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<div class="document">
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="name" name="name">Name</a></h1>
<p>MochiKit.Async - manage asynchronous tasks</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="synopsis" name="synopsis">Synopsis</a></h1>
<pre class="literal-block">
var url = "/src/b/bo/bob/MochiKit.Async/META.json";
/*
META.json looks something like this:
{"name": "MochiKit", "version": "0.5"}
*/
var d = loadJSONDoc(url);
var gotMetadata = function (meta) {
if (MochiKit.Async.VERSION == meta.version) {
alert("You have the newest MochiKit.Async!");
} else {
alert("MochiKit.Async "
+ meta.version
+ " is available, upgrade!");
}
};
var metadataFetchFailed = function (err) {
alert("The metadata for MochiKit.Async could not be fetched :(");
};
d.addCallbacks(gotMetadata, metadataFetchFailed);
</pre>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="description" name="description">Description</a></h1>
<p>MochiKit.Async provides facilities to manage asynchronous (as in AJAX
<a class="footnote-reference" href="#id7" id="id1" name="id1">[1]</a>) tasks. The model for asynchronous computation used in this
module is heavily inspired by Twisted <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id8" id="id2" name="id2">[2]</a>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="dependencies" name="dependencies">Dependencies</a></h1>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html">MochiKit.Base</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="security-concerns" name="security-concerns">Security Concerns</a></h1>
<p>The current implementation of evalJSONRequest does no input validation.
Invalid JSON can execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the client. This isn't
normally a concern because of the same-origin policy in web browsers; the
server is already sending arbitrary code to the client (your program!).</p>
<p>While this isn't directly relevant to MochiKit, server-side code that produces
JSON should consider potential cross-site request forgery. Currently known
exploits require a JSON array to be the outer-most object, and the data to be
leaked must be known keys in objects contained by that array:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
[{"some_known_key": "this can be leaked"}, "but not this"]
</pre>
<p>This exploit does not apply to the most common usage of JSON, sending an
object:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
{"some_known_key": "this can't be leaked"}
</pre>
<p>There are several ways to avoid this, here are a few:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Use some non-standard addition to JSON that adds constructs to prevent
script tag parsing, such as wrapping the data in a comment or an infinite
loop. MochiKit supports comment-wrapped JSON, but it's up to the server
to send it that way.</li>
<li>Require some kind of authentication token in the URL.</li>
<li>Allow only POST requests to access sensitive JSON.</li>
<li>Only send JSON objects, not arrays. JSON objects aren't valid JavaScript
syntax on their own without parentheses.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="overview" name="overview">Overview</a></h1>
<div class="section">
<h2><a id="deferred" name="deferred">Deferred</a></h2>
<p>The Deferred constructor encapsulates a single value that is not
available yet. The most important example of this in the context of a
web browser would be an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> to a server. The importance
of the Deferred is that it allows a consistent API to be exposed for
all asynchronous computations that occur exactly once.</p>
<p>The producer of the Deferred is responsible for doing all of the
complicated work behind the scenes. This often means waiting for a
timer to fire, or waiting for an event (e.g. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">onreadystatechange</span></tt> of
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt>). It could also be coordinating several events
(e.g. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> with a timeout, or several Deferreds
(e.g. fetching a set of XML documents that should be processed at the
same time).</p>
<p>Since these sorts of tasks do not respond immediately, the producer of
the Deferred does the following steps before returning to the
consumer:</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>Create a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span></tt> <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred();</a> object and keep a
reference to it, because it will be needed later when the value is
ready.</li>
<li>Setup the conditions to create the value requested (e.g. create a
new <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt>, set its <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">onreadystatechange</span></tt>).</li>
<li>Return the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> object.</li>
</ol>
<p>Since the value is not yet ready, the consumer attaches a function to
the Deferred that will be called when the value is ready. This is not
unlike <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">setTimeout</span></tt>, or other similar facilities you may already be
familiar with. The consumer can also attach an "errback" to the
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, which is a callback for error handling.</p>
<p>When the value is ready, the producer simply calls
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">myDeferred.callback(theValue)</span></tt>. If an error occurred, it should
call <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">myDeferred.errback(theValue)</span></tt> instead. As soon as this
happens, the callback that the consumer attached to the
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> is called with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">theValue</span></tt> as the only argument.</p>
<p>There are quite a few additional "advanced" features baked into
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, such as cancellation and callback chains, so
take a look at the API reference if you would like to know more!</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="api-reference" name="api-reference">API Reference</a></h1>
<div class="section">
<h2><a id="errors" name="errors">Errors</a></h2>
<p>
<a name="fn-alreadycallederror"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-alreadycallederror">AlreadyCalledError</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thrown by a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> if <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.callback</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.errback</span></tt>
are called more than once.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-browsercomplianceerror"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-browsercomplianceerror">BrowserComplianceError</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thrown when the JavaScript runtime is not capable of performing
the given function. Currently, this happens if the browser does
not support <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-cancellederror"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-cancellederror">CancelledError</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thrown by a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> when it is cancelled, unless a
canceller is present and throws something else.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-genericerror"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-genericerror">GenericError</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Results passed to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.fail</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.errback</span></tt> of a
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> are wrapped by this <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Error</span></tt> if <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">!(result</span>
<span class="pre">instanceof</span> <span class="pre">Error)</span></tt>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-xmlhttprequesterror"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-xmlhttprequesterror">XMLHttpRequestError</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Thrown when an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> does not complete successfully
for any reason. The <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">req</span></tt> property of the error is the failed
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> object, and for convenience the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">number</span></tt>
property corresponds to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">req.status</span></tt>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h2><a id="constructors" name="constructors">Constructors</a></h2>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred()</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
Encapsulates a sequence of callbacks in response to a value that
may not yet be available. This is modeled after the Deferred class
from Twisted <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id9" id="id3" name="id3">[3]</a>.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Why do we want this? JavaScript has no threads, and even if it
did, threads are hard. Deferreds are a way of abstracting
non-blocking events, such as the final response to an
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt>.</p>
<p>The sequence of callbacks is internally represented as a list of
2-tuples containing the callback/errback pair. For example, the
following call sequence:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
var d = new Deferred();
d.addCallback(myCallback);
d.addErrback(myErrback);
d.addBoth(myBoth);
d.addCallbacks(myCallback, myErrback);
</pre>
<p>is translated into a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> with the following
internal representation:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
[
[myCallback, null],
[null, myErrback],
[myBoth, myBoth],
[myCallback, myErrback]
]
</pre>
<p>The <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> also keeps track of its current status
(fired). Its status may be one of the following three values:</p>
<blockquote>
<table border="1" class="docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="14%" />
<col width="86%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">Value</th>
<th class="head">Condition</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td>-1</td>
<td>no value yet (initial condition)</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>0</td>
<td>success</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>1</td>
<td>error</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> will be in the error state if one of the
following conditions are met:</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>The result given to callback or errback is "<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">instanceof</span>
<span class="pre">Error</span></tt>"</li>
<li>The callback or errback threw while executing. If the thrown
object is not <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">instanceof</span> <span class="pre">Error</span></tt>, it will be wrapped with
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-genericerror">GenericError</a>.</li>
</ol>
<p>Otherwise, the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> will be in the success
state. The state of the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> determines the next
element in the callback sequence to run.</p>
<p>When a callback or errback occurs with the example deferred chain,
something equivalent to the following will happen (imagine that
exceptions are caught and returned as-is):</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
// d.callback(result) or d.errback(result)
if (!(result instanceof Error)) {
result = myCallback(result);
}
if (result instanceof Error) {
result = myErrback(result);
}
result = myBoth(result);
if (result instanceof Error) {
result = myErrback(result);
} else {
result = myCallback(result);
}
</pre>
<p>The result is then stored away in case another step is added to
the callback sequence. Since the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> already has
a value available, any new callbacks added will be called
immediately.</p>
<p>There are two other "advanced" details about this implementation
that are useful:</p>
<p>Callbacks are allowed to return <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> instances, so
you can build complicated sequences of events with (relative)
ease.</p>
<p>The creator of the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> may specify a
canceller. The canceller is a function that will be called if
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.cancel">Deferred.prototype.cancel</a> is called before the
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> fires. You can use this to allow an
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> to be cleanly cancelled, for example. Note that
cancel will fire the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> with a
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-cancellederror">CancelledError</a> (unless your canceller throws or
returns a different <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Error</span></tt>), so errbacks should be prepared to
handle that <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Error</span></tt> gracefully for cancellable
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> instances.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.addboth"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.addboth">Deferred.prototype.addBoth(func)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Add the same function as both a callback and an errback as the
next element on the callback sequence. This is useful for code
that you want to guarantee to run, e.g. a finalizer.</p>
<p>If additional arguments are given, then <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> will be replaced
with <a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html#fn-partial">MochiKit.Base.partial.apply(null,
arguments)</a>. This differs from <a class="reference" href="http://twistedmatrix.com/">Twisted</a>, because the result of
the callback or errback will be the <em>last</em> argument passed to
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt>.</p>
<p>If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> returns a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, then it will be
chained (its value or error will be passed to the next
callback). Note that once the returned <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Deferred</span></tt> is chained, it
can no longer accept new callbacks.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.addcallback"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.addcallback">Deferred.prototype.addCallback(func[, ...])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Add a single callback to the end of the callback sequence.</p>
<p>If additional arguments are given, then <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> will be replaced
with <a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html#fn-partial">MochiKit.Base.partial.apply(null,
arguments)</a>. This differs from <a class="reference" href="http://twistedmatrix.com/">Twisted</a>, because the result of
the callback will be the <em>last</em> argument passed to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt>.</p>
<p>If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> returns a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, then it will be
chained (its value or error will be passed to the next
callback). Note that once the returned <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Deferred</span></tt> is chained, it
can no longer accept new callbacks.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.addcallbacks"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.addcallbacks">Deferred.prototype.addCallbacks(callback, errback)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Add separate callback and errback to the end of the callback
sequence. Either callback or errback may be <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">null</span></tt>, but not
both.</p>
<p>If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">callback</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">errback</span></tt> returns a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>,
then it will be chained (its value or error will be passed to the
next callback). Note that once the returned <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Deferred</span></tt> is
chained, it can no longer accept new callbacks.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.adderrback"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.adderrback">Deferred.prototype.addErrback(func)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Add a single errback to the end of the callback sequence.</p>
<p>If additional arguments are given, then <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> will be replaced
with <a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html#fn-partial">MochiKit.Base.partial.apply(null,
arguments)</a>. This differs from <a class="reference" href="http://twistedmatrix.com/">Twisted</a>, because the result of
the errback will be the <em>last</em> argument passed to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt>.</p>
<p>If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> returns a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, then it will be
chained (its value or error will be passed to the next
callback). Note that once the returned <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Deferred</span></tt> is chained, it
can no longer accept new callbacks.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.callback"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.callback">Deferred.prototype.callback([result])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Begin the callback sequence with a non-<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Error</span></tt> result. Result
may be any value except for a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>.</p>
<p>Either <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.callback</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.errback</span></tt> should be called exactly once
on a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.cancel"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.cancel">Deferred.prototype.cancel()</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cancels a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that has not yet received a value,
or is waiting on another <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> as its value.</p>
<p>If a canceller is defined, the canceller is called. If the
canceller did not return an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Error</span></tt>, or there was no canceller,
then the errback chain is started with <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-cancellederror">CancelledError</a>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferred.prototype.errback"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.errback">Deferred.prototype.errback([result])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Begin the callback sequence with an error result. Result may be
any value except for a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, but if <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">!(result</span>
<span class="pre">instanceof</span> <span class="pre">Error)</span></tt>, it will be wrapped with
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-genericerror">GenericError</a>.</p>
<p>Either <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.callback</span></tt> or <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.errback</span></tt> should be called exactly once
on a
<a name="fn-deferred"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferredlock"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferredlock">DeferredLock()</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A lock for asynchronous systems.</p>
<p>The <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">locked</span></tt> property of a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferredlock">DeferredLock</a> will be
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">true</span></tt> if it locked, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">false</span></tt> otherwise. Do not change this
property.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferredlock.prototype.acquire"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferredlock.prototype.acquire">DeferredLock.prototype.acquire()</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Attempt to acquire the lock. Returns a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that
fires on lock acquisition with the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferredlock">DeferredLock</a> as the
value. If the lock is locked, then the <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> goes
into a waiting list.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferredlock.prototype.release"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferredlock.prototype.release">DeferredLock.prototype.release()</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Release the lock. If there is a waiting list, then the first
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> in that waiting list will be called back.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-deferredlist"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-deferredlist">DeferredList(list, [fireOnOneCallback, fireOnOneErrback, consumeErrors, canceller])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Combine a list of <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> into one. Track the
callbacks and return a list of (success, result) tuples, 'success'
being a boolean indicating whether result is a normal result or an
error.</p>
<p>Once created, you have access to all <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> methods,
like addCallback, addErrback, addBoth. The behaviour can be
changed by the following options:</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fireOnOneCallback</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>Flag for launching the callback once the first Deferred of the
list has returned.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fireOnOneErrback</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>Flag for calling the errback at the first error of a Deferred.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">consumeErrors</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>Flag indicating that any errors raised in the Deferreds should
be consumed by the DeferredList.</dd>
</dl>
<p>Example:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
// We need to fetch data from 2 different urls
var d1 = loadJSONDoc(url1);
var d2 = loadJSONDoc(url2);
var l1 = new DeferredList([d1, d2], false, false, true);
l1.addCallback(function (resultList) {
MochiKit.Base.map(function (result) {
if (result[0]) {
alert("Data is here: " + result[1]);
} else {
alert("Got an error: " + result[1]);
}
}, resultList);
});
</pre>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h2><a id="functions" name="functions">Functions</a></h2>
<p>
<a name="fn-calllater"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-calllater">callLater(seconds, func[, args...])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Call <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func(args...)</span></tt> after at least <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">seconds</span></tt> seconds have
elapsed. This is a convenience method for:</p>
<pre class="literal-block">
func = partial.apply(extend(null, arguments, 1));
return wait(seconds).addCallback(function (res) { return func() });
</pre>
<p>Returns a cancellable <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-doxhr"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-doxhr">doXHR(url[, {option: value, ...}])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perform a customized <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> and wrap it with a
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that may be cancelled.</p>
<p>Note that only <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">200</span></tt> (OK), <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">201</span></tt> (CREATED),
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">204</span></tt> (NO CONTENT) and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">304</span></tt> (NOT MODIFIED) are considered
success codes. All other status codes will
result in an errback with an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequestError</span></tt>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">url</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The URL for this request.</dd>
</dl>
<p>The following options are currently accepted:</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">method</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The HTTP method. Default is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'GET'</span></tt>.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendContent</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The content to send (e.g. with POST). Default is no content.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">queryString</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>If present it will be used to build a query string to append to
the url using <a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html#fn-querystring">MochiKit.Base.queryString</a>. Default is
no query string.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">username</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The username for the request. Default is no username.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">password</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The password for the request. Default is no password.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">headers</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>Additional headers to set in the request, either as an object
such as <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">{'Accept':</span> <span class="pre">'text/xml'}</span></tt> or as an Array of 2-Arrays
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">[['Accept',</span> <span class="pre">'text/xml']]</span></tt>. Default is no additional headers.</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">mimeType</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>An override mime type. The typical use of this is to pass
'text/xml' to force XMLHttpRequest to attempt to parse responseXML.
Default is no override.</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd><a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that will callback with the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> instance on success</dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.4+.</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-dosimplexmlhttprequest"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-dosimplexmlhttprequest">doSimpleXMLHttpRequest(url[, queryArguments...])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perform a simple <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> and wrap it with a
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that may be cancelled.</p>
<p>Note that only <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">200</span></tt> (OK), <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">201</span></tt> (CREATED),
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">204</span></tt> (NO CONTENT) and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">304</span></tt> (NOT MODIFIED) are considered
success codes. All other status codes will
result in an errback with an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequestError</span></tt>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">url</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The URL to GET</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">queryArguments</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd><p class="first">If this function is called with more than one argument, a
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">"?"</span></tt> and the result of
<a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html#fn-querystring">MochiKit.Base.queryString</a> with the rest of the
arguments are appended to the URL.</p>
<p>For example, this will do a GET request to the URL
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">http://example.com?bar=baz</span></tt>:</p>
<pre class="last literal-block">
doSimpleXMLHttpRequest("http://example.com", {bar: "baz"});
</pre>
</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd><a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that will callback with the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> instance on success</dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+. Support for 201 and 204 were added in
MochiKit 1.4.</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-evaljsonrequest"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-evaljsonrequest">evalJSONRequest(req)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Evaluate a JSON <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id10" id="id4" name="id4">[4]</a> <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt></p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">req</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The request whose <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.responseText</span></tt> property is to be
evaluated. If the JSON is wrapped in a comment, the comment will
be stripped before evaluation.</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd>A JavaScript object</dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-fail"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-fail">fail([result])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Return a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that has already had
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.errback(result)</span></tt> called.</p>
<p>See <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">succeed</span></tt> documentation for rationale.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">result</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The result to give to
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.errback">Deferred.prototype.errback(result)</a>.</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd>A <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span></tt> <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred()</a></dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-gatherresults"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-gatherresults">gatherResults(deferreds)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A convenience function that returns a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferredlist">DeferredList</a>
from the given <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Array</span></tt> of <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> instances that
will callback with an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Array</span></tt> of just results when they're
available, or errback on the first array.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-getxmlhttprequest"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-getxmlhttprequest">getXMLHttpRequest()</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Return an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> compliant object for the current
platform.</p>
<p>In order of preference:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span> <span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest()</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span> <span class="pre">ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP')</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span> <span class="pre">ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP')</span></tt></li>
<li><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span> <span class="pre">ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP.4.0')</span></tt></li>
</ul>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-maybedeferred"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-maybedeferred">maybeDeferred(func[, argument...])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Call a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> with the given arguments and ensure the result is
a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The function to call.</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd>A new <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> based on the call to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt>. If
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">func</span></tt> does not naturally return a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a>, its
result or error value will be wrapped by one.</dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-loadjsondoc"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-loadjsondoc">loadJSONDoc(url[, queryArguments...])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Do a simple <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> to a URL and get the response as a
JSON <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id10" id="id5" name="id5">[4]</a> document.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">url</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The URL to GET</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">queryArguments</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd><p class="first">If this function is called with more than one argument, a
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">"?"</span></tt> and the result of
<a class="mochiref reference" href="Base.html#fn-querystring">MochiKit.Base.queryString</a> with the rest of the
arguments are appended to the URL.</p>
<p>For example, this will do a GET request to the URL
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">http://example.com?bar=baz</span></tt>:</p>
<pre class="last literal-block">
loadJSONDoc("http://example.com", {bar: "baz"});
</pre>
</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd><a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that will callback with the evaluated
JSON <a class="footnote-reference" href="#id10" id="id6" name="id6">[4]</a> response upon successful <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt></dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-sendxmlhttprequest"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-sendxmlhttprequest">sendXMLHttpRequest(req[, sendContent])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Set an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">onreadystatechange</span></tt> handler on an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt>
object and send it off. Will return a cancellable
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that will callback on success.</p>
<p>Note that only <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">200</span></tt> (OK), <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">201</span></tt> (CREATED),
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">204</span></tt> (NO CONTENT) and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">304</span></tt> (NOT MODIFIED) are considered
success codes. All other status codes will
result in an errback with an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequestError</span></tt>.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">req</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>An preconfigured <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> object (open has been
called).</dd>
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sendContent</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>Optional string or DOM content to send over the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt>.</dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd><a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that will callback with the
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">XMLHttpRequest</span></tt> instance on success.</dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+. Support for 201 and 204 were added in
MochiKit 1.4.</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-succeed"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-succeed">succeed([result])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Return a <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that has already had
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.callback(result)</span></tt> called.</p>
<p>This is useful when you're writing synchronous code to an
asynchronous interface: i.e., some code is calling you expecting a
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> result, but you don't actually need to do
anything asynchronous. Just return <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">succeed(theResult)</span></tt>.</p>
<p>See <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fail</span></tt> for a version of this function that uses a failing
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> rather than a successful one.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">result</span></tt>:</dt>
<dd>The result to give to
<a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred.prototype.callback">Deferred.prototype.callback(result)</a></dd>
<dt><em>returns</em>:</dt>
<dd>a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">new</span></tt> <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a></dd>
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a name="fn-wait"></a>
<a class="mochidef reference" href="#fn-wait">wait(seconds[, res])</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Return a new cancellable <a class="mochiref reference" href="#fn-deferred">Deferred</a> that will
<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.callback(res)</span></tt> after at least <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">seconds</span></tt> seconds have
elapsed.</p>
<dl class="docutils">
<dt><em>Availability</em>:</dt>
<dd>Available in MochiKit 1.3.1+</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="see-also" name="see-also">See Also</a></h1>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id7" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1" name="id7">[1]</a></td><td>AJAX, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML: <a class="reference" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id8" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id2" name="id8">[2]</a></td><td>Twisted, an event-driven networking framework written in Python: <a class="reference" href="http://twistedmatrix.com/">http://twistedmatrix.com/</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id9" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id3" name="id9">[3]</a></td><td>Twisted Deferred Reference: <a class="reference" href="http://twistedmatrix.com/projects/core/documentation/howto/defer.html">http://twistedmatrix.com/projects/core/documentation/howto/defer.html</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="id10" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a name="id10">[4]</a></td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id4">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id5">2</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id6">3</a>)</em> JSON, JavaScript Object Notation: <a class="reference" href="http://json.org/">http://json.org/</a></td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="authors" name="authors">Authors</a></h1>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Bob Ippolito <<a class="reference" href="mailto:bob@redivi.com">bob@redivi.com</a>></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section">
<h1><a id="copyright" name="copyright">Copyright</a></h1>
<p>Copyright 2005 Bob Ippolito <<a class="reference" href="mailto:bob@redivi.com">bob@redivi.com</a>>. This program is
dual-licensed free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the <a class="reference" href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php">MIT License</a> or the <a class="reference" href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/afl-2.1.php">Academic Free License
v2.1</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
