As per requirement of the App I am developing, I have to pass multiple audio files to SFSpeechRecognizer and get the transcription in return.
I did it in two ways
First Method - Using Recursion (Running correctly, you can skip it if you want)
I have first completed this task by getting transcription one by one. i.e when the SFSpeechRecognitionTask gets completed, the result gets saved and the process runs again through a recursive call.
class Transcription
{
let url = [URL(fileURLWithPath: "sad")]
var fileCount = 3
let totalFiles = 4;
func getTranscriptionRecursive()
{
getTranscriptionOfAudioFile(atURL: url[fileCount], fileCount: fileCount, totalFiles: totalFiles) { (result) in
if(self.fileCount <= self.totalFiles)
{
self.fileCount = self.fileCount+1
self.getTranscriptionRecursive()
}
}
}
func getTranscriptionOfAudioFile(atURL url: URL, fileCount: Int, totalFiles: Int, completion: #escaping ((SFSpeechRecognitionResult?)->Void))
{
let request = SFSpeechURLRecognitionRequest(url: url)
request.shouldReportPartialResults = false
let recognizer = SFSpeechRecognizer(locale: Locale(identifier: "en-US"))
if (recognizer?.isAvailable)! {
recognizer?.recognitionTask(with: request) { result, error in
//error handling
completion(result)
}
}
}
}
This method worked great but it takes way too much time as each SFSpeechRecognizer request takes time to complete.
Second Method - Using Loop and Background Thread
(This one is having the issue)
I tried to create multiple requests and execute them in background at once.
For that I created a For Loop till the count of audio files, and in that loop I called the function to create SFSpeechRecognizer Request and task.
for index in 0..<urls.count
{
DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background).async {
self.getTranscriptionOfAudio(atURL: self.urls[index]) { (result, myError, message) in
//error handling
//process Results
}
}
}
where as the function to get speech recognition results is
func getTranscriptionOfAudio(atURL audioURL: URL?, completion: #escaping ((SFSpeechRecognitionResult? , Error?, String?)->Void))
{
let request = SFSpeechURLRecognitionRequest(url: audioURL!)
request.shouldReportPartialResults = false
let recognizer = SFSpeechRecognizer(locale: Locale(identifier: "en-US"))
if (recognizer?.isAvailable)! {
recognizer?.recognitionTask(with: request) { result, error in
//error handling
completion(results,nil,nil)
}
} else {
completion(nil,nil,"Reognizer could not be initialized");
}
}
When I run this code, only one task executes and other tasks give this error
+[AFAggregator logDictationFailedWithError:] Error
Domain=kAFAssistantErrorDomain Code=209 "(null)"
I searched this error on internet but there is no documentation that contains its details.
It might be due to running SFSpeechRecognitionTask in parallel, but in official Apple documents here they didn't forbid to do so, as we can create SFSpeechRecognitionRequest object separately. We don't use singleton object of SFSpeechRecognizer
let me know if anyone has any idea what is going on and what you suggest me to do.
I'm new to Reactive Programming and I have a big problem that I can't solve alone... I need to upload several video assets and in a orderly sequence but I do not know how to do it, I have an array of PHAssets and I'm trying to iterate thru each element and send it over the network
Here is my code so far with comments:
for item in items {
let fileName = item.media.localIdentifier
//Observable to generate local url to be used to save the compressed video
let compressedVideoOutputUrl = videoHelper.getDocumentsURL().appendingPathComponent(fileName)
//Observable to generate a thumbnail image for the video
let thumbnailObservable = videoHelper.getBase64Thumbnail(myItem: item)
//Observable to request the video from the iPhone library
let videoObservable = videoHelper.requestVideo(myItem: item)
//Compress the video and save it on the previously generated local url
.flatMap { videoHelper.compressVideo(inputURL: $0, outputURL: compressedVideoOutputUrl) }
//Generate the thumbnail and share the video to send over the network
let send = videoObservable.flatMap { _ in thumbnailObservable }
.flatMap { api.uploadSharedFiles(item, filename: fileName, base64String: $0) }
//subscribe the observable
send.subscribe(onNext: { data in
print("- Done chain sharing Video -")
},
onError: { error in
print("Error sharing Video-> \(error.localizedDescription)")
}).disposed(by: actionDisposeBag)
}
If you want to upload your items one by one in flatMap, then use enumeration
EDIT: enumeration is useful when you need to know the index of the element, otherwise just flatMap with one argument will do.
Observable.from(items)
.enumerated()
.flatMap() { index, item -> Observable<Item> in
return uploadItem(item)
}
.subscribe(onNext: { print($0) })
.disposed(by: disposeBag)
Make observable from collection elements and .flatMap() them to your existing code -
Observable
.from(items)
.flatMap { (item) -> Any in
// your code
return send
}
.subscribe( /* your code */ )
.disposed(by: actionDisposeBag)
Thanks in advance for any help. I am trying to get Batch items (Load multiple) items from one DynamoDb table using the AWS iOS SDK (Swift). I can load one item using the Block syntax, but I need to load 10 or more than that. I don't want to use 10 Block calls to load them individually. I tried to follow the attach stackoverflow Link (where the similar solution is given) but I am getting the following compiler error message. I come from Java background, hence could also be a syntax issue. Is it the right way to load multiple items? I don't want to use low level API. Any help, where I am going wrong. Thanks.
aws dynamodb how to use object mapper with batch get in ios
let dynamoDBObjectMapper = AWSDynamoDBObjectMapper.default()
var tasksList = Array<AWSTask<AnyObject>>()
for i in 1...10 {
tasksList.append(dynamoDBObjectMapper.load(AWSCards.self, hashKey: "SH_"+String(i), rangeKey: nil))
}
AWSTask.init(forCompletionOfAllTasksWithResults: tasksList).continueWithBlock { (task) -> AnyObject? in
if let cards = task.result as? [AWSCards] {
print(cards.count)
}
else if let error = task.error {
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
return nil
}
Have a try with the following codes (Swift 4.1, Feb 9th, 2018):
let dynamoDBObjectMapper = AWSDynamoDBObjectMapper.default()
var tasksList = Array<AWSTask<AnyObject>>()
for i in 1...10 {
tasksList.append(dynamoDBObjectMapper.load(AWSCards.self, hashKey: "SH_"+String(i), rangeKey: nil))
}
AWSTask<AnyObject>.init(forCompletionOfAllTasksWithResults: tasksList).continueWith { (task) -> Any? in
if let cards = task.result as? [AWSCards] {
print(cards.count)
}
else if let error = task.error {
print(error.localizedDescription)
}
return nil
}
Your question is "how to use the object mapper" but it might be more efficient for you to not use it.
However, there is a way to use it. See Niklas's answer here and here (he copy & pasted), but something about it strikes me as fishy. I want to make the assertion that it is not as fast as the built-in batch-get function, but I am unsure. I suspect that this does not complete the items in parallel, or at least not as efficiently as in BatchGetItem.
See the docs: "In order to minimize response latency, BatchGetItem retrieves items in parallel."
According to Yosuke, "Currently, AWSDynamoDBObjectMapper does not support the batch get item. You need to load one item at a time if you want to use the object mapper" as of 2016. This still seems to be the case. I am using a version a couple versions behind, but not too far behind. Someone check.
In conclusion, if you are loading one item at a time, you are likely missing out on the whole purpose of BatchGetItem (low latency).
Pulling from various sources, including John Davis's question here, I have tested and ran this BatchGetItem result. Here ya go.
import AWSDynamoDB
let primaryKeyToSortKeyDict : [String : String] = .... // Your stuff
var keys = [Any]()
for key in primaryKeyToSortKeyDict.keys {
let partitionKeyValue = AWSDynamoDBAttributeValue()
partitionKeyValue?.s = String(key)
let sortValue = AWSDynamoDBAttributeValue()
sortValue?.s = String(primaryKeyToSortKeyDict[key]!)
keys.append(["partitionKeyAttributeName": partitionKeyValue, "sortKeyAttributeName": sortValue])
}
let keysAndAttributesMap = AWSDynamoDBKeysAndAttributes()
keysAndAttributesMap?.keys = keys as? [[String : AWSDynamoDBAttributeValue]]
keysAndAttributesMap?.consistentRead = true
let tableMap = [table : keysAndAttributesMap]
let request = AWSDynamoDBBatchGetItemInput()
request?.requestItems = tableMap as? [String : AWSDynamoDBKeysAndAttributes]
request?.returnConsumedCapacity = AWSDynamoDBReturnConsumedCapacity.total
guard request != nil else {
print("Handle some error")
return
}
AWSDynamoDB.default().batchGetItem(request!) { (output, error) in
print("Here is the batchgetitem output")
if error == nil {
// do output stuff
} else {
// handle error
}
}
I am still a beginner in Reactive programming, and RxSwift in general.
I want to chain two different operation. In my case I simply want to download a zip file from a web server, and then unzip it locally.
I also want, at the same time to show the progress of the downloaded files.
So I started creating the first observable:
class func rx_download(req:URLRequestConvertible, testId:String) -> Observable<Float> {
let destination:Request.DownloadFileDestination = ...
let obs:Observable<Float> = Observable.create { observer in
let request = Alamofire.download(req, destination: destination)
request.progress { _, totalBytesWritten, totalBytesExpectedToWrite in
if totalBytesExpectedToWrite > 0 {
observer.onNext(Float(totalBytesWritten) / Float(totalBytesExpectedToWrite))
}
else {
observer.onNext(0)
}
}
request.response { _, response, _, error in
if let responseURL = response {
if responseURL.statusCode == 200 {
observer.onNext(1.0)
observer.onCompleted()
} else {
let error = NSError(domain: "error", code: responseURL.statusCode, userInfo: nil)
observer.onError(error)
}
} else {
let error = NSError(domain: "error", code: 500, userInfo: nil)
observer.onError(error)
}
}
return AnonymousDisposable () {
request.cancel()
}
}
return obs.retry(3)
}
After that, I create a similar function for the unzip
class func rx_unzip(testId:String) -> Observable<Float> {
return Observable.create { observer in
do {
try Zip.unzipFile(NSURL.archivePath(testId), destination: NSURL.resourceDirectory(testId), overwrite: true, password: nil)
{progress in
observer.onNext(Float(progress))
}
} catch let error {
observer.onError(error)
}
observer.onCompleted()
return NopDisposable.instance
}
}
For now I have this logic on the "View model layer", so I download-> subscribe on completed-> unzip
What I want is to combine the two Observable in one, in order to perform the download first, then on completed unzip the file. Is there any way to do this?
Concat operator requires the same data type
Indeed, the concat operator allows you to enforce the sequence of observables, however an issue you might encounter with using concat is that the concat operator requires that the Observables have the same generic type.
let numbers : Observable<Int> = Observable.from([1,2,3])
let moreNumbers : Observable<Int> = Observable.from([4,5,6])
let names : Observable<String> = Observable.from(["Jose Rizal", "Leonor Rivera"])
// This works
numbers.concat(moreNumbers)
// Compile error
numbers.concat(names)
FlatMap operator allows you to chain a sequence of Observables
Here's an example.
class Tag {
var tag: String = ""
init (tag: String) {
self.tag = tag
}
}
let getRequestReadHTML : Observable<String> = Observable
.just("<HTML><BODY>Hello world</BODY></HTML>")
func getTagsFromHtml(htmlBody: String) -> Observable<Tag> {
return Observable.create { obx in
// do parsing on htmlBody as necessary
obx.onNext(Tag(tag: "<HTML>"))
obx.onNext(Tag(tag: "<BODY>"))
obx.onNext(Tag(tag: "</BODY>"))
obx.onNext(Tag(tag: "</HTML>"))
obx.onCompleted()
return Disposables.create()
}
}
getRequestReadHTML
.flatMap{ getTagsFromHtml(htmlBody: $0) }
.subscribe (onNext: { e in
print(e.tag)
})
Notice how getRequestReadHTML is of type Observable<String> while the function getTagsFromHtml is of type Observable<Tag>.
Using multiple flatMaps can increase emission frequency
Be wary however, because the flatMap operator takes in an array (e.g. [1,2,3]) or a sequence (e.g. an Observable) and will emit all of the elements as an emission. This is why it is known to produce a transformation of 1...n.
If you defined an observable such as a network call and you are sure that there will only be one emission, you will not encounter any problems since its transformation is a 1...1 (i.e. one Observable to one NSData). Great!
However, if your Observable has multiple emissions, be very careful because chained flatMap operators will mean emissions will exponentially(?) increase.
A concrete example would be when the first observable emits 3 emissions, the flatMap operator transforms 1...n where n = 2, which means there are now a total of 6 emissions. Another flatMap operator could again transform 1...n where n = 2, which means there are now a total of 12 emissions. Double check if this is your expected behavior.
You can use concat operator to chain these two Observables. The resulting Observable will send next values from the first one, and when it completes, from the second one.
There is a caveat: you will get progress values ranging from 0.0 to 1.0 from rx_download and then again the progress from rx_unzip will start with 0.0. This might be confusing to the user if you want to show the progress on a single progress view.
A possible approach would be to show a label describing what is happening along with the progress view. You can map each Observable to a tuple containing the progress value and the description text and then use concat. It can look like that:
let mappedDownload = rx_download.map {
return ("Downloading", $0)
}
let mappedUnzip = rx_download.map {
return ("Unzipping", $0)
}
mapped1.concat(mapped2)
.subscribeNext({ (description, progress) in
//set progress and show description
})
Of course, there are many possible solutions, but this is more of a design problem than a coding one.
I have run into an issue where I have multiple asynchronous requests occuring which grab images and information from the Facebook API and my Firebase database. I want to perform all my asynchronous requests, then store all that data that I grabbed from the Facebook API/Firebase database into one entire object which I can quickly load. I have set up completion handlers for every asynchronous request which I thought forces the program to "wait" until the request is complete and then have the program continue, but that doesn't seem to work for me. Below is my attempt:
func setupEvents(completion: (result: Bool, Event: Event) -> Void){
// Get a reference to Events
eventsReference = Firebase(url:"<DB Name>")
eventAttendeesRef = Firebase(url:"<DB Name>")
//Read the data at our posts reference
println("Event References: \(eventsReference)")
eventsReference.observeEventType(FEventType.ChildAdded, withBlock: { (snapshot) -> Void in
let eventName = snapshot.value["eventName"] as? String
let eventLocation = snapshot.value["eventLocation"] as? String
let eventCreator = snapshot.value["eventCreator"] as? String
var attendees: NSMutableDictionary = [:]
var attendeesImages = [UIImage]()
let attendee: NSMutableDictionary = [:]
let group = dispatch_group_create()
//Get attendees first
dispatch_group_enter(group)
self.getAttendees(snapshot.key as String, completion:{ (result, name, objectID) -> Void in
if(result == true){
println("Finished grabbing \(name!) \(objectID!)")
attendees.addEntriesFromDictionary(attendee as [NSObject : AnyObject])
}
else {
println("False")
}
dispatch_group_leave(group)
})
//Get attendees photos
dispatch_group_enter(group)
self.getAttendeesPictures(attendee, completion: { (result, image) -> Void in
if result == true {
println("Finished getting attendee photos. Now to store into Event object.")
attendeesImages.append(image!)
}
else{
println("false")
}
dispatch_group_leave(group)
})
dispatch_group_notify(group, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
println("both requests done")
//Maintain array snapshot keys
self.eventIDs.append(snapshot.key)
if snapshot != nil {
let event = Event(eventName: eventName, eventLocation:eventLocation, eventPhoto:eventPhoto, fromDate:fromDate, fromTime:fromTime, toDate:toDate, toTime:toTime, attendees: attendees, attendeesImages:attendeesImages, attendeesImagesTest: attendeesImagesTest, privacy:privacy, eventCreator: eventCreator, eventCreatorID: eventCreatorID)
println("Event: \(event)")
completion(result: true, Event: event)
}
}
}) { (error) -> Void in
println(error.description)
}
}
I know I have my completion handlers set correctly as I have tested in my program. However, what I want is that only after both the getAttendees and getAttendeesPictures function completes, I then want to store all the information I grabbed the snapshot, getAttendees, and getAttendeesPictures function and store them into an event object. Any ideas on how to accomplish this? I've tried to look into dispatch_groups to help me handle this via this link: Checking for multiple asynchronous responses from Alamofire and Swift but my program seems to only execute the getAttendees function but not the getAttendeesPictures function. Below are also the getAttendees and getAttendeesPictures functions:
func getAttendees(child: String, completion: (result: Bool, name: String?, objectID: String?) -> Void){
//Get event attendees of particular event
var attendeesReference = self.eventAttendeesRef.childByAppendingPath(child)
println("Loading event attendees")
//Get all event attendees
attendeesReference.observeEventType(FEventType.ChildAdded, withBlock: { (snapshot) -> Void in
let name = snapshot.value.objectForKey("name") as? String
let objectID = snapshot.value.objectForKey("objectID") as? String
println("Name: \(name) Object ID: \(objectID)")
completion(result: true, name: name, objectID: objectID)
}) { (error) -> Void in
println(error.description)
}
func getAttendeesPictures(attendees: NSMutableDictionary, completion: (result: Bool, image: UIImage?)-> Void){
println("Attendees Count: \(attendees.count)")
for (key, value) in attendees{
let url = NSURL(string: "https://graph.facebook.com/\(key)/picture?type=large")
println("URL: \(url)")
let urlRequest = NSURLRequest(URL: url!)
//Asynchronous request to display image
NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(urlRequest, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue()) { (response:NSURLResponse!, data:NSData!, error:NSError!) -> Void in
if error != nil{
println("Error: \(error)")
}
// Display the image
let image = UIImage(data: data)
if(image != nil){
completion(result: true, image: image)
}
}
}
}
For users seeking answer to question in title then use of dispatch_group and GCD outlined here: i.e embedding one group inside the notification method of another dispatch_group is valid. Another way to go at a higher level would be NSOperations and dependencies which would also give further control such as canceling operations.
Outline:
func doStuffonObjectsProcessAndComplete(arrayOfObjectsToProcess: Array) -> Void){
let firstGroup = dispatch_group_create()
for object in arrayOfObjectsToProcess {
dispatch_group_enter(firstGroup)
doStuffToObject(object, completion:{ (success) in
if(success){
// doing stuff success
}
else {
// doing stuff fail
}
// regardless, we leave the group letting GCD know we finished this bit of work
dispatch_group_leave(firstGroup)
})
}
// called once all code blocks entered into group have left
dispatch_group_notify(firstGroup, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
let processGroup = dispatch_group_create()
for object in arrayOfObjectsToProcess {
dispatch_group_enter(processGroup)
processObject(object, completion:{ (success) in
if(success){
// processing stuff success
}
else {
// processing stuff fail
}
// regardless, we leave the group letting GCD know we finished this bit of work
dispatch_group_leave(processGroup)
})
}
dispatch_group_notify(processGroup, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
print("All Done and Processed, so load data now")
}
}
}
The remainder of this answer is specific to this codebase.
There seem to be a few problems here:
The getAttendees function takes an event child and returns an objectID and Name which are both Strings? Shouldn't this method return an array of attendees? If not, then what is the objectID that is returned?
Once an array of attendees is returned, then you can process them in a group to get the pictures.
The getAttendeesPictures eventually returns UIImages from Facebook. It's probably best to cache these out to the disk and pass path ref - keeping all these fetched images around is bad for memory, and depending on size and number, may quickly lead to problems.
Some examples:
func getAttendees(child: String, completion: (result: Bool, attendees: Array?) -> Void){
let newArrayOfAttendees = []()
// Get event attendees of particular event
// process attendees and package into an Array (or Dictionary)
// completion
completion(true, attendees: newArrayOfAttendees)
}
func getAttendeesPictures(attendees: Array, completion: (result: Bool, attendees: Array)-> Void){
println("Attendees Count: \(attendees.count)")
let picturesGroup = dispatch_group_create()
for attendee in attendees{
// for each attendee enter group
dispatch_group_enter(picturesGroup)
let key = attendee.objectID
let url = NSURL(string: "https://graph.facebook.com/\(key)/picture?type=large")
let urlRequest = NSURLRequest(URL: url!)
//Asynchronous request to display image
NSURLConnection.sendAsynchronousRequest(urlRequest, queue: NSOperationQueue.mainQueue()) { (response:NSURLResponse!, data:NSData!, error:NSError!) -> Void in
if error != nil{
println("Error: \(error)")
}
// Display the image
let image = UIImage(data: data)
if(image != nil){
attendee.image = image
}
dispatch_group_leave(picturesGroup)
}
}
dispatch_group_notify(picturesGroup, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
completion(true, attendees: attendees)
}
}
func setupEvents(completion: (result: Bool, Event: Event) -> Void){
// get event info and then for each event...
getAttendees(child:snapshot.key, completion: { (result, attendeesReturned) in
if result {
self.getAttendeesPictures(attendees: attendeesReturned, completion: { (result, attendees) in
// do something with completed array and attendees
}
}
else {
}
})
}
The above code is just an outline, but hopefully points you in the right direction.
The two requests are executing at the same time, so there is no attendees to get pictures from when the second request executes, if the getAttendees completion closure is going to be called multiple times then you can do something like this:
let group = dispatch_group_create()
for key in keys {
dispatch_group_enter(group)
self.getAttendee(key as String, completion:{ (result, attendee) in
if(result == true){
attendees.addEntriesFromDictionary(attendee)
self.getAttendeesPictures(attendee, completion: { (result, image) in
if result == true {
attendeesImages.append(image!)
}
dispatch_group_leave(group)
})
} else {
dispatch_group_leave(group)
}
})
}
dispatch_group_notify(group, dispatch_get_main_queue()) {}
If the result of the first request is the complete set of attendees you don't even need to use GCD, just call getAttendeesPictures inside the completion closure.
This code doesn't exactly uses the same variables and methods of the original code, it only gives the idea.
Hope it helps!
While there is definitely solution with using GCD and stuff around it, synchronization in general is pain and the more your code gets complicated, the more problems it will start showing - but I think there is one-for-all solution to that: Bolts framework from Facebook (both for android na iOS)
Bolts Framework usage
So what is so magical about it? Well, it lets you create "Tasks", and then chain them. The method in particular that you are interested in is taskForCompletionOfAllTasks: , which is made for parallel processing, just what you need. I wrote a little example for you which you can adjust to your needs:
func fetchAllInformation() -> BFTask {
// First, create all tasks (if you need more, than just create more, it is as easy as that
var task1 = BFTaskCompletionSource()
var task2 = BFTaskCompletionSource()
var tasks = [task1, task2]
// What you do, is you set result / error to tasks and the propagate in the chain upwards (it is either result, or error)
// You run task 1 in background
API.instance.fetchFirstDetailsInBackgroundWithBlock {
(object: AnyObject!, error: NSError!) -> Void in
// On error or on success, you assign result to task (whatever you want)
if error == nil {
task1.setResult(object)
} else {
task1.setError(error)
}
}
// You run task 2 in background
API.instance.fetchSecondDetailsInBackgroundWithBlock {
(object: AnyObject!, error: NSError!) -> Void in
// On error or on success, you assign result to task (whatever you want)
if error == nil {
task2.setResult(object)
} else {
task2.setError(error)
}
}
// Now you return new task, which will continue ONLY if all the tasks ended
return BFTask(forCompletionOfAllTasks: tasks)
}
Once you have main method done, you can use bolts chaining magic:
func processFullObject() {
// Once you have main method done, you can use bolts chaining magic
self.fetchAllInformation().continueWithBlock { (task : BFTask!) -> AnyObject! in
// All the information fetched, do something with result and probably with information along the way
self.updateObject()
}
}
The Bolts framework documentation / README covers basically everything there is to know about it and it is quite extensive, so I would suggest you to go through it - it is very easy to use once you get the basics. I personally use it for exactly this, and it is a blast. This answer will hopefully provide you with different solution and approach, possibly a cleaner one.
There is something wrong with this conceptually. It sounds like you want to wait until both of these functions complete before doing something else, but what you haven't explained is that getAttendeesPictures depends on the outcome of getAttendees. That means what you really want to do it execute one asynchronous block, then execute a second asynchronous block with the output of the first, and then execute your final completion block when both are finished.
GCD is not particularly suited for this; you're better of using NSOperationQueue with NSBlockOperations. There are two distinct advantages to this over GCD:
NSOperation uses familiar object-oriented syntax compared to GCD's c-type functions, so it's pretty easy to write and understand.
Operations in the queue can have explicit dependencies on one another, so you can make it clear that e.g. operation B will only be executed after operation A is complete.
There is a great writeup of this by NSHipster which I'd recommend you go read. It's talked about mostly in the abstract, but what you want to do is use NSBlockOperation to create two block operations, one for executing getAttendees and one for executing getAttendeesPictures, and then make it explicit that the second block depends on the first before adding them both to a queue. They will then both execute and you can use a completion block on the second operation to do something once both have completed.
Dave Roberts is right in his response though: an immediate problem with the code is that you don't use the output of the getAttendees function to actually create any attendees. Perhaps this part of the code is missing, but from what I can see the name and objectID are just printed out. If you want to pass something useful into the getAttendeesPictures function you will need to fix this part first.
This is off the top of my head. The idea is to read and handle new asyc data only when all of the nested blocks complete.
We leverage a while loop to handle waiting for a signal to read the next set of data.
The outside while loop continues as long as done equals false. And nothing is really going on, other than consuming cpu cycles while it waits. The if inside the loop will only be trigged (set to true) when all of the attendees have been read.
Meanwhile inside the loop we work through nested blocks, reading in the attendee and then when that completes, read their picture, and when that completes read the firebase data. Finally once we have all data from the prior blocks we stuff the data into an object which is then added to the dictionary. At that time it is determined if we are finished reading attendees and if so, bail completely. If not, we read the next attendee.
(this is conceptual)
done = false
readyToReadNextAttendee = true
while ( done == false )
{
if (readyToReadNextAttendee == true ) {
readyToReadNextAttendee = false
readAttendee
readPicture
readFirebase {
putDataIntoObject
addObjectToDictionary
if finishedReadingAttendees {
done = true
} else {
readyToReadNextAttendee = true
}
}
}
}
If you have the option of reading in all of the attendees first, you could iterate over and array as well, not reading the next index until readyToReadNextAttendee = true
One Idea i have used is to place an if statement check inside the query statement call back and place the query statement call back in a for loop (so you can loop through all of your queries), so the if statement should check if this the last call back expected, then you should execute a return statement or a deferred.resolve statement, the following is a concept code.
var list=fooKeys //list of keys (requests) i want to fetch form firebase
var array=[] // This is the array that will hold the result of all requests
for(i=xyz;loop breaking condition; i++){
Ref = new Firebase("https://yourlink.firebaseio.com/foo/" + fooKeys[i]);
Ref.once("value", function (data) {
array.push(data.val());
if(loop breaking condition == true){
//This mean that we looped over all items
return array; //or deferred.resolve(array);
}
})
}
Putting this code in a function and call it asynchronously will give you the ability to wait for the whole results before proceed in doing other stuff.
Hope you (and the others) find this beneficial.