How to create a dependency between observables? - f#

Question

I want a tool for testing Rx components that would work like this:
Given an order of the events specified as a 'v seq and a key selector function (keySelector :: 'v -> 'k) I want to create a Map<'k, IObservable<'k>> where the guarantee is that the groupped observables yield the values in the global order defined by the above enumerable.
For example:
makeObservables isEven [1;2;3;4;5;6]
...should produce
{ true : -2-4-6|,
false: 1-3-5| }
This is my attempt looks like this:
open System
open System.Reactive.Linq
open FSharp.Control.Reactive
let subscribeAfter (o1: IObservable<'a>) (o2 : IObservable<'b>) : IObservable<'b> =
fun (observer : IObserver<'b>) ->
let tempObserver = { new IObserver<'a> with
member this.OnNext x = ()
member this.OnError e = observer.OnError e
member this.OnCompleted () = o2 |> Observable.subscribeObserver observer |> ignore
}
o1.Subscribe tempObserver
|> Observable.Create
let makeObservables (keySelector : 'a -> 'k) (xs : 'a seq) : Map<'k, IObservable<'a>> =
let makeDependencies : ('k * IObservable<'a>) seq -> ('k * IObservable<'a>) seq =
let makeDep ((_, o1), (k2, o2)) = (k2, subscribeAfter o1 o2)
Seq.pairwise
>> Seq.map makeDep
let makeObservable x = (keySelector x, Observable.single x)
let firstItem =
Seq.head xs
|> makeObservable
|> Seq.singleton
let dependentObservables =
xs
|> Seq.map makeObservable
|> makeDependencies
dependentObservables
|> Seq.append firstItem
|> Seq.groupBy fst
|> Seq.map (fun (k, obs) -> (k, obs |> Seq.map snd |> Observable.concatSeq))
|> Map.ofSeq
[<EntryPoint>]
let main argv =
let isEven x = (x % 2 = 0)
let splits : Map<bool, IObservable<int>> =
[1;2;3;4;5]
|> makeObservables isEven
use subscription =
splits
|> Map.toSeq
|> Seq.map snd
|> Observable.mergeSeq
|> Observable.subscribe (printfn "%A")
Console.ReadKey() |> ignore
0 // return an integer exit code
...but the results are not as expected and the observed values are not in the global order.
Apparently the items in each group are yield correctly but when the groups are merged its more like a concat then a merge
The expected output is: 1 2 3 4 5
...but the actual output is 1 3 5 2 4
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks!

Answer 1

You describe wanting this:
{ true : -2-4-6|,
false: 1-3-5| }
But you're really creating this:
{ true : 246|,
false: 135| }
Since there's no time gaps between the items in the observables, the merge basically has a constant race condition. Rx guarantees that element 1 of a given sequence will fire before element 2, but Merge offers no guarantees around cases like this.
You need to introduce time gaps into your observables if you want Merge to be able to re-sequence in the original order.