(stream.local_addr()?, magic)?;
    |                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ cannot use the `?` operator in a function that returns `futures::future::then::Then<tokio_io::io::write_all::WriteAll<tokio_tcp::stream::TcpStream, std::vec::Vec<u8>>, std::result::Result<(), std::io::Error>, [closure@src/client.rs:135:38: 138:10]>`
    |
    = help: the trait `std::ops::Try` is not implemented for `futures::future::then::Then<tokio_io::io::write_all::WriteAll<tokio_tcp::stream::TcpStream, std::vec::Vec<u8>>, std::result::Result<(), std::io::Error>, [closure@src/client.rs:135:38: 138:10]>`
    = note: required by `std::ops::Try::from_error`

I made chaining map/and_then error handling, but problem is I don't know how to get TcpStream inside final .then closure. The only place I found TcpStream is inside WriteAll struct, however it's private. Besides, write_all consumes stream

use futures::Future;
use std::{io, net::SocketAddr};
use tokio::{
    io::{write_all, AsyncRead, AsyncWrite},
    net::TcpStream,
};

type Error = Box<dyn std::error::Error>;

fn serialize_addr(addr: SocketAddr) -> Result<Vec<u8>, Error> {
    Ok(vec![])
}

fn handle_client(addr: &SocketAddr) -> impl Future<Item = (), Error = Error> {
    TcpStream::connect(addr)
        .map_err(Into::into)
        .and_then(|stream| stream.local_addr().map(|stream_addr| (stream, stream_addr)))
        .map_err(Into::into)
        .and_then(|(stream, stream_addr)| serialize_addr(stream_addr).map(|info| (stream, info)))
        .map(|(stream, info)| write_all(stream, info))
        .then(|result| {
            let result = result.unwrap();
            let stream = match result.state {
                Writing { a } => a,
                _ => panic!("cannot get stream"),
            };
            // some code
            Ok(())
        })
}

fn main() {
    let addr = "127.0.0.1:8900".parse().unwrap();
    handle_client(&addr);
}

Answer 1

TL;DR: you don't use the ? operator.

---

Since you didn't provide one, here is a MCVE of your problem. Note that we have no idea what the error type is of your serialize_addr function, so I had to pick something:

use futures::Future;
use std::{io, net::SocketAddr};
use tokio::{io::write_all, net::TcpStream};

fn serialize_addr() -> Result<Vec<u8>, Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    Ok(vec![])
}

pub fn handle_client(addr: &SocketAddr) -> impl Future<Item = (), Error = io::Error> {
    TcpStream::connect(addr).and_then(|stream| {
        let addr = serialize_addr()?;
        write_all(stream, addr).then(|_result| Ok(()))
    })
}

error[E0277]: the `?` operator can only be used in a function that returns `Result` or `Option` (or another type that implements `std::ops::Try`)
  --> src/lib.rs:11:20
   |
11 |         let addr = serialize_addr()?;
   |                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ cannot use the `?` operator in a function that returns `futures::future::then::Then<tokio_io::io::write_all::WriteAll<tokio_tcp::stream::TcpStream, std::vec::Vec<u8>>, std::result::Result<(), std::io::Error>, [closure@src/lib.rs:12:38: 14:10]>`
   |
   = help: the trait `std::ops::Try` is not implemented for `futures::future::then::Then<tokio_io::io::write_all::WriteAll<tokio_tcp::stream::TcpStream, std::vec::Vec<u8>>, std::result::Result<(), std::io::Error>, [closure@src/lib.rs:12:38: 14:10]>`
   = note: required by `std::ops::Try::from_error`

As the error message states:

the ? operator can only be used in a function that returns Result or Option (or another type that implements std::ops::Try)

and

cannot use the ? operator in a function that returns Then<WriteAll<TcpStream, Vec<u8>>, Result<(), io::Error>, [closure]>

Instead, leverage the fact that Result can be treated as a future and let it participate in the chain of functions.

Additionally, just like everywhere else in Rust, you need to have a unified error type. I've chosen Box<dyn Error> for simplicity. This can be achieved using map_err and Into::into

use futures::Future;
use std::net::SocketAddr;
use tokio::{io::write_all, net::TcpStream};

type Error = Box<dyn std::error::Error>;

fn serialize_addr() -> Result<Vec<u8>, Error> {
    Ok(vec![])
}

pub fn handle_client(addr: &SocketAddr) -> impl Future<Item = (), Error = Error> {
    TcpStream::connect(addr)
        .map_err(Into::into)
        .and_then(|stream| serialize_addr().map(|addr| (stream, addr)))
        .and_then(|(stream, addr)| write_all(stream, addr).map_err(Into::into))
        .then(|_result| Ok(()))
}

In the future, async / await syntax will make this easier to follow.