Experimenting with meteor I came across a behavior I did not expect of fetch. Let's say I have a function :
findStuff = function(){
var cursor = Stuff.find({});
console.log(stuff.fetch()); // just to check
return cursor;
}
and I call it from a template
Template.stuff.helpers({
stuff : function(){
var stuff = findStuff();
console.log(stuff.fetch()); // just to check
return stuff;
}
});
The first log will correctly display the array but the second will display an empty array. I am quite confused about why it is so. My solution is to avoid calling fetch if I don't need it explicitly but I like to use it as a debugging tool.
You should read about cursor.rewind().
The forEach, map, or fetch methods can only be called once on a
cursor. To access the data in a cursor more than once, use rewind to
reset the cursor.
Related
I have a Meteor Helper that does a GET request and am supposed to get response back and pass it back to the Template, but its now showing up the front end. When I log it to console, it shows the value corerctly, for the life of mine I can't get this to output to the actual template.
Here is my helper:
UI.registerHelper('getDistance', function(formatted_address) {
HTTP.call( 'GET', 'https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json? units=imperial&origins=Washington,DC&destinations='+formatted_address+'&key=MYKEY', {}, function( error, response ) {
if ( error ) {
console.log( error );
} else {
var distanceMiles = response.data.rows[0].elements[0].distance.text;
console.log(response.data.rows[0].elements[0].distance.text);
return distanceMiles;
}
});
});
In my template I pass have the following:
{{getDistance formatted_address}}
Again, this works fine and shows exactly what I need in the console, but not in the template.
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?
I posted an article on TMC recently that you may find useful for such a pattern. In that article the problem involves executing an expensive function for each item in a list. As others have pointed out, doing asynchronous calls in a helper is not good practice.
In your case, make a local collection called Distances. If you wish, you can use your document _id to align it with your collection.
const Distances = new Mongo.collection(); // only declare this on the client
Then setup a function that either lazily computes the distance or returns it immediately if it's already been computed:
function lazyDistance(formatted_address){
let doc = Distances.findOne({ formatted_address: formatted_address });
if ( doc ){
return doc.distanceMiles;
} else {
let url = 'https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/distancematrix/json';
url += '?units=imperial&origins=Washington,DC&key=MYKEY&destinations=';
url += formatted_address;
HTTP.call('GET',url,{},(error,response )=>{
if ( error ) {
console.log( error );
} else {
Distances.insert({
formatted_address: formatted_address,
distanceMiles: response.data.rows[0].elements[0].distance.text
});
}
});
}
});
Now you can have a helper that just returns a cached value from that local collection:
UI.registerHelper('getDistance',formatted_address=>{
return lazyDistance(formatted_address);
});
You could also do this based on an _id instead of an address string of course. There's a tacit assumption above that formatted_address is unique.
It's Meteor's reactivity that really makes this work. The first time the helper is called the distance will be null but as it gets computed asynchronously the helper will automagically update the value.
best practice is not to do an async call in a helper. think of the #each and the helper as a way for the view to simply show the results of a prior calculation, not to get started on doing the calculation. remember that a helper might be called multiple times for a single item.
instead, in the onCreated() of your template, start the work of getting the data you need and doing your calculations. store those results in a reactive var, or reactive array. then your helper should do nothing more than look up the previously calculated results. further, should that helper be called more times than you expect, you don't have to worry about all those additional async calls being made.
The result does not show up because HTTP.call is an async function.
Use a reactiveVar in your case.
Depending on how is the formated_address param updated you can trigger the getDistance with a tracker autorun.
Regs
Yann
I am new to javascript and very new to Meteor. Is this code correct? I need to define a function which will take an array of values and insert them in a Meteor Collection "FooterButtons"?
Client code
replaceCollectionContents(['NO', 'B', 'YES']);
Both code
replaceCollectionContents = function (buttonsList) {
FooterButtons.remove();
for(i = 0; i < buttonsList.length; i++) {
FooterButtons.insert(buttonsList[i]);
}
};
You cannot directly insert a string to a collection. The insert method expects a document which is of type object.
Try this instead -
FooterButtons.insert({ text: buttonsList[i] });
Also, I notice that you are trying to clear your FooterButtons collection. Please note that you cannot clear a collection like this from the client side as it is considered untrusted code. From client side, you can only remove one document at a time, specified by its _id.
I would recommend you to use a method instead.
Meteor.methods({
replaceCollectionContents: function (buttonsList) {
// remove all existing documents in the collection
FooterButtons.remove({});
// insert new button documents into the collection
buttonsList.forEach(function (button) {
FooterButtons.insert({ text: button });
});
}
});
And call this method when needed
Meteor.call("replaceCollectionContents", ['NO', 'B', 'YES']);
Inside the method, note that I'm passing a {} selector to the remove method because for safety reasons, Meteor does not remove any documents if selector is omitted.
You can read more about remove in Meteor docs.
If I understand correctly, you need to seed data into FooterButtons collection, correct?
Put this code somewhere on your server folder:
buttonsList = ['NO', 'B', 'YES'];
if (FooterButtons.find().count() === 0) {
_.each(buttonsList, function(button) {
FooterButtons.insert({text: button});
});
}
Run meteor and check your mongodb FooterButtons collection. Let me know. I'll make explanation if this work
If you need to update, then update it:
FooterButtons.update({text:'B'}, {$set:{text:'Extra'}});
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);
});
I'd like to create a method that returns the count of a generic collection.
Calling the method would look something like this:
Meteor.call('getCollectionCount', 'COLLECTION_NAME');
And the result would be the collection count.
The server method code would look something like this:
getCollectionCount: function (collectionName) {
return window[collectionName].find().count();
}
This won't work because window isn't defined on the server, but is something similar possible?
Use global instead of window.
Note that this uses the variable name assigned to the collection object, not the name given to the collection. For this to work with Meteor.users you need to assign another variable name.
if (Meteor.isServer) {
users = Meteor.users;
}
if (Meteor.isClient) {
Meteor.call('count', 'users', function (err, res) {
// do something with number of users
});
}
Also probably a good idea to check that global[collectionName] is actually a collection.
I came up with this code which makes the following assumptions :
collections are declared in the global scope as top level objects.
collections are searched by collection name, not the collection variable identifier.
So client code should declare their collections like this :
MyCollection=new Meteor.Collection("my-collection");
And use the function like this :
var clientResult=Meteor.call("getCollectionCount","my-collection",function(error,result){
if(error){
console.log(error);
return;
}
console.log("actual server-side count is : ",result);
});
console.log("published subset count is : ",clientResult);
The method supports execution on the client (this is known as method stub or method simulation) but will only yield the count of the collection subset replicated client-side, to get the real count wait for server-side response using a callback.
/packages/my-package/lib/my-package.js
getCollection=function(collectionName){
if(collectionName=="users"){
return Meteor.users;
}
var globalScope=Meteor.isClient?window:global;
for(var property in globalScope){
var object=globalScope[property];
if(object instanceof Meteor.Collection && object._name==collectionName){
return object;
}
}
throw Meteor.Error(500,"No collection named "+collectionName);
};
Meteor.methods({
getCollectionCount:function(collectionName){
return getCollection(collectionName).find().count();
}
});
As Meteor.users is not declared as a top level variable you have to account for the special case (yes, this is ugly).
Digging into Meteor's collection handling code could provide a better alternative (getting access to a collection handle by collection name).
Final words on this : using a method call to count a collection documents is unfortunately non-reactive, so given the Meteor paradigm this might be of little use.
Most of the time you will want to fetch the number of documents in a collection for pagination purpose (something like a "Load more" button in a posts list for example), and as the rest of the Meteor architecture you'll want this to be reactive.
To count documents in a collection reactively you'll have to setup a slightly more complicated publication as showcased in the "counts-by-room" example in the docs.
http://docs.meteor.com/#meteor_publish
This is something you definitely want to read and understand.
This smart package is actually doing it right :
http://atmospherejs.com/package/publish-counts
It provides a helper function that is publishing the counts of any cursor.
Keep track of the collections on some other property that the server has access too. You could even call it window if you really wanted to.
var wow = new Meteor.Collection("wow");
collections["wow"] = wow;
getCollectionCount: function (collectionName) {
return collections[collectionName].find().count();
}
If you don't want the package users to change how they work with collections in the app then I think you should use MongoInternals to get collections by name from the db. Not tested but here is an example:
//on server
Meteor.methods({
count: function( name ){
var db = MongoInternals.defaultRemoteCollectionDriver().mongo.db;
var collection = db.collection( name );
return collection && collection.count({});
}
});
Another example of MongoInternals use is here. Documentation of the count() function available from the mongo driver is here.
In my client UI I have a form with differents search criterias, and I'd like to reactively update the results list. The search query is transformed into a classical minimongo selector, saved in a Session variable, and then I have observers to do things with the results:
// Think of a AirBnb-like application
// The session variable `search-query` is updated via a form
// example: Session.set('search-query', {price: {$lt: 100}});
Offers = new Meteor.Collection('offers');
Session.setDefault('search-query', {});
resultsCursor = Offers.find(Session.get('search-query'));
// I want to add and remove pins on a map
resultCursor.observe({
added: Map.addPin,
removed: Map.removePin
});
Deps.autorun(function() {
// I want to modify the cursor selector and keep the observers
// so that I would only have the diff between the old search and
// the new one
// This `modifySelector` method doesn't exist
resultsCursor.modifySelector(Session.get('search-query'));
});
How could I implement this modifySelector method on the cursor object?
Basically I think this method needs to update the compiled version of the cursor, ie the selector_f attribute, and then rerun observers (without losing the cache of the previous results). Or is there any better solution?
Edit: Some of you have misunderstood what I'm trying to do. Let me provide a complete example:
Offers = new Meteor.Collection('offers');
if (Meteor.isServer && Offers.find().count() === 0) {
for (var i = 1; i < 4; i++) {
// Inserting documents {price: 1}, {price: 2} and {price: 3}
Offers.insert({price:i})
}
}
if (Meteor.isClient) {
Session.setDefault('search-query', {price:1});
resultsCursor = Offers.find(Session.get('search-query'));
resultsCursor.observe({
added: function (doc) {
// First, this added observer is fired once with the document
// matching the default query {price: 1}
console.log('added:', doc);
}
});
setTimeout(function() {
console.log('new search query');
// Then one second later, I'd like to have my "added observer" fired
// twice with docs {price: 2} and {price: 3}.
Session.set('search-query', {});
}, 1000);
}
This doesn't solve the problem in the way you seem to be wanting to, but I think the result is still the same. If this is a solution you explicitly don't want, let me know and I can remove the answer. I just didn't want to put code in a comment.
Offers = new Meteor.Collection('offers');
Session.setDefault('search-query', {});
Template.map.pins = function() {
return Offers.find(Session.get('search-query'));
}
Template.map.placepins = function(pins) {
// use d3 or whatever to clear the map and then place all pins on the map
}
Assuming your template is something like this:
<template name="map">
{{placepins pins}}
</template>
One solution is to manually diff the old and the new cursors:
# Every time the query change, do a diff to add, move and remove pins on the screen
# Assuming that the pins order are always the same, this use a single loop of complexity
# o(n) rather than the naive loop in loop of complexity o(n^2)
Deps.autorun =>
old_pins = #pins
new_pins = []
position = 0
old_pin = undefined # This variable needs to be in the Deps.autorun scope
# This is a simple algo to implement a kind of "reactive cursor"
# Sorting is done on the server, it's important to keep the order
collection.find(Session.get('search-query'), sort: [['mark', 'desc']]).forEach (product) =>
if not old_pin?
old_pin = old_pins.shift()
while old_pin?.mark > product.mark
#removePin(old_pin)
old_pin = old_pins.shift()
if old_pin?._id == product._id
#movePin(old_pin, position++)
new_pins.push(old_pin)
old_pin = old_pins.shift()
else
newPin = #render(product, position++)
new_pins.push(newPin)
# Finish the job
if old_pin?
#removePin(old_pin)
for old_pin in old_pins
#removePin(old_pin)
#pins = new_pins
But it's a bit hacky and not so efficient. Moreover the diff logic is already implemented in minimongo so it's better to reuse it.
Perhaps an acceptable solution would be to keep track of old pins in a local collection? Something like this:
Session.setDefault('search-query', {});
var Offers = new Meteor.Collection('offers');
var OldOffers = new Meteor.Collection(null);
var addNewPin = function(offer) {
// Add a pin only if it's a new offer, and then mark it as an old offer
if (!OldOffers.findOne({_id: offer._id})) {
Map.addPin(offer);
OldOffers.insert(offer);
}
};
var removePinsExcept = function(ids) {
// Clean out the pins that no longer exist in the updated query,
// and remove them from the OldOffers collection
OldOffers.find({_id: {$nin: ids}}).forEach(function(offer) {
Map.removePin(offer);
OldOffers.remove({_id: offer._id});
});
};
Deps.autorun(function() {
var offers = Offers.find(Session.get('search-query'));
removePinsExcept(offers.map(function(offer) {
return offer._id;
}));
offers.observe({
added: addNewPin,
removed: Map.removePin
});
});
I'm not sure how much faster this is than your array answer, though I think it's much more readable. The thing you need to consider is whether diffing the results as the query changes is really much faster than removing all the pins and redrawing them each time. I would suspect that this might be a case of premature optimization. How often do you expect a user to change the search query, such that there will be a significant amount of overlap between the results of the old and new queries?
I have the same problem in my own hobby Meteor project.
There is filter session var where selector is storing. Triggering any checkbox or button changes filter and all UI rerender.
That solution have some cons and the main - you can't share app state with other users.
So i realized that better way is storing app state in URL.
May be it is also better in your case?
Clicking button now change URL and UI rendering based on it. I realize it with FlowRouter.
Helpful reading: Keeping App State on the URL