DeAsync

DeAsync turns async code into sync, implemented with a blocking mechanism by calling Node.js event loop at JavaScript layer. The core of deasync is written in C++.

This project is forked from abbr/deasync and rewritten in modern code, adding some new features: types, Promise support, and prebuild binaries.

The benefit of this package over synckit, await-sync and others libs is that this runs your code in the current context, so parameters and the return value of your function are no need to be serializable, you are free to use Symbol, functions, and objects with prototypes.

[!WARNING]

Due to uv_run() is not reentrant, functions that poll the event loop and deasynced functions only work at the top level, and calling them from asynchronous callbacks can lead to deadlocks.

Installation

npm install @kaciras/deasync

DeAsync downloads prebuild binary from GitHub releases during installation, if download fails, try to build locally. You can skip the install phase by setting the environment variable NO_PREBUILD=1.

DeAsync uses node-gyp to compile C++ source code, so to build Deasync you may need the compilers listed in node-gyp.

Usage

deasync(function)

Generic wrapper of async function with conventional API signature function(...args, (error, result) => {}). Returns result and throws error as exception if not null.

Sleep (a wrapper of setTimeout):

const { deasync } = require("@kaciras/deasync");

const sleep = deasync((timeout, callback) => {
	setTimeout(() => callback(null, "wake up!"), timeout);
});

console.log("Timestamp before: " + performance.now());
console.log(sleep(1000));
console.log("Timestamp after: " + performance.now());

awaitSync(promise)

Similar with the keyword await but synchronously.

const { awaitSync } = require("@kaciras/deasync");

const promise = new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000)).then(() => "wake up!")

console.log("Timestamp before: " + performance.now());
console.log(awaitSync(promise));
console.log("Timestamp after: " + performance.now());

uvRun()

Run pending callbacks of macro tasks in the event loop.

const { uvRun } = require("@kaciras/deasync");

let called = false;
setImmediate(() => called = true);

uvRun();
console.log(`Called is ${called}`); // Called is true

runLoopOnce()

Run micro task callbacks until the queue has been exhausted, then run pending callbacks of macro tasks.

• If a new micro task callback enqueued when executing another, it will also be executed.
• Callbacks enqueued in macro task callback will not be executed.

loopWhile(predicate)

For async function with unconventional API, for instance function asyncFunction(p1,function cb(res){}), use loopWhile(predicateFunc) where predicateFunc is a function that returns boolean loop condition.

let done = false;
let data;
asyncFunction(p1, res => {
	data = res;
	done = true;
});
require('deasync').loopWhile(() => !done);
// data is now populated

Recommendation

DeAsync changes code execution sequence and the task scheduling, which typically degrades performance. The primary use case for DeAsync is compatibility with legacy code that does not support asynchronous. If all you are facing is syntactic problem such as callback hell, using a less drastic package implemented in pure js is recommended.