Using a Future's response - scala

Question

Hoping someone can offer an opinion on a solution for this issue I'm having.
I'll try to simplify the issue so save bringing in domain issues, etc.
I have a list of Optional strings. I'm using the collect method to basically filter out strings that don't exist.
names collect {
case Some(value) => value
}
Simple enough. I'm homing to actually go one further. If a value is a None I'd like to call a function and use its response in place of the None. For example
names collect {
case Some(value) => value
case _ => getData(_)
}
The catch is the getData method returns a future. I understand that conventions for futures advise accessing the value within a callback, so something like the map method or on complete, but the issue is that I don't know if I need to call the getData method until I'm in the collect and have the value, so I can't simply wrap all my logic in a map method on getData. It doesn't feel like using Await and blocking is a good idea.
Any idea how I could reasonably handle this would be greatly appreciated. Very new to Scala, so I'd love to hear opinions and options.
EDIT:
I was trying to simplify the problem but I think I've instead missed out on key information.
Below is the actual implementation of my method:
def calculateTracksToExport()(
implicit exportRequest: ExportRequest,
lastExportOption: Option[String]
): Future[List[String]] = {
val vendorIds = getAllFavouritedTracks().flatMap { favTracks =>
Future.sequence {
favTracks.map { track =>
musicClient.getMusicTrackDetailsExternalLinks(
track,
exportRequest.vendor.toString.toLowerCase
).map { details =>
details.data.flatMap { data =>
data.`external-links`.map { link =>
link.map(_.value).collect {
case Some(value) => value
case None => getData(track)
}
}
}.getOrElse(List())
}
}
}.map(_.flatten)
}
vendorIds
}

Answer 1

You can use Future.sequence for collecting values:
def collect(list:List[Option[String]]):Future[List[String]] = Future.sequence(
list.map {
case Some(item) => Future.successful(item)
case _ => getData()
}
)

Answer 2

If something can be in future, you will have to always treat it like future. So have sequence of Futures as return value:
def resolve[T](input: Seq[Option[T]], supplier: => Future[T]): Seq[Future[T]] = {
input.map(option => option.map(Future.successful).getOrElse(supplier))
}
Usage example:
// Input to process
val data = Seq(Some(1), None, Some(2), None, Some(5))
//Imitates long-running background process producing data
var count = 6
def getData: Future[Int] = Future( {
Thread sleep (1000)
count += 1
count
})
resolve(data, getData) // Resolve Nones
.map(Await.result(_, 10.second)).foreach( println ) // Use result
Outputs:
1
8
2
7
5
http://ideone.com/aa8nJ9