Parallel asynchronous Ajax requests using jQuery

I'd like to update a page based upon the results of multiple ajax/json requests. Using jQuery, I can "chain" the callbacks, like this very simple stripped down example:

$.getJSON("/values/1", function(data) {
  // data = {value: 1}
  var value_1 = data.value;

  $.getJSON("/values/2", function(data) {
    // data = {value: 42}
    var value_2 = data.value;

    var sum = value_1 + value_2;

    $('#mynode').html(sum);
  });

});

However, this results in the requests being made serially. I'd much rather a way to make the requests in parallel, and perform the page update after all are complete. Is there any way to do this?

Solution 1:

jQuery $.when() and $.done() are exactly what you need:

$.when($.ajax("/page1.php"), $.ajax("/page2.php"))
  .then(myFunc, myFailure);

Solution 2:

Try this solution, which can support any specific number of parallel queries:

var done = 4; // number of total requests
var sum = 0;

/* Normal loops don't create a new scope */
$([1,2,3,4,5]).each(function() {
  var number = this;
  $.getJSON("/values/" + number, function(data) {
    sum += data.value;
    done -= 1;
    if(done == 0) $("#mynode").html(sum);
  });
});

Solution 3:

Run multiple AJAX requests in parallel

When working with APIs, you sometimes need to issue multiple AJAX requests to different endpoints. Instead of waiting for one request to complete before issuing the next, you can speed things up with jQuery by requesting the data in parallel, by using jQuery's $.when() function:

JS

$.when($.get('1.json'), $.get('2.json')).then(function(r1, r2){
   console.log(r1[0].message + " " + r2[0].message);
});

The callback function is executed when both of these GET requests finish successfully. $.when() takes the promises returned by two $.get() calls, and constructs a new promise object. The r1 and r2 arguments of the callback are arrays, whose first elements contain the server responses.

Solution 4:

Here's my attempt at directly addressing your question

Basically, you just build up and AJAX call stack, execute them all, and a provided function is called upon completion of all the events - the provided argument being an array of the results from all the supplied ajax requests.

Clearly this is early code - you could get more elaborate with this in terms of the flexibility.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://jqueryjs.googlecode.com/files/jquery-1.3.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">

var ParallelAjaxExecuter = function( onComplete )
{
  this.requests = [];
  this.results = [];
  this.onComplete = onComplete; 
}

ParallelAjaxExecuter.prototype.addRequest = function( method, url, data, format )
{
  this.requests.push( {
      "method"    : method
    , "url"       : url
    , "data"      : data
    , "format"    : format
    , "completed" : false
  } )
}

ParallelAjaxExecuter.prototype.dispatchAll = function()
{
  var self = this;
  $.each( self.requests, function( i, request )
    {
    request.method( request.url, request.data, function( r )
    {
      return function( data )
      {
        console.log
        r.completed = true;
        self.results.push( data );
        self.checkAndComplete();
      }
    }( request ) )
  } )
}

ParallelAjaxExecuter.prototype.allRequestsCompleted = function()
{
  var i = 0;
  while ( request = this.requests[i++] )
  {
    if ( request.completed === false )
    {
      return false;
    }
  }
  return true;
},

ParallelAjaxExecuter.prototype.checkAndComplete = function()
{
  if ( this.allRequestsCompleted() )
  {
    this.onComplete( this.results );
  }
}

var pe = new ParallelAjaxExecuter( function( results )
{
  alert( eval( results.join( '+' ) ) );
} );

pe.addRequest( $.get, 'test.php', {n:1}, 'text' );
pe.addRequest( $.get, 'test.php', {n:2}, 'text' );
pe.addRequest( $.get, 'test.php', {n:3}, 'text' );
pe.addRequest( $.get, 'test.php', {n:4}, 'text' );

pe.dispatchAll();

</script>

here's test.php

<?php

echo pow( $_GET['n'], 2 );

?>

Solution 5:

Update: Per the answer given by Yair Leviel, this answer is obsolete. Use a promise library, like jQuery.when() or Q.js.

I created a general purpose solution as a jQuery extension. Could use some fine tuning to make it more general, but it suited my needs. The advantage of this technique over the others in this posting as of the time of this writing was that any type of asynchronous processing with a callback can be used.

Note: I'd use Rx extensions for JavaScript instead of this if I thought my client would be okay with taking a dependency on yet-another-third-party-library :)

// jQuery extension for running multiple async methods in parallel
// and getting a callback with all results when all of them have completed.
//
// Each worker is a function that takes a callback as its only argument, and
// fires up an async process that calls this callback with its result.
//
// Example:
//      $.parallel(
//          function (callback) { $.get("form.htm", {}, callback, "html"); },
//          function (callback) { $.post("data.aspx", {}, callback, "json"); },
//          function (formHtml, dataJson) { 
//              // Handle success; each argument to this function is 
//              // the result of correlating ajax call above.
//          }
//      );

(function ($) {

    $.parallel = function (anyNumberOfWorkers, allDoneCallback) {

    var workers = [];
    var workersCompleteCallback = null;

    // To support any number of workers, use "arguments" variable to
    // access function arguments rather than the names above.
    var lastArgIndex = arguments.length - 1;
    $.each(arguments, function (index) {
        if (index == lastArgIndex) {
            workersCompleteCallback = this;
        } else {
            workers.push({ fn: this, done: false, result: null });
        }
    });

    // Short circuit this edge case
    if (workers.length == 0) {
        workersCompleteCallback();
        return;
    }

    // Fire off each worker process, asking it to report back to onWorkerDone.
    $.each(workers, function (workerIndex) {
        var worker = this;
        var callback = function () { onWorkerDone(worker, arguments); };
        worker.fn(callback);
    });

    // Store results and update status as each item completes.
    // The [0] on workerResultS below assumes the client only needs the first parameter
    // passed into the return callback. This simplifies the handling in allDoneCallback,
    // but may need to be removed if you need access to all parameters of the result.
    // For example, $.post calls back with success(data, textStatus, XMLHttpRequest).  If
    // you need textStatus or XMLHttpRequest then pull off the [0] below.
    function onWorkerDone(worker, workerResult) {
        worker.done = true;
        worker.result = workerResult[0]; // this is the [0] ref'd above.
        var allResults = [];
        for (var i = 0; i < workers.length; i++) {
            if (!workers[i].done) return;
            else allResults.push(workers[i].result);
        }
        workersCompleteCallback.apply(this, allResults);
    }
};

})(jQuery);