Added field not published to client? - meteor

I'm doing an aggregation in Meteor where I'm trying to find 'thingies' within a given distance and publish it to the client:
Meteor.publish("thingieSearch", function(userId) {
check(userId, String);
var subscription = this;
var thingies = {};
var userId = this.userId;
var usrAcc = Meteor.users.findOne({_id: userId});
var db = MongoInternals.defaultRemoteCollectionDriver().mongo.db;
var pipeline = [{
$geoNear: {
near: usrAcc.profile.location.geometry.coordinates,
distanceField: "calculatedDistance",
spherical: true,
limit: 100,
distanceMultiplier: 3959.2,
maxDistance: 0.075,
query: {
"status": "started",
"owner": {$ne: userId} },
}
}];
db.collection("thingies").aggregate(
pipeline,
Meteor.bindEnvironment(
function (err, result) {
console.log('result', result);
_.each(result, function (r) {
chases[r._id] = r;
subscription.added("thingieSearch", r._id, {
chase: r
});
})
}
)
);
subscription.ready();
});
When I do a console.log on the server side, it looks correct, the 'distanceField' that I specified as 'calculatedDistance' is calculated and shown as a field.
On the client side, I subscribe to this publication and I can see the thingies but I can't see the 'calculatedDistance' field.
Any idea why?

There are two things here.
1) Your publication will not reactively update data to the client, since you are using mongodb remote collection driver. If you intend it to be a non-reactive then you can use a meteor method instead of publication and call the method whenever userId changes.
2) I think you are using thingies collection on the client side and not seeing the calculatedDistance field. You need to create a client only collection (thingieSearch) to access the custom published results like this,
//On client side only
thingieSearch = new Mongo.Collection("thingieSearch");
thingieSearch.findOne(); // After the publication, you should be able to see the results with calculatedDistance
You should use whatever name you passed inside the subscription.added block to create collection. For example, if your publication has
subscription.added("thingieWithCalculateField", r._id, { chase: r });
you should do
//On client side only
thingieWithCalculateField = new Mongo.Collection("thingieWithCalculateField");
// instead of thingieSearch = new Mongo.Collection("thingieSearch");
See the counts-by-room publication in the Meteor.publish documentation for more details.

Related

Tracker autorun using findone

I have this piece of code in client side:
Tracker.autorun(function () {
if (params && params._id) {
const dept = Department.findOne({ _id: params._id }) || Department.findOne({ name: params._id });
if (dept) {
}
}
});
params will be passed into the url. So, initially we won't have the department data and the findOne method will return null, and then later on, when data arrives, we can find the department object.
But if user enters an invalid id, we need to return them 404. Using tracker autorun, how can I distinguish between 2 cases:
a. Data is not there yet, so findOne returns null
b. There is no such data, even in server's mongodb, so findOne will also returns null.
For case a, tracker autorun will work fine, but for case b, I need to know to return 404
I would suggest you to subscribe to data inside template, like below so you know when subscriptions are ready, then you can check data exists or not
Template.myTemplate.onCreated(function onCreated() {
const self = this;
const id = FlowRouter.getParam('_id');
self.subscribe('department', id);
});
Template.myTemplate.onRendered(function onRendered() {
const self = this;
// this will run after subscribe completes sending records to client
if (self.subscriptionsReady()) {
const id = FlowRouter.getParam('_id');
const dept = Department.findOne({ _id: params._id }) || Department.findOne({ name: params._id });
if (dept) {
// found data in db
} else {
// 404 - no department found in db
}
}
});
If you are using Iron-Router, you may try this hack.
Router.route('/stores', function() {
this.render('stores', {});
}, {
waitOn: function() {
return [
Meteor.subscribe('stores_db')
];
}
});
The sample code above will wait for the subscription "stores_db" to complete, before rendering anyhing. Then you can use your findOne logic no problems, ensuring that all documents are availble. This suits your situation.
This is what I used to do before I completely understand MeteorJS publications and subscriptions. I do not recommend my solution, it is very bad to user experience. Users will see the page loading forever while the documents are being download. #Sasikanth gave the correct implementation.

Non-reactive and reactive data in Meteor (same helper)

I've got one view displaying some pictures published by users with some data (let's image Instagram).
I already have these pictures as non-reactive data (otherwise you could see many updates) but these images have one button to like the picture. If I have this as non-reactive data I can't see when I click on "Like" the filled heart (I need to refresh).
This is my subscribe function:
this.subscribe('food', () => [{
limit: parseInt(this.getReactively('perPage')),
//skip: parseInt((this.getReactively('page') - 1) * this.perPage),
sort: this.getReactively('sort')
}, this.getReactively('filters'), this.getReactively('searchText'), this.getReactively('user.following')
]);
And this is my helper:
food() {
const food = Food.find({}, {reactive: true}, {
sort: this.sort
}).fetch().map(food => {
const owner = Meteor.users.findOne(food.owner, {fields: {username: 1, avatarS: 1, following: 1}});
food.avatarS = owner && owner.avatarS;
food.username = owner && owner.username;
if (food.likes.indexOf(Meteor.userId()) == -1) {
// user did not like this plate
food.liked = false;
} else {
// user liked this plate
food.liked = true;
}
return food;
});
}
Is possible to have a non-reactive model but with some reactive properties on it?
I'm using Angular 1.X with TS btw
Thanks in advance!
PS: is it normal that this works as non-reactive when I change reactive to true?
Modification to your code:
//console.log(food.likes);
this.subscribe('reactiveFoodData', {ownerId: food.owner, userId: Meteor.userId()}).subscribe(()=>{
console.log(this.user);
});
// THIS IS THE PUBLISH METHOD LOCATED IN THE SERVER SIDE:
Meteor.publish('reactiveFoodData', function(params: {ownerId:string, userId:string) {
const owner = Meteor.users.findOne(params.ownerId);
if (!owner) {
throw new Meteor.Error('404', 'Owner does not exist');
}
let result = {};
result.avatarS = owner.avatarS;
result.username = owner.username;
const food = Food.find({});
result.liked = !(food.likes.indexOf(params.userId) == -1);
return result;
});
You have few problems:
1. The reactive flag is true by default, you do not need to set it.
2. The function find is accepting only two arguments, not 3.
Should be:
const food = Food.find({}, {reactive: true, sort: this.sort})
If you need some, subset of data to be reactive only (from some collection). You could create a specific Method (which udpates only "likes").
https://guide.meteor.com/methods.html
UPDATE:
Here is how you write a method with return parameter (check two examples, with Future and without):
How to invoke a function in Meteor.methods and return the value
UPDATE2:
You have lost reactivity when you used fetch(). Because you moved from reactive cursor to just simple array over which you map values. Do not expect reactivity after fetch(). If you want fetch or do not want to use Cursors, you could wrap the find inside Tracker.autorun(()=>{}) or utilize publish/subscribe.
Note: But be careful, if you somehow manage to get "empty" cursor in find(), your Tracker.autorun will stop react reactively. Autorun works only if it has something to watch over.
The main point with method, is that if you want to have one time non-reactive action for something. You define the method on server:
Meteor.methods({
myMethod: ()=> {
return "hello";
}
});
And you can call it from client with:
Meteor.call('myMethod', (error, result) => {
console.log(result); // "hello"
});
Instead of working with pure collections. You could start using publish/subscribe. On server you publish 'likes' and on client you just listens to this new reactive view. E.g.,
Meteor.publish('likes', (options: {owner: string, likes: Array<any>}) => {
let result: any = {}
const owner = Meteor.users.findOne(options.owner, username: 1, avatarS: 1, following: 1}});
result.avatarS = options.owner && options.owner.avatarS;
result.username = options.owner && options.owner.username;
result.liked = !(options.likes.indexOf(Meteor.userId()) == -1)
return result;
});
On client side: Meteor.subscibe('likes', {food.owner, food.likes}).subscribe(()=>{});
This is just off the top of my head.
Have you tried looking at Tracker ? https://docs.meteor.com/api/tracker.html
But more specifically the method Tracker.nonreactive
https://docs.meteor.com/api/tracker.html#Tracker-nonreactive

Publishing data from external API in Meteor

For publishing a list of items coming from an external API, I followed the this tutorial: so I've a publication on the server called "items" and a collection with the same name on the client; iron-router is the trait d'union between them. So far so good.
Now I'm stuck in implementing the "item detail" route (e.g. /item/:id). I wrote a server method like this:
Meteor.methods({
'getItem': function(id) {
check(id, Match.Integer);
var self = this;
var asyncCall = Meteor.wrapAsync(requestToThirdParty);
// requestToThirdParty is local function which calls HTTP.get
var response = asyncCall('GET', id);
return response.data;
}
});
I don't know if it's the best way to do, but I'm wondering how to call this method from the following route:
Router.route('/items/:id', {
name: 'itemDetail',
data: function() {
var item = Meteor.call('getItem', this.params.id); // this should be sync
console.log('item: '+item);
return item;
}
});
I'm sure that the method on server works fine (I debugged), but the console log in the client always shows "undefined".
What am I missing?
Are there any other approaches?

How to emit data only to one client in Meteor streams

I am building a realtime game with Meteor streams. I need to update only one client - send a room ID from server. Users are not logged in so Meteor.userId() is null and therefore I can't use this: http://arunoda.github.io/meteor-streams/communication-patterns.html#streaming_private_page
There is only one URL (homepage) where all things happen. So I don't use any URL parameters for room. Everything is on the server.
I have tried to use Meteor.uuid() instead of Meteor.userId() but uuid is changed after each emit (which is strange).
In socket.io I would do this:
//clients is an array of connected socket ids
var clientIndex = clients.indexOf(socket.id);
io.sockets.socket(clients[clientIndex]).emit('message', 'hi client');
Is there any way to do this in Meteor streams or Meteor itself?
Well, this can be easily done if you decided to use database, but I guess it is not the best option if you have a large number of clients.
So another way to achieve this - without database - is to make a good use of the Meteor's publish/subscribe mechanism. Basically the way it could work is the following:
1. client asks server for a communication token (use Meteor.methods)
2. client subscribes to some (abstract) data set using that token
3. server publishes the required data based on the received token
So you will need to define a method - say getToken - on the server that generates tokens for new users (since you don't want to use accounts). This could be something more or less like this:
var clients = {}
Meteor.methods({
getToken: function () {
var token;
do {
token = Random.id();
} while (clients[token]);
clients[token] = {
dependency: new Deps.Dependency(),
messages: [],
};
return token;
},
});
A new client will need to ask for token and subscribe to the data stream:
Meteor.startup(function () {
Meteor.call('getToken', function (error, myToken) {
// possibly use local storage to save the token for further use
if (!error) {
Meteor.subscribe('messages', myToken);
}
});
});
On the server you will need to define a custom publish method:
Meteor.publish('messages', function (token) {
var self = this;
if (!clients[token]) {
throw new Meteor.Error(403, 'Access deniend.');
}
send(token, 'hello my new client');
var handle = Deps.autorun(function () {
clients[token].dependency.depend();
while (clients[token].messages.length) {
self.added('messages', Random.id(), {
message: clients[token].messages.shift()
});
}
});
self.ready();
self.onStop(function () {
handle.stop();
});
});
and the send function could defined as follows:
var send = function (token, message) {
if (clients[token]) {
clients[token].messages.push(message);
clients[token].dependency.changed();
}
}
That's a method I would use. Please check if it works for you.
I think using Meteor.onConnection() like a login would enable you to do what you want pretty easily in a publish function.
Something like this:
Messages = new Meteor.Collection( 'messages' );
if ( Meteor.isServer ){
var Connections = new Meteor.Collection( 'connections' );
Meteor.onConnection( function( connection ){
var connectionMongoId = Connections.insert( connection );
//example Message
Message.insert( {connectionId: connection.id, msg: "Welcome"});
//remove users when they disconnect
connection.onClose = function(){
Connections.remove( connectionMongoId );
};
});
Meteor.publish( 'messages', function(){
var self = this;
var connectionId = self.connection.id;
return Messages.find( {connectionId: connectionId});
});
}
if ( Meteor.isClient ){
Meteor.subscribe('messages');
Template.myTemplate.messages = function(){
//show all user messages in template
return Messages.find();
};
}
I have used database backed collections here since they are the default but the database is not necessary. Making Messages a collection makes the reactive publishing easy whenever a new message is inserted.
One way that this is different from streams is that all the messages sent to all clients will end up being kept in server memory as it tries to keeps track of all data sent. If that is really undesirable then you could use a Meteor.method so send data instead and just use publish to notify a user a new message is available so call the method and get it.
Anyway this is how I would start.

Server side reactive Meteor publication

Assume the following current case:
I do have a collection "Tables"
A table is an object with properties like {private:0, private1,private2,…} (seats 0,1,2…)
I publish the collection with 2 arguments, one the tableId the second one the seat.
Given the seat, the publication will filter (hide) properties the client must not be able to see.
For now the tableID and seat were taken from the client's session so everything was reactive.
I have a "takeSeat(seatNb)" method. If a client invoke this method and is allowed to seat at the table, the seat number is sent back to client which then put it into it's session under the seat key. This will therefore update the subscription and filter the table's seats content correctly.
I'm not satisfied by this design because I realised that the client might be cheating by subscribing to a seat by itself. Also (and more important) I'm using another DDP client in c++ and would like to keep this logic part in the server side. i.e. not to have to subscribe with another seat once I get one, if I do take a seat at a table I would like the server to show the right fields on the table by itself.
After several searches I decided to add a collection aside for "Players" so that I might easily get notified within my "tables" collection a "player" is added or removed to a table. But this is only half of the problem. I do have to actually change the handler of the publication itself so that the filter will become reactive. This is where I'm stuck, here is some simplified code to understand the case:
Meteor.publish("current-table", function(table_id)
{
var self = this;
var handle = Players.find({"tableID": table_id}).observeChanges(
{
added: function(id)
{
console.log("A player joined the table added");
self.changed("tables", table_id);
},
removed: function(id) {
console.log("A player left the table");
self.changed("tables", table_id);
}
});
self.onStop(function() {
handle.stop();
});
// PUBLISH THE TABLE BUT HIDE SOME FIELDS BEFORE
var player = Players.findOne({"userID": this.userId, "tableID": table_id}) || {"seat": -1};
var seat = player.seat;
var privateFilter = {"private0": false, "private1": false, "private2": false, "private3": false};
delete privateFilter["private" + seat];
return Tables.find(table_id, {fields: privateFilter});
});
How to proceed ? Is there a more elegant way to achieve this ?
You could store the seat in the user's profile. Then your publication would watch for changes to the user's profile and adjust as appropriate.
For example:
Meteor.publish("current-table", function() {
var self = this;
var getFilteredTableForSeat = function(seat_id) {
// Get the table for the given seat_id, filtering the fields as appropriate
};
var handle = Meteor.users.find({_id: this.userId}).observeChanges({
changed: function (id, fields) {
if(fields.profile)
self.changed("tables", 'current-table', getFilteredTableForSeat(fields.profile.seat_id));
}
});
self.added("tables", 'current-table', getFilteredTableForSeat(Meteor.users.findOne(this.userId).profile.seat_id));
self.ready();
self.onStop(function() {
handle.stop();
});
});
If the user's seat changes then the current-table document of the Tables collection will update.
This example makes some assumptions, and will require adjustment if these aren't true for you:
You can find a table given a seat_id (if you can't, you may need to store the table id in the user's profile as well)
A seat_id always belongs to the same table (if it doesn't, you'll need to add a changed handler to wherever that information is stored)
The table information returned by the publication doesn't change (if it does, you'll need to add a changed handle to the Table collection, similar to the user handle)
Thanks to jrullmann's answer I decided to make a custom filtered publication using the reactivity of 2 collections. Here is my final code:
Meteor.publish("current-table", function(table_id)
{
var self = this;
function getFilteredTable()
{
var player = Players.findOne({"userID": self.userId, "tableID": table_id}) || {"seat": -1};
var seat = player.seat;
var privateFilter = {"prv": false, "prv0": false, "prv1": false, "prv2": false, "prv3": false};
delete privateFilter["prv" + seat];
return Tables.findOne(table_id, {fields: privateFilter});
}
var tableHandler = Tables.find(table_id).observeChanges(
{
added: function()
{
self.added('tables', table_id, getFilteredTable());
},
removed: function()
{
self.removed('tables', table_id);
},
changed: function()
{
self.changed('tables', table_id, getFilteredTable());
}
});
self.ready();
self.onStop(function() {
tableHandler.stop();
});
var handle = Players.find({"tableID": table_id}).observeChanges(
{
added: function(collection, id, fields)
{
self.changed('tables', table_id, getFilteredTable());
console.log("added");
},
removed: function(collection, id, fields)
{
// Little trick to avoid meteor use the former deleted (hidden) properties
self.removed('tables', table_id);
self.added('tables', table_id, getFilteredTable());
console.log("removed");
}
});
self.onStop(function() {
handle.stop();
});
});
I had a similar problem and wrote these two atmosphere packages which solve the problem:
https://atmosphere.meteor.com/package/server-deps
https://atmosphere.meteor.com/package/reactive-publish
Install the second package with meteorite, use "Meteor.reactivePublish" instead of "Meteor.publish" and it will automatically update when the results of any queries with the option {"reactive": true} change.
This example from the readme will publish precisely those items which the user's team can see, and will update when either the user changes team or the team's visible items change.
Meteor.reactivePublish(null, function() {
if (this.userId) {
var user = Meteor.users.findOne({_id: this.userId}, {reactive: true});
if (user.team) {
var team = Collections.teams.findOne({_id: user.team}, {reactive: true});
var visibleItems = _.compact(team.visibleItems);
return Collections.items.find({_id: {$in: visibleItems}});
}
}
});

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