Synchronous request in Node.js

Question

If I need to call 3 http API in sequential order, what would be a better alternative to the following code:

http.get({ host: 'www.example.com', path: '/api_1.php' }, function(res) {    res.on('data', function(d) {       http.get({ host: 'www.example.com', path: '/api_2.php' }, function(res) {        res.on('data', function(d) {           http.get({ host: 'www.example.com', path: '/api_3.php' }, function(res) {            res.on('data', function(d) {              });         });         }       });     });     }   }); }); } 

Answer 1

Using deferreds like Futures.

var sequence = Futures.sequence();  sequence   .then(function(next) {      http.get({}, next);   })   .then(function(next, res) {      res.on("data", next);   })   .then(function(next, d) {      http.get({}, next);   })   .then(function(next, res) {     ...   }) 

If you need to pass scope along then just do something like this

  .then(function(next, d) {     http.get({}, function(res) {       next(res, d);     });   })   .then(function(next, res, d) { })     ...   }) 

Answer 2

I like Raynos' solution as well, but I prefer a different flow control library.

https://github.com/caolan/async

Depending on whether you need the results in each subsequent function, I'd either use series, parallel, or waterfall.

Series when they have to be serially executed, but you don't necessarily need the results in each subsequent function call.

Parallel if they can be executed in parallel, you don't need the results from each during each parallel function, and you need a callback when all have completed.

Waterfall if you want to morph the results in each function and pass to the next

endpoints =   [{ host: 'www.example.com', path: '/api_1.php' },   { host: 'www.example.com', path: '/api_2.php' },   { host: 'www.example.com', path: '/api_3.php' }];  async.mapSeries(endpoints, http.get, function(results){     // Array of results });