How to properly call methods returning future in Reactor - project-reactor

Question

To prevent the XY problem, I'll start from the beginning:
I have a non-blocking SOAP client which I wrapped it to make the return type Mono<T> (By default it accepts callback. I can elaborate on this if needed).
Now I want to do (given ID):
1. Get the code by ID
2. Do something with the code
3. After that, get Foo and Bar and create FooBar
What I wrote was:
public class MyService {
private final MySoapClient soapClient;
public Mono<FooBarDto> doSomething(String id) {
return Mono.just(id)
.flatMap(soapClient::getCode) // returns Mono<String>
.flatMap(code ->
soapClient.doSomething(code) // returns Mono<Void>
.then(getFooBar(id, code))); // See this
}
private Mono<FooBarDto> getFooBar(String id, String code) {
return Mono.zip(
soapClient.getFoo(code), // returns Mono<Foo>
soapClient.getBar(code) // returns Mono<Bar>
).map(tuple2 -> toFooBarDto(id, tuple2));
}
private FooBarDto toFooBarDto(String id, Tuple2<Foo, Bar> tuple2) {
return FooBarDto.builder()/* set properties */.build();
}
}
Now the problem is, because methods of the SOAP client are not lazy (the moment you call them they start the process), the semantic of then won't work here. Meaning I want to get Foo and Bar when doSomething is done. They all start together.
I tried to change it fix it by changing then to flatMap, but made it even worse. The getFooBar never got called. (1. Can someone please explain why?).
So what I ended up doing was to wrap SOAP calls again to make them lazy:
public class MySoapClient {
private final AutoGeneratedSoapClient client;
Mono<Foo> getFoo(GetFooRequest request) {
return Mono.just(request).flatMap(this::doGetMsisdnByIccid);
}
private Mono<Foo> doGetFoo(GetFooRequest request) {
val handler = new AsyncHandler<GetFooRequest>();
client.getFoo(request, handler);
return Mono.fromFuture(handler.future);
}
private static class AsyncHandler<T> implements javax.xml.ws.AsyncHandler<T> {
private final CompletableFuture<T> future = new CompletableFuture<>();
#Override
public void handleResponse(Response<T> res) {
try {
future.complete(res.get());
} catch (Exception e) {
future.completeExceptionally(e);
}
}
}
}
Is there any better way to do it? Specifically:
2. Using CompeletableFuture and the callback.
3. Making methods lazy in the SOAP client.

Answer 1

I tried to change it fix it by changing then to flatMap, but made it
even worse. The getFooBar never got called. (1. Can someone please
explain why?)
I think a Mono<Void> always completes empty (or error), so subsequent flatMap is never called.
Using CompeletableFuture and the callback.
Making methods lazy in the SOAP client.
To make the call lazy you can do one of the followings:
1, You can use Mono.fromFuture which accepts a supplier:
private Mono<Foo> doGetFoo(GetFooRequest request) {
return Mono.fromFuture(() -> {
val handler = new AsyncHandler<GetFooRequest>();
client.getFoo(request, handler);
return handler.future;
});
}
2, You can use Mono.defer:
private Mono<Foo> doGetFoo(GetFooRequest request) {
return Mono.defer(() -> {
val handler = new AsyncHandler<GetFooRequest>();
client.getFoo(request, handler);
return Mono.fromFuture(handler.future);
});
}
3, You can get rid of CompletableFuture and use Mono.create instead, something like this:
private Mono<Foo> doGetFoo(GetFooRequest request) {
return Mono.create(sink -> {
AsyncHandler<Foo> handler = response ->
{
try
{
sink.success(response.get());
} catch (Exception e)
{
sink.error(e);
}
};
client.getFoo(request, handler);
});
}
If you do any of these it will be safe to use then method and it will work as expected.