Cannot read property of undefined, but property exists - meteor

I am getting a curious error in a template helper and I was hoping someone could lay eyes on it with me. Basically the error I'm getting in the console of the client is that the getArena().height is undefined. However, console.log(getArena().height) returns the correct property value. It appears to be a timing issue causing me to get the error, but my application is actually working. What can I do to alleviate this console error?
//My template helper function
yGrids: function() {
console.log(getArena);
console.log(getArena().height);
var yArray = [];
for (var i=0;i<(getArena().height);i++){
yArray.push({});
}
return yArray;
},
// The console results
function getArena() { // 50
return Arenas.findOne(Session.get('arena_id')); …
Exception in template helper: TypeError: Cannot read property 'height' of undefined
at Object.yGrids (http://localhost:3000/app/app.js?hash=c17abf51d6af6541e868fa3fd0b26e34eea2df28:94:35)
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:2994:16
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:1653:16
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3046:66
at Function.Template._withTemplateInstanceFunc (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3687:12)
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:3045:27
at Object.Spacebars.call (http://localhost:3000/packages/spacebars.js?hash=65db8b6a8e3fca189b416de702967b1cb83d57d5:172:18)
at http://localhost:3000/app/app.js?hash=c17abf51d6af6541e868fa3fd0b26e34eea2df28:24:22
at .<anonymous> (http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:2754:17)
at http://localhost:3000/packages/blaze.js?hash=ef41aed769a8945fc99ac4954e8c9ec157a88cea:1875:20
function getArena() { // 50
return Arenas.findOne(Session.get('arena_id')); …
2

This is a very common issue in Meteor helpers when referring to a collection which may not yet have been loaded via a subscription. In general you want to show a loading template instead of your actual layout until your subscription is ready. Or (less elegant) you can defend yourself with:
var arena = getArena();
var height = arena && arena.height;

Whatever getArena() returns you ought to store it in the reactive variable by setting the reactive variable and you can access the reactive var in helper by get() method

Related

Randomly occurs with Meteor: "TypeError: Cannot read property 'invalidate' of undefined"

On what seems to be random occasions, when a user on my website tries to answer a question on the quiz page, the following error occurs:
TypeError: Cannot read property 'invalidate' of undefined
at Tracker.Dependency.changed (tracker.js:388)
at ReactiveVar.set (reactive-var.js:82)
at null. (builtins.js:22)
at view.js:191
at Function.Template._withTemplateInstanceFunc (template.js:437)
at view.js:190
at Object.Blaze._withCurrentView (view.js:523)
at viewAutorun (view.js:189)
at Tracker.Computation._compute (tracker.js:294)
at Tracker.Computation._recompute (tracker.js:313)
I am unsure as to why this occurs, and I am not entirely sure when this error even means so if someone could point me in the right direction, that would be great!
Note: this error seems to only occur when using Chrome.
I'll hazard a guess, here's the culprit code in Tracker.Dependency
Tracker.Dependency.prototype.changed = function () {
var self = this;
for (var id in self._dependentsById)
// My Comment - we're expecting this to be a `Tracker.Computation` which has an `.invalidate()` method!
self._dependentsById[id].invalidate();
};
So, the problem is that something is modifying Object.prototype.
eg.
Object.prototype.test = function(){}
var emptyObj = {};
for (i in emptyObj)
console.log('has key=', i, 'isOwnProperty?=', emptyObj.hasOwnProperty(i))
will print out:
has key= test isOwnProperty?= false
A possible solution to try, would be adding this snipped to the client, and seeing if it fixes the problem (At least temporarily):
Tracker.Dependency.prototype.changed = function () {
var self = this;
for (var id in self._dependentsById){
if (self._dependentsById.hasOwnProperty(id)){
self._dependentsById[id].invalidate();
}
}
};
Tracker.Dependency.prototype.hasDependents = function () {
var self = this;
for(var id in self._dependentsById)
if (self._dependentsById.hasOwnProperty(id))
return true;
return false;
};
However - It's bad practice to add to Object.prototype, and lots of code will fail in unexpected ways. You'll need to track this down.
Hard to say without more info, but I'd take a look here, specifically the part under "Subscriptions Don't Block":
https://dweldon.silvrback.com/common-mistakes
As the author states, "In meteor, the majority of "Cannot read property of undefined"errors are caused by an incorrect assumption about the existence of subscribed data."
In other words, you may be trying to access the invalidate property before your subscriptions has returned anything.

Why Does Firebase orderByChild() return undefined?

I've got a Firebase with a simple bit of data:
There's a list of "players", each with a self-generated GUID, and each containing a value "Count". At my request (e.g. using once()), I want to be able to query the players sorted by the Count value. So, based on the Firebase documentation, I'm using orderByChild(), but it always comes up as undefined when I run the code:
var fb = new Firebase("https://morewhitepixels.firebaseio.com/");
fb.child("players").orderByChild("Count").once("value",function(data) {
// do something with data
});
But this code always returns Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function pointing to that second line of code.
What am I missing?
I'm not sure what you do inside the callback, but this works fine:
fb.child("players").orderByChild("Count").once("value",function(data) {
console.log(data.val());
});
Keep in mind that the data parameter is not the actual data yet. It's a DataSnapshot on which you have to call val() first.
You'll probably want to loop through the children, which you can do like this:
fb.child("players").orderByChild("Count").once("value",function(data) {
data.forEach(function(snapshot) {
console.log(snapshot.val().Count);
});
});
The above example prints out all your children in the order you requested:
120320
181425
185227
202488
202488
202488
202488
245197
245197
487320
Alternatively you can use on('child_added' instead:
fb.child("players").orderByChild("Count").on("child_added",function(snapshot) {
console.log(snapshot.val().Count);
});

Cannot acces properties of resulting array of cursor.fetch();

I have a helper where I want to acces the properties of a different collection.
Template.notification.helpers({
username: function () {
game = Games.findOne({_id: this.gameId}, {fields: {players:1}});
console.log(game) // output is correct
}
})
If I log this, it wil produce the result I expected:
Object {players: Array[2], _id: "qF3skjX2755BYcr8p"}
However, if I in my helper function I try to use/reach this properties I get an undefined error.
Template.notification.helpers({
username: function () {
game = Games.findOne({_id: this.gameId}, {fields: {players:1}});
console.log(game._id) // error;
console.log(game.players) // error
}
})
Output:
Exception from Deps recompute function: TypeError: Cannot read property 'players' of undefined
Why is this happening?
This happens because when Meteor initiall loads on your web browser, all the html and js is ready, but the data is not yet ready.
If you tried to check console.log(game) it may be null. It does this only when the page has loaded. If you load the template after all the data has downloaded you wouldn't see this issue.
When the data arrives the username helper would re-run with the new data.
In the meanwhile you just need to take care of this exception:
var game = Games.findOne({_id: this.gameId}, {fields: {players:1}});
if(!game) return null;

angularFireCollection is not returning any data

I have no issues when using implicit updates (angelFire). However I need for some of my data use explicit updating. So I implemented angelFireCollection on the exact same ref I was using previously but despite the console.log explicitly saying that the read was granted and trying it with both with the onloadcallback and without, I don't get data directly into my assigned variable AND once the callback fires I get a strange looking object that DOES contain the data but not in the form I expect. My scope variable ends up with an empty collection. Never gets populated. Here is the code:
var streamController = function ($rootScope, $scope, $log, $location, angularFireCollection, profileService) {
//Wait for firebaseLogin...
$rootScope.$watch('firebaseAuth', init);
function init() {
if ($rootScope.firebaseAuth == false) {
return
};
var refUsers = new Firebase($rootScope.FBURL+'/users/'+$rootScope.uid);
$scope.profile = angularFireCollection(refUsers, function onload(snapshot) {
console.log(snapshot)
});
};
};
myApp.gwWebApp.controller('StreamController', ['$rootScope', '$scope', '$log', '$location', 'angularFireCollection', 'profileService',
streamController]);
}());
Here is what the console.log looks like ( ie; what snapshot looks like ):
>snapshot
T {z: R, bc: J, V: function, val: function, xd: function…}
Here is the earlier message before the snapshot was returned:
Firebase Login Succeeded! fbLoginController.js:16
FIREBASE: Attempt to read /users/529ccc5d1946a93656320b0a with auth={"username":"xxxxxxx#me.com","id":"529ccc5d1946a93656320b0a"} firebase.js:76
FIREBASE: /: "auth.username == 'admin'" firebase.js:76
FIREBASE: => false firebase.js:76
FIREBASE: /users firebase.js:76
FIREBASE: /users/529ccc5d1946a93656320b0a: "auth.id == $user" firebase.js:76
FIREBASE: => true firebase.js:76
FIREBASE:
FIREBASE: Read was allowed.
and finally the desired binding that ends up with an empty array: again from the console:
$scope.profile
[]
Anyone know what I could possibly be doing wrong?? This is like 5 lines of code. Frustrating.
I have put stops in angelFireCollection factory function and can see that the data is getting added to the collection in the callbacks inside that function but my binded variable never gets updated.
UPDATE
Ok experimenting with a plnkr. It seems that angularFireCollection EXPECTS your returning a LIST of items. The snapshot returns properly if you inspect snapshot.val() it will be whatever object structure was stored in firebase. IF you use angularFireCollection it does indeed bind to the variable HOWEVER it turns a non-list object into a garbled mess and you can not access the object user the normal dot operator. This is either a bug or it is a severe limitation of angularFireCollection which will cause me to revaluate how easily I can use firebase as the backend. I can't share my plnkr because it is accessing non-public data but tomorrow if i have time I will create a public firebase with an object store and demonstrate.
Ok. So it appears that indeed angularFireCollection is MEANT to be array based. Which is fine. It would be VERY helpful if the angularFire documentation was updated to make that clear. As such it is not an implicit vs explicit update technique.
For an explicit non-array based approach I have come up with the following code. Had I not been mislead by the documentation I would have gone down this path originally.
var MainCtrl = function($scope, angularFire) {
$scope.test = {};
var _url = 'https://golfwire.firebaseio.com/tmp';
var _ref = new Firebase(_url);
var promise = angularFire(_ref, $scope, 'implicit');
promise.then ( function(data){
$scope.explicit=angular.copy($scope.implicit );
});
}
You then work locally with the 'explicit' copy and when ready just update the 'implicit' by assigning: $scope.implicit = $scope.explicit.
Here is a plnkr: http://plnkr.co/edit/bLJrL1

backbone.js collection not responding to .each

I have what should be very simple. I create a new collection, and I want to pass it to a render and add the collection models to the page.
get_results: function(){
$.getJson(this.url,function(response){
this.search_results = new Kitchon.Collections.searchList(response);
console.log(this.search_results);
this.search_results.each(this.render_match);
}
},
render_match: function(model){
console.log(model)
},
This returns an error
Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function
my collection has an ordinary structure
_byCid: Object
_byId: Object
_onModelEvent: function () { [native code] }
_removeReference: function () { [native code] }
length: 7
models: Array[7]
__proto__: o
I've tried LOTS of things, but one thing that stuck out was maybe I had to pass
this.search_results.models.each(this.render_match); as that is the actual array, but if I do that I get a Uncaught typeError: Object [object Object],[object Object],...
you lose the execution context when callback function for each method is called
use _.bind(this.render_match, this) when passing callback to make sure that render_match has the right context
and you were getting error because you didn't wrap the callback function for getJson method neither. You have to use underscore bind method there as well.
You should read a bit about javascript this and how to tame it - try here http://yehudakatz.com/2011/08/11/understanding-javascript-function-invocation-and-this/
Correct code should look more or less like this...
get_results: function(){
$.getJSON(this.url, _.bind(function(response){
this.search_results = new Kitchon.Collections.searchList(response);
console.log(this.search_results);
this.search_results.each(_.bind(this.render_match, this));
}, this));
},
render_match: function(model){
console.log(model)
},
Though from what I seee - I assume the code you've shown here is either a model or collection - is handling rendering the view - you shouldn't do that! Models and Collections are only to store and parse data - all rendering and controlling application flow should be done in the View(Controllers) with help of the Router.
$.getJson changes the this reference. Many methods in jquery do that, so the value of this.render_match is null. You pass null to each and it fails.
To solve that, create a reference to this (like var _this = this;) before $.getJson and use it instead of this. Code should be like below:
get_results: function(){
var _this = this;
$.getJson(this.url,function(response){
_this.search_results = new Kitchon.Collections.searchList(response);
console.log(_this.search_results);
_this.search_results.each(_this.render_match);
}
},
render_match: function(model){
console.log(model)
},
Just taking a stab here (I don't know anything about Backbone.js), but isn't this what you are looking for:
$.each(this.search_results, function(index, value) {
alert(index + ': ' + value);
});
Good Luck!

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