ambi

Execute a function ambidextrously (normalizes the differences between synchronous and asynchronous functions). Useful for treating synchronous functions as asynchronous functions (like supporting both synchronous and asynchronous event definitions automatically).

Install

NPM

Install: npm install --save ambi
Module: require('ambi')

Browserify

Install: npm install --save ambi
Module: require('ambi')
CDN URL: //wzrd.in/bundle/[email protected]

Ender

Install: ender add ambi
Module: require('ambi')

Editions

This package is published with the following editions:

ambi aliases ambi/index.js which uses Editions to automatically select the correct edition for the consumers environment
ambi/source/index.js is esnext source code with require for modules
ambi/edition-browsers/index.js is esnext compiled for browsers with require for modules
ambi/edition-node-0.8/index.js is esnext compiled for node.js 0.8 with require for modules

Usage

Example

// Import
const ambi = require('ambi')
let result = null

// Sample methods
function syncMethod (x, y) {
    return x * y
}
function asyncMethod (x, y, next) {
    return setTimeout(function () {
        next(null, x * y)
    }, 0)
}

// Call the synchronous function asynchronously
// ambi adds support for this asynchronous callback automatically
result = ambi(syncMethod, 5, 2, function (err, result) {
    console.log(err, result)  // null, 10
})
console.log(result)  // 10 - just like normal

// Call the asynchronous function asynchronously
// ambi doesn't do anything special here
result = ambi(asyncMethod, 5, 2, function (err, result) {
    console.log(err, result)  // null, 10
})
console.log(result)  // setTimeout - just like normal

Notes

Ambi accepts the arguments (method, ...args)
- method is the function to execute
- ...args is the arguments to send to the method
  - the last argument is expected to be the completion callback
  - the completion callback is optional, but if defined, is expected to have the signature of (err, ...results)
If the method has equal or more arguments than ambi received, then we assume it is an asynchronous method and let it handle calling of the completion callback itself
If the method has less arguments than ambi received, then we assume it is a synchronous method and we'll call the completion callback ourselves
- If the synchronous method throws an error or returns an error, we'll try to call the completion callback with a single err argument
- If the synchronous method executes without error, we'll try to call the completion callback with a err argument equal to null, and a result argument equal to the returned result of the synchronous method