Scala: "required: scala.concurrent.Future[?]" - scala

Edit
Still haven't found a solution so I ended up creating two someFuture methods. One that returns a future & one that doesn't (to get otherFuture to compile)
I'm trying to return Future[Option[JsObject]] but keep getting this error:
required: scala.concurrent.Future[?]
What I'm doing
def someFuture:Future[Option[JsObject]] =
Future {
Option(JsObject())
}
def otherFuture:Future[Option[JsObject]] =
Future {
Option(JsObject(
someFuture.flatMap(_.get)
))
}
// get error here
found : JsObject
[error] required: scala.concurrent.Future[?]
How can I return the JsObject without getting an error?

The problem is that someFuture.flatMap(_.get) won't compile—you need to provide a function that takes a JsObject and returns a Future[Whatever] to use flatMap on someFuture.
You probably want something like this:
def otherFuture: Future[Option[JsObject]] = someFuture.map { opt =>
Option(JsObject(opt.get))
}
There's not really any reason to use Option if you're just going to call .get on it like this, though, so the following might be better:
def otherFuture: Future[Option[JsObject]] = someFuture.map(_.map(JsObject(_)))
Now if the future is satisfied by a non-empty option, the contents of the option will be wrapped in another layer of JsObject, which seems to be what you're aiming for?
Note that if you're using Option to represent failure, you may want to consider the failure-handling that's built into Future instead.

Related

Evaluating a Scala List[Either] into a Boolean

I am using scanamo to query a dynamodb and all i want to do is check that the db actually exists. I'm not really concerned with the record I get back, just that there were no errors. For the query part I'm using this:
trait DynamoTestTrait extends AbstractDynamoConfig { def test(): Future[List[Either[DynamoReadError, T]]] = ScanamoAsync.exec(client)table.consistently.limit(1).scan())}
that returns the Future List. I want to evaluate the first? item in the list and just return true if it is not a read error.
I thought this would work but it doesn't:
val result = test() match {
case r: DynamoReadError => Future.successful(false)
case r: Registration => Future.successful(true)
}
I'm new to scala so struggling with return types and things. This is a Play api call so i need to evaluate that boolen future at some point. With something like this:
def health = Action {
val isHealthy = h.testDynamo()
val b: Boolean = Await.result(isHealthy, scala.concurrent.duration.Duration(5, "seconds"))
Ok(Json.toJson(TestResponse(b.toString)))
}
I think this is probably wrong also as i don't want to use Await but i can't get async to work either.
Sorry, i'm kind of lost.
When i try to evaluate result i only get a message about the Future:
{
"status": 500,
"message": "Future(<not completed>) (of class scala.concurrent.impl.Promise$DefaultPromise)"
}
The result is a Future so you can't test the result without doing something like Await.result (as you do later). What you can do is modify the result returned by the Future to be the result you need.
In your case you can do this:
test().map(_.headOption.forall(_.isRight))
This will return Future[Boolean] which you can then use in your Await.result call.
Here is how it works:
map calls a function on the result of the Future, which is type List[Either[DynamoReadError, T]] and returns a new Future that gives the result of that function call.
_.headOption takes the head of the list and returns an Option[Either[DynamoReadError, T]]. This is Some(...) if there are one or more elements in the list, or None if the list is empty.
forall checks the contents of the Option and returns the result of the test on that option. If the Option is None then it returns true.
_.isRight tests the value Either[...] and returns true if the value is Right[...] and false if it is Left[...].
This does what you specified, but perhaps it would be better to check if any of the results failed, rather than just the first one? If so, it is actually a bit simpler:
test().map(_.forall(_.isRight))
This checks that all the entries in the List are Right, and fails as soon as a Left is found.
The problem with returning this from Play is a separate issue and should probably be in a separate question.

Spray: factor out onSuccess directive

I would like to change the following code fragment in a way that I want to factor out the onSuccess block into a new method. JSON marshalling should still work.
(patch & parameterMap & asJson) { params =>
...
val f:Future[ResposeData]=createResponse(...)
onSuccess(f){complete(_)}
}
I would like to have a method like:
def handleSuccess(f:Future/FutureMagnet)(implicit ...)
A simple refactoring doesn't work for me. I tried a lot of combinations but I can't find either the correct signature or the code working.
Example:
def handleSuccess(f: Future[ResposeData]): Unit = {
onSuccess(f) { complete(_) }
}
Error:(43, 15) type mismatch;
found : scala.concurrent.Future[ResponseData]
required: spray.routing.directives.OnSuccessFutureMagnet
onSuccess(f) {
^
If I now change signature I get another error:
def handleSuccess(f: OnSuccessFutureMagnet)
Error:(44, 18) spray.routing.Directive[f.Out] does not take parameters
onSuccess(f) {
^
Maybe this is just a simple thing to do but I'm new to spray.
So it would be nice if somebody could give a hint.
Thanks
onSuccess takes a function, basically when you use that on your future the value inside the future becomes available and you can complete your route using that value if you want:
case class ResponseData(data: String)
def handleSuccess(f: Future[ResponseData]): Unit = {
onSuccess(f) { responseData =>
complete(_)
}
}
From the comments:
"Unwraps" a Future[T] and runs its inner route after future completion with the future's value as an extraction of type T.
Note also that
If the future fails its failure throwable is bubbled up to the nearest ExceptionHandler.
Maybe you want to use onComplete which returns a Try and you can then match on Success or Failure.

Scala: How to return a Some or Option

I have the following piece of code that I am trying to enhance:
I am using the java.nio.file package to represent a directory or a file as a Path.
So here goes:
import java.nio.file.{Paths,DirectoryStream,Files,
Path,DirectoryIteratorException}
val path: Path = Paths.get(directoryPath)
var directoryStream: Option[DirectoryStream[Path]] = None
// so far so good
try {
directoryStream = Some(Files.newDirectoryStream(pathO))
// this is where i get into trouble
def getMeDirStream: DirectoryStream[Path] =
if (!directoryStream.isEmpty && directoryStream.isDefined)
getMeDirStream.get
else
None
// invoke the iterator() method of dstream here
}
The above piece of code will not compile because I do not know what to return in the else, and right now, for the life of me, I can only come up with None, which the compiler simply does not like and I would like to learn what should be its replacement.
I want this example to be a learning lesson of Option and Some for me.
Okay, this is where I choke. I would like to check if the directoryStream is not empty and is defined, and then if this is the case, I would like to invoke getMeDirStream.get to invoke the iterator() method on it.
The API for Option tells me that invoking the get() method could result in a java.util.NoSuchElementException if the option is empty.
If the directoryStream is empty I want to return something and not None, because IntelliJ is telling me that "Expression of type None.type doesn't conform to expected type DirectoryStream[Path]".
Now, I am being all naive about this.
I would like to know the following:
What should I return in the else other than None?
Should I wrap the getMeDirStream.get in a try-catch with a java.util.NoSuchElementException, even though I am checking if the directoryStream is empty or not.?
What is the purpose of a try-catch in the getMeDirStream.get, if there is indeed such a need?
How can I clean up the above piece of code to incorporate correct checks for being isDefined and for catching appropriate exceptions?
Once I know what to return in the else (and after putting in the appropriate try-catch block if necessary), I would like to invoke the iterator() method on getMeDirStream to do some downstream operations.
Some and None are subtypes of Option, but to be more correct, they are actually two different cases of Option or data constructors. In other words, even though Scala allows you to directly invoke a Some or a None you should still regard their type to be Option. The more important thing to take from this is that you should never under any circumstance invoke Option#get as it is unsafe.
The intention of Option is to indicate the possibility that a value does not exist. If you care about the errors, then you should probably look at using Either instead (or Scalaz's Either called \/).
You can keep the computation within the Option context and then only extract the value later, or provide a default.
def fromTryCatch[A](a: => A): Either[Throwable, A] = try { Right(a) } catch { case e: Throwable => Left(e) }
val getMeDirStream: Option[java.util.Iterator[Path]] =
for {
path <- fromTryCatch(Paths.get(directoryPath)).toOption
directoryStream <- fromTryCatch(Files.newDirectoryStream(pathO)).toOption
} yield directoryStream.iterator()
Later, or right after, you can get the iterator, or provide a default value:
val iterator = getMeDirStream.getOrElse(java.util.Collections.emptyIterator[Path])
Your specific questions are difficult to address because it's unclear exactly what you're trying to achieve. In particular, when you ask what the purpose of the try block is... Well, you wrote it, so only you can answer that.
In general, you never call get on an Option. You either use pattern matching:
option match {
case Some(value) => /* ... */
case None => /* ... */
}
or you use methods like map, flatMap, and foreach (or the equivalent comprehension syntax that gpampara's code uses).
My revision of gpampara's answer:
import scala.collection.convert.wrapAll._
import scala.util.Try
import java.nio.file.{Paths, Files, Path}
val getMeDirStream: Option[Iterator[Path]] =
for {
path <- Try(Paths.get("")).toOption
directoryStream <- Try(Files.newDirectoryStream(path)).toOption
} yield directoryStream.iterator
Changes:
Using Try(...).toOption instead of Either
Using implicits in scala.collection.convert to return the result as a Scala Iterator.
Try is similar to Option. Instead of Some and None, it has Success and Failure subtypes, and the failure case includes a Throwable, whereas None is just a singleton with no additional information.

Are there any types with side-effecting methods that return the original type?

Often I find myself wanting to chain a side-effecting function to the end of another method call in a more functional-looking way, but I don't want to transform the original type to Unit. Suppose I have a read method that searches a database for a record, returning Option[Record].
def read(id: Long): Option[Record] = ...
If read returns Some(record), then I might want to cache that value and move on. I could do something like this:
read(id).map { record =>
// Cache the record
record
}
But, I would like to avoid the above code and end up with something more like this to make it more clear as to what's happening:
read(id).withSideEffect { record =>
// Cache the record
}
Where withSideEffect returns the same value as read(id). After searching high and low, I can't find any method on any type that does something like this. The closest solution I can come up with is using implicit magic:
implicit class ExtendedOption[A](underlying: Option[A]) {
def withSideEffect(op: A => Unit): Option[A] = {
underlying.foreach(op)
underlying
}
}
Are there any Scala types I may have overlooked with methods like this one? And are there are any potential design flaws from using such a method?
Future.andThen (scaladoc) takes a side-effect and returns a future of the current value to facilitate fluent chaining.
The return type is not this.type.
See also duplicate questions about tap.
You can use scalaz for "explicit annotation" of side-effectful functions. In scalaz 7.0.6 it's IO monad: http://eed3si9n.com/learning-scalaz/IO+Monad.html
It's deprecated in scalaz 7.1. I would do something like that with Task
val readAndCache = Task.delay(read(id)).map(record => cacheRecord(record); record)
readAndCache.run // Run task for it's side effects

Get Option value or throw an exception

Given an Option, what is the idiomatic way to get its value or throw an exception trying?
def foo() : String = {
val x : Option[String] = ...
x.getOrException()
}
A throw "statement" is really an expression in Scala, and it has type Nothing, which is a subtype of every other type. This means you can just use plain old getOrElse:
def myGet[A](oa: Option[A]) = oa.getOrElse(throw new RuntimeException("Can't."))
You really, really shouldn't be doing this, though.
(EDIT: this is not the best or most idiomatic way to do it. I wrote it when I was not familiar with Scala. I leave it here for an example of how not to do it. Nowadays I would do as #TravisBrown)
I think it really boils down to two things:
how sure are you that the value is there?
how do you want to react if it isn't?
If at that point in your code you expect the value to be there, and in the remote case that it isn't you want your program to fail fast, then I would only do a normal get and let Scala throw a NoSuchElementException if there was no value:
def foo() : String = {
val x : Option[String] = ...
x.get
}
If you want to handle the case differently (throw your own exception) I think a more elegant way would look like this:
def foo(): String = {
val x: Option[String] = None
x match {
case Some(value) => value
case None => throw new MyRuntimeException("blah")
}
}
And of course if you want to supply your own alternative value for the case that the Option is None you would just use getOrElse:
def foo(): String = {
val x: Option[String] = None
x.getOrElse("my alternative value")
}
I hope this will help you to understand how to represent errors (and generally effects) using types.
Error handling strategies in functional Scala
Use Option to return optional values. For example - fail to find entity in storage.
Use Option(possiblyNull) to avoid instances of Some(null).
Use Either[Error, T] to report expected failure. For example - email format is wrong, cannot parse a string to a number, etc.
Model your errors as ADTs (simply speaking kind of type hierarchies) to use it, for example, on the Left of the Either to represent more complex error scenarios.
Throw Exception only to signal unexpected and not-recoverable failures. Like missing config file.
Use Either.catchOnly or Try or Cats.IO (advanced) rather than a catch block for handling unexpected failures. Hint: You can still use ADT but extend them from throwables. More about Either vs Try.
Use Validated data-type from Cats lib to accumulate errors rather than fail-fast (Either), but prefer Either's on module-level to simplify the composition of the program (to have the same types). For example - form data validation, parsing errors accumulation.
Use mentioned types and don't optimize program preemptively - since most probably, bottle-necks would be in business logic, not in effect types.
Such an approach will simplify maintenance and updates of your code since you can reason about it without going to implementation specifics (aka local-reasoning). Also - reduce bugs - you cannot miss an error in the type. And compose the program easier (with help of map, flatMap and other combinators) - since it's simpler on type level, rather than with non-local exceptions and side-effects.
More about learning functional Scala.
But be aware that sometimes with this approach types could stack up and it could become harder to compose things. Given, for example: x: Future[Either[Error, Option[T]]] What you can do:
Use map and flatMap in combination with pattern-matching to compose different values of such types, for example:
x.faltMap { case Right(Some(v)) => anotherFuture(v); case Left(er) => ... }
If it doesn't help you can try to use MonadTransformers (don't be scared of the name, it's just wrappers around the effect types like Either and Future)
Also, an option is to simplify your errors ADT by extending them from the Throwable to unify it with Future, then it'll be Future[Option[T]]
And finally, in your case one option will be:
def foo() : Either[Error, String] = {
val x : Option[String] = ...
x match {
case Some(v) => Right(v)
case None => Left(Error(reason))
}
}
Just use the .get method.
def get[T](o:Option[T]) = o.get
It will throw a NoSuchElementException if o is an instance of None.
Basically, I would work with options like this:
def addPrint(oi:Option[Int]) = oi.map(_+1).foreach(println)
addPrint(Some(41))
addPrint(Some(1336))
addPrint(None)
to avoid your specific question.
Scala now support this operation on maps using getOrElse() method, see documentation here
As pointed out already, throwing an exception in Scala is an expression as well.
So you can do the following:
myMap.getOrElse(myKey, throw new MyCustomException("Custom Message HERE")