outcome

Outcome.js is a simple flow-control library which wraps your .callback(err, result) functions.

Motiviation

• Write less code for handling errors.
• Easier to maintain.
• Keep error handling code separate.

Basic Example

Here's the traditional method of handling errors:

 
var fs = require('fs');
 
function doSomething(path, callback) {
 
    fs.realpath(path, onRealPath);
 
    function onRealPath(err, path) {
        if(err) return callback(err);
        fs.lstat(path, onStat);
    }
 
    function onStat(err, stats) {
        if(err) return callback(err);
        callback(err, stats);
    }
 
}
 
doSomething('/path/to/something', function(err, result) {
    
    //inline with result handling - yuck
    if(err) {
 
        //do something with error
        return;
    }
 
    //do something with result
})

The outcome.js way:

 
var fs  = require('fs'),
outcome = require('outcome');
 
function doSomething(path, callback) {
 
    //wrap the callback around an error handler so any errors in *this* function
    //bubble back up to the callback - I'm lazy and I don't wanna write this stuff...
    var on = outcome.error(callback);
 
    //on success, call onRealPath. Any errors caught will be sent back
    //automatically
    fs.realpath(path, on.success(onRealPath));
 
    function onRealPath(path) {
 
        //ONLY call onStat if we've successfuly grabbed the file stats
        fs.lstat(path, on.success(onStat));
    }
 
    function onStat(stats) {
 
        //no errors, so send a response back
        callback(null, stats);
    }
}
 
 
var on = outcome.error(function(error) {
    //do something with error
}));
 
doSomething('/path/to/something', on.success(function(response) {
    //do something with result
}));
 

API

outcome(listeners)

• listeners - Object of listeners you want to attach to outcome.

 
var onResult = outcome({
    
    //called when an error is caught
    error: function(error) {
        
    },
 
    //called when an error is NOT present
    success: function(result, thirdParam) {
        
    },
 
    //called back when an error, or result is present
    callback: function(err, result, thirdParam) {
        
    }
})
 

As shown in the example above, you can also wrap-around an existing callback:

var onResult = outcome.error(function(error) {
    
}).
success(function(result, thirdParam) {
    
}).
callback(function(error, result, thirdParam) {
    
});

By default, any unhandled errors are thrown. To get around this, you'll need to listen for an unhandledError:

outcome.on('unhandledError', function(error) {
    //report bugs here..., then throw again.
});
 
 
//fails
fs.stat('s'+__filename, outcome.success(function() {
 
 
});

.callback()

Called when on error/success. Same as function(err, data) { }

Here's a redundant example:

 
fs.stat(__filename, outcome.error(function(err) {
    //handle error
}).success(function(data) {
    //handle result
}.callback(function(err, result) {
    //called on fn complete regardless if there's an error, or success
}));
 

.success(fn)

Called on Success.

var onOutcome = outcome.success(function(data, anotherParam, andAnotherParam) {
    //handle success data
});
 
onOutcome(null, "success!", "more data!", "more results..");

.error(fn)

Called on error.

 
var onOutcome = outcome.error(function(err) {
    
});
 
onOutcome(new Error("something went wrong...")); 

.handle(fn)

Custom response handler

 
outcome.handle(function(response) {
    
    if(response.errors) this.error(response);
    if(response.data) this.success(response);
});
 

CoffeeScript Example

 
outcome = require "outcome"
 
doSomething(path, callback) ->
    
    on = outcome.error callback
 
    # first get the realpath 
    fs.realpath path, on.success onRealPath
 
    # on real path, get stats 
    onRealPath(path) -> fs.lstat path, on.success onStat
 
    # on stat, finish 
    onStat(stats) -> callback null, stats
 
 
# call do something 
doSomething '/path/to/something', outcome 
 
    success: (statis) ->
        # do something 
 
    error: (error) ->
        # do something else 
 
 

Note

Calling .error(), .success(), .callback() generates a new function which copies the previous listeners. Checkout fs-test in the examples folder.