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node.jspromisebluebird

Bluebird promisify and callback with no error argument


I'm trying to promisify a 3rd party library that doesn't use the callback(err, data) pattern. Instead they always return callback(data) and throw on errors.

Promise.promisifyAll(horse);

var p = Promise.defer();
horse.drinkAsync()
    .error(function(data)
    {
        p.fulfill(data);
    })
    .catch(function (err)
    {
        console.error('error occured', err);
    });

return p.promise;

What is a nice way to wrap such a behavior with promises and still have it look ok and allow to catch the thrown error? The catch clause doesn't trigger and the application crashes.


Solution

  • From Bluebird 2.1 on, you can now customize promisifyAll with a custom promisification handler:

    function noErrPromisifier(originalMethod){
        return function promisified() {
             var args = [].slice.call(arguments); // might want to use smarter
             var self = this                      // promisification if performance critical
             return new Promise(function(resolve,reject){
                 args.push(resolve); 
                 originalMethod.apply(self,args); // call with arguments
             });
        };
    }
    
    var horse = Promise.promisifyAll(require("horse"), {
        promisifier: noErrPromisifier
    });
    
    horse.drinkAsync().then(function(data){
         // Can use here, ow promisified normally.
    });
    

    If the original method throws asynchronously, there is really no way around wrapping it in a domain, although I've never seen a library that acts that poorly.