Run 3 observables sequentially, using result from first in the last one - ios

CONTEXT
I would like to run 3 different operations sequentially using RxSwift:
Fetch products
When products fetching is done, delete cache
When cache delete is done, save new cache with products from step 1
These are the function definitions in my services:
struct MyService {
static func fetchProducts() -> Observable<[Product]> {...}
static func deleteCache() -> Observable<Void> {...}
static func saveCache(_ products: [Product]) -> Observable<Void> {...}
}
I implement that behavior usually with flatMapLatest.
However, I will lose the result of the 1st observable ([Product]) with that approach, because the operation in the middle (deleteCache) doesn't receive arguments and returns Void when completed.
struct CacheViewModel {
static func refreshCache() -> Observable<Void> {
return MyService.fetchProducts()
.flatMapLatest { lostProducts in MyService.deleteCache() }
.flatMapLatest { MyService.saveCache($0) } // Compile error*
}
// * Cannot convert value of type 'Void' to expected argument type '[Product]'
}
The compile error is absolutely fair, since the operation in the middle 'breaks' the passing chain for the first result.
QUESTION
What mechanism is out there to achieve this serial execution with RxSwift, accumulating results of previous operations?

service
.fetchProducts()
.flatMap { products in
return service
.deleteCache()
.flatMap {
return service
.saveCache(products)
}
}

The easiest solution would be, just to return a new Observable of type Observable<Products> using the static method in the Rx framework just within the second flatMap(), passing in the lostProducts you captured in the flatmap-closure, i.e.:
static func refreshCache() -> Observable<Void> {
return MyService.fetchProducts()
.flatMapLatest { lostProducts -> Observable<[Product]> in
MyService.deleteCache()
return Observable.just(lostProducts)
}
.flatMapLatest { MyService.saveCache($0) } // No compile error
}
That way you are not losing the result of the first call in the flatMap, but just pass it through after having cleared the cache.

you can use do(onNext:) for deleting the cache data and then in flatMapLatest you can save the products. Optionally SaveCache and DeleteCache should return Completable so that you can handle error if the save or delete operation failed.
struct CacheViewModel {
static func refreshCache() -> Observable<Void> {
return MyService.fetchProducts()
.do(onNext: { _ in
MyService.deleteCache()
}).flatMap { products in
MyService.saveCache(products)
}
}
}

Related

How to resolve two method calls with AnyPublisher return type into one?

I have two methods with identical signature func getItems() -> AnyPublisher<[Item], AppError>.
First is getting items from a storage, and the second one from the internet.
How can I add such logic to the third method with the same return type, if the first method completes successfully I return storage.getItems(), if not I return network.getItems()?
If the publisher returned from storage.getItems() errors out when the items don't exist, then you can "catch" the error and emit a new publisher instead:
func getItems() -> AnyPublisher<[Item], AppError> {
storage.getItems()
.catch { err in
// check the err, if you need to
network.getItems()
}
.eraseToAnyPublisher()
}

Why this produces compiler error in Combine?

just trying to implement SwiftUI and Combine in my new project.
But stuck in this:
func task() -> AnyPublisher<Int, Error> {
return AnyPublisher { subscriber in
subscriber.receive(Int(arc4random()))
subscriber.receive(completion: .finished)
}
}
This produces the following compiler error:
Type '(_) -> ()' does not conform to protocol 'Publisher'
Why?
Update
Actually Random here is just as an example. The real code will look like this:
func task() -> AnyPublisher<SomeCodableModel, Error> {
return AnyPublisher { subscriber in
BackendCall.MakeApiCallWithCompletionHandler { response, error in
if let error == error {
subscriber.receive(.failure(error))
} else {
subscriber.receive(.success(response.data.filter))
subscriber.receive(.finished)
}
}
}
}
Unfortunately, I don't have access to BackendCall API since it is private.
It's kind of pseudocode but, it pretty close to the real one.
You cannot initialise an AnyPublisher with a closure accepting a Subscriber. You can only initialise an AnyPublisher from a Publisher. If you want to create a custom Publisher that emits a single random Int as soon as it receives a subscriber and then completes, you can create a custom type conforming to Publisher and in the required method, receive(subscriber:), do exactly what you were doing in your closure.
struct RandomNumberPublisher: Publisher {
typealias Output = Int
typealias Failure = Never
func receive<S>(subscriber: S) where S : Subscriber, Failure == S.Failure, Output == S.Input {
subscriber.receive(Int.random(in: 0...Int.max))
subscriber.receive(completion: .finished)
}
}
Then in your task method, you simply need to create a RandomNumberPublisher and then type erase it.
func task() -> AnyPublisher<Int, Never> {
return RandomNumberPublisher().eraseToAnyPublisher()
}
If all you want is a single random value, use Just
fun task() -> AnyPublisher<Int, Never> {
return Just(Int.random(in: 0...Int.max)).eraseToAnyPublisher()
}
Sidenote: don't use Int(arc4random()) anymore.
You're likely better off wrapping this in a Future publisher, possibly also wrapped with Deferred if you want it to response when subscriptions come in. Future is an excellent way to wrap external async API calls, especially ones that you can't fully control or otherwise easily adapt.
There's an example in Using Combine for "wrapping an async call with a Future to create a one-shot publisher" that looks like it might map quite closely to what you're trying to do.
If you want it to return more than a single value, then you may want to compose something out of PassthoughSubject or CurrentValueSubject that gives you an interface of -> AnyPublisher<YourType, Error> (or whatever you're looking for).

How to use swift-4 Promises then, done, catch and other blocks

I would like to learn about promises in swift-4. How to use multiple then statements and done, catch blocks.
Here I am trying to get the value from the promise. But I'm getting errors. Could someone help me to understand promises?
Here is my code.
import UIKit
import PromiseKit
struct User {
var firstname : String?
var lastname : String?
}
struct APIError {
var message : String?
}
class ViewController : UIViewController {
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
let userPromise : Promise = self.getUserDetails()
userPromise.then { user -> Void in
//print(user.f)
}
}
func getUserDetails()->Promise<User> {
return Promise<User> { resolve in
let user = User(firstname: "Scot", lastname: "dem")
if ((user.firstname?.count) != nil) {
resolve.fulfill(user)
} else {
let error = APIError(message: "User not valid")
resolve.reject(error as! Error)
}
}
}
}
Once I get the user details I want to make a full name, uppercase promises which are dependent on userPromise.
I would like to use multiple then, done, finally blocks. Just want to understand usage.
Why I'm getting an error here when we use userPromise.then { user -> Void in
what should I give inside the block
In PromiseKit 6, then can no longer return Void. This is mainly due to the tuplegate issue in Swift 4.
Quote from PromieKit 6 Release News
With PromiseKit our then did multiple things, and we relied on Swift
to infer the correct then from context. However with multiple line
thens it would fail to do this, and instead of telling you that the
situation was ambiguous it would invent some other error. Often the
dreaded cannot convert T to AnyPromise. We have a troubleshooting
guide to combat this but I believe in tools that just work, and when
you spend 4 years waiting for Swift to fix the issue and Swift doesn’t
fix the issue, what do you do? We chose to find a solution at the
higher level.
So we split then into then, done and map.
then is fed the previous promise value and requires you return a promise.
done is fed the previous promise value and returns a Void promise (which is 80% of chain usage)
map is fed the previous promise value and requires you return a non-promise, ie. a value.
Hence .then { (user) -> Void in is no longer valid and that's why you're getting an error.
It's now designed to return a Thenable like so:
userPromise.then { user -> Promise<User> in
//return yet another promise
}
The .then that used to return Void is now it's own .done.
i.e:
userPromise.done { (user) in
print(user)
}
So when you mix 'em up:
We get:
userPromise
.then { (user) -> Promise<User> in
//return another Promise
return self.uppercasePromise(on: user)
}
.done { (user) in
/*
Depending on your sequence, no more promises are left
and you should have a matured user object by now
*/
print(user)
}
.catch { (error) in
print(error)
}
.finally {
print("finally")
}
func uppercasePromise(on user: User) -> Promise<User> {
/*
Didn't understand your statement but do whatever you meant when you said:
"Once I get the user details I want to make a full name, "
uppercase promises which are dependent on userPromise."
*/
return Promise { seal in
seal.fulfill(user)
}
}

Return a completable in RxSwift without using a create block

I have a Completable being returned from a simple function.
This is not an async call, so I just need to return a succcessful completion or error depending on a conditional (using Rx here so I can tie into other Rx usages):
func exampleFunc() -> Completable {
if successful {
return Completable.just() // What to do here???
} else {
return Completable.error(SomeErrorType.someError)
}
}
The error case works pretty easily, but am having a block on how to just return a successful completable (without needing to .create() it).
I was thinking I just need to use Completable's .just() or .never(), but just is requiring a parameter, and never doesn't seem to trigger the completion event.
.empty() is the operator I was looking for!
Turns out, I had mixed up the implementations of .never() and .empty() in my head!
.never() emits no items and does NOT terminate
.empty() emits no items but does terminates normally
So, the example code above works like this:
func exampleFunc() -> Completable {
if successful {
return Completable.empty()
} else {
return Completable.error(SomeErrorType.someError)
}
}
Here is the documentation on empty/throw/never operators.
I would be more inclined to do the following:
func example() throws {
// do something
if !successful {
throw SomeErrorType.someError
}
}
Then in order to tie it into other Rx code, I would just use map as in:
myObservable.map { try example() }
But then, mapping over a Completable doesn't work because map's closure only gets called on next events. :-(
I tend to avoid Completable for this very reason, it doesn't seem to play well with other observables. I prefer to use Observable<Void> and send an empty event before the completed...
Something like this:
let chain = Observable<Void>.just()
let foo = chain.map { try example() }
foo.subscribe { event in print(event) }

Swift: Returning a recursive function (currying)

I am wanting to return a function which will in turn call back itself.
Is it possible to do through returning a closure calling itself?
My problem is that I'm unsure of the correct syntax to use here, as well as I'm not sure if it is even possible due to having a cyclic reference to itself (and swift being heavy on compiler type checking)
I am currying my functions so that the models and presenters do not need to know about the dataGateway further decoupling my code
Some background information about the problem, the API expects a page number to be passed into itself, I do not want to store this state. I want the function to pass something back so that the model can just call the next function when it needs to.
I know the curried function definition looks like this:
function (completion: ([Example.Product], UInt) -> Void) -> Example.Task?
look for __function_defined_here__ in my code samples
Original - example code
func fetch(dataGateway: DataGateway, category: String)(page: UInt)(completion: [Product] -> Void) -> Task? {
return dataGateway.productMap(category, page: page) { products in
completion(products.map { $0.build })
}
}
Idea 1 - return as tuple
func fetch(dataGateway: DataGateway, category: String)(page: UInt)(completion: [Product] -> Void) -> (Task?, __function_defined_here__) {
return (dataGateway.productMap(category, page: page) { products in
completion(products.map { $0.build })
}, fetch(dataGateway, category: category)(page: page + 1))
}
Idea 2 - pass back in the completion
func fetch(dataGateway: DataGateway, category: String)(page: UInt)(completion: ([Product], __function_defined_here__) -> Void) -> Task? {
return dataGateway.productMap(category, page: page) { products in
completion(products.map { $0.build }, fetch(dataGateway, category: category)(page: page + 1))
}
}
I ended up solving it with something like the following, what it does is create a class reference to store the next function in. I pass a reference to this object in the completion of the asynchronous operation.
extension Product {
class Next {
typealias FunctionType = (([Product], Next) -> Void) -> Task?
let fetch: FunctionType
init(_ fetch: FunctionType) {
self.fetch = fetch
}
}
func fetch(dataGateway: DataGateway, inCategory category: String)(page: UInt)(completion: ([Product], Next) -> Void) -> Task? {
return dataGateway.products(inCategory: category, page: page)() { products in
completion(products.map { $0.build }, Next(fetch(dataGateway, inCategory: category)(page: page + 1)))
}
}
}
let initial = Product.fetch(dataGateway, inCategory: "1")(page: 0)
pass the function in to a data model
data() { [weak self] products, next in
self?.data = products
self?.setNeedsUpdate()
self?.next = next
}
scrolling down to bottom of table view triggers the above again, using the next function instead of data

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