#API Reference

Note: This documentation is for bluebird 2.x and not valid for 1.x - 1.x docs here

Core
Synchronous inspection
Collections
Resource management
- Promise.using(Promise|Disposer promise, Promise|Disposer promise ..., Function handler)
- .disposer(Function disposer)
Promisification
Timers
- .delay(int ms)
- .timeout(int ms [, String message])
  - Promise.delay([dynamic value], int ms)
Cancellation
Generators
- Promise.coroutine(GeneratorFunction generatorFunction)
- Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler(function handler)
Utility
Built-in error types
Error management configuration
Progression migration
Deferred migration

Note that every instance promise method in the API has a static counterpart. For example Promise.map(arr, fn) is the same as calling Promise.resolve(arr).map(fn).

##Core

Core methods of Promise instances and core static methods of the Promise class.

#####new Promise(Function<Function resolve, Function reject> resolver) -> Promise

Create a new promise. The passed in function will receive functions resolve and reject as its arguments which can be called to seal the fate of the created promise.

Note: In Node.JS it is very unlikely that you will ever need to create promises yourself, see promisification

Example:

function ajaxGetAsync(url) {
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
        var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest;
        xhr.addEventListener("error", reject);
        xhr.addEventListener("load", resolve);
        xhr.open("GET", url);
        xhr.send(null);
    });
}

If you pass a promise object to the resolve function, the created promise will follow the state of that promise.

To make sure a function that returns a promise is following the implicit but critically important contract of promises, you can start a function with new Promise if you cannot start a chain immediately:

function getConnection(urlString) {
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        //Without new Promise, this throwing will throw an actual exception
        var params = parse(urlString);
        resolve(getAdapter(params).getConnection());
    });
}

The above ensures getConnection() fulfills the contract of a promise-returning function of never throwing a synchronous exception. Also see Promise.try and Promise.method

The resolver is called synchronously (the following is for documentation purposes and not idiomatic code):

function getPromiseResolveFn() {
    var res;
    new Promise(function (resolve) {
        res = resolve;
    });
    // res is guaranteed to be set
    return res;
}

#####.then([Function fulfilledHandler] [, Function rejectedHandler ]) -> Promise

Promises/A+ .then(). Returns a new promise chained from this promise. The new promise will be rejected or resolved depending on the passed fulfilledHandler, rejectedHandler and the state of this promise.

Example:

promptAsync("Which url to visit?").then(function(url) {
    return ajaxGetAsync(url);
}).then(function(contents) {
    alertAsync("The contents were: " + contents);
}).catch(function(e) {
    alertAsync("Exception " + e);
});

#####.spread([Function fulfilledHandler] [, Function rejectedHandler ]) -> Promise

Like calling .then, but the fulfillment value or rejection reason must be an array, which is flattened to the formal parameters of the handlers.

Promise.delay(500).then(function() {
   return [fs.readFileAsync("file1.txt"),
           fs.readFileAsync("file2.txt")] ;
}).spread(function(file1text, file2text) {
    if (file1text !== file2text) {
        console.log("files are equal");
    }
    else {
        console.log("files are not equal");
    }
});

If you want to coordinate several discrete concurrent promises, use Promise.join()

#####.catch(Function handler) -> Promise

This is a catch-all exception handler, shortcut for calling .then(null, handler) on this promise. Any exception happening in a .then-chain will propagate to nearest .catch handler.

For compatibility with earlier ECMAScript version, an alias .caught() is provided for .catch().

#####.catch([Function ErrorClass|Function predicate...], Function handler) -> Promise

This extends .catch to work more like catch-clauses in languages like Java or C#. Instead of manually checking instanceof or .name === "SomeError", you may specify a number of error constructors which are eligible for this catch handler. The catch handler that is first met that has eligible constructors specified, is the one that will be called.

Example:

somePromise.then(function() {
    return a.b.c.d();
}).catch(TypeError, function(e) {
    //If a is defined, will end up here because
    //it is a type error to reference property of undefined
}).catch(ReferenceError, function(e) {
    //Will end up here if a wasn't defined at all
}).catch(function(e) {
    //Generic catch-the rest, error wasn't TypeError nor
    //ReferenceError
});

You may also add multiple filters for a catch handler:

somePromise.then(function() {
    return a.b.c.d();
}).catch(TypeError, ReferenceError, function(e) {
    //Will end up here on programmer error
}).catch(NetworkError, TimeoutError, function(e) {
    //Will end up here on expected everyday network errors
}).catch(function(e) {
    //Catch any unexpected errors
});

For a parameter to be considered a type of error that you want to filter, you need the constructor to have its .prototype property be instanceof Error.

Such a constructor can be minimally created like so:

function MyCustomError() {}
MyCustomError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);

Using it:

Promise.resolve().then(function() {
    throw new MyCustomError();
}).catch(MyCustomError, function(e) {
    //will end up here now
});

However if you want stack traces and cleaner string output, then you should do:

in Node.js and other V8 environments, with support for Error.captureStackTrace

function MyCustomError(message) {
    this.message = message;
    this.name = "MyCustomError";
    Error.captureStackTrace(this, MyCustomError);
}
MyCustomError.prototype = Object.create(Error.prototype);
MyCustomError.prototype.constructor = MyCustomError;

Using CoffeeScript's class for the same:

class MyCustomError extends Error
  constructor: (@message) ->
    @name = "MyCustomError"
    Error.captureStackTrace(this, MyCustomError)

This method also supports predicate-based filters. If you pass a predicate function instead of an error constructor, the predicate will receive the error as an argument. The return result of the predicate will be used determine whether the error handler should be called.

Predicates should allow for very fine grained control over caught errors: pattern matching, error-type sets with set operations and many other techniques can be implemented on top of them.

Example of using a predicate-based filter:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var request = Promise.promisify(require("request"));

function ClientError(e) {
    return e.code >= 400 && e.code < 500;
}

request("http://www.google.com").then(function(contents) {
    console.log(contents);
}).catch(ClientError, function(e) {
   //A client error like 400 Bad Request happened
});

For compatibility with earlier ECMAScript version, an alias .caught() is provided for .catch().

#####.error( [rejectedHandler] ) -> Promise

Like .catch but instead of catching all types of exceptions, it only catches operational errors

Note, "errors" mean errors, as in objects that are instanceof Error - not strings, numbers and so on. See a string is not an error.

It is equivalent to the following .catch pattern:

// Assumes OperationalError has been made global
function isOperationalError(e) {
    if (e == null) return false;
    return (e instanceof OperationalError) || (e.isOperational === true);
}

// Now this bit:
.catch(isOperationalError, function(e) {
    // ...
})

// Is equivalent to:

.error(function(e) {
    // ...
});

For example, if a promisified function errbacks the node-style callback with an error, that could be caught with .error(). However if the node-style callback throws an error, only .catch would catch that.

In the following example you might want to handle just the SyntaxError from JSON.parse and Filesystem errors from fs but let programmer errors bubble as unhandled rejections:

var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));

fs.readFileAsync("myfile.json").then(JSON.parse).then(function (json) {
    console.log("Successful json")
}).catch(SyntaxError, function (e) {
    console.error("file contains invalid json");
}).error(function (e) {
    console.error("unable to read file, because: ", e.message);
});

Now, because there is no catch-all handler, if you typed console.lag (causes an error you don't expect), you will see:

Possibly unhandled TypeError: Object #<Console> has no method 'lag'
    at application.js:8:13
From previous event:
    at Object.<anonymous> (application.js:7:4)
    at Module._compile (module.js:449:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:467:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:349:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:305:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:490:10)
    at startup (node.js:121:16)
    at node.js:761:3

( If you don't get the above - you need to enable long stack traces )

And if the file contains invalid JSON:

file contains invalid json

And if the fs module causes an error like file not found:

unable to read file, because:  ENOENT, open 'not_there.txt'

#####.finally(Function handler) -> Promise

Pass a handler that will be called regardless of this promise's fate. Returns a new promise chained from this promise. There are special semantics for .finally() in that the final value cannot be modified from the handler.

Note: using .finally() for resource management is not a good idea, see resource management

Consider the example:

function anyway() {
    $("#ajax-loader-animation").hide();
}

function ajaxGetAsync(url) {
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
        var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest;
        xhr.addEventListener("error", reject);
        xhr.addEventListener("load", resolve);
        xhr.open("GET", url);
        xhr.send(null);
    }).then(anyway, anyway);
}

This example doesn't work as intended because the then handler actually swallows the exception and returns undefined for any further chainers.

The situation can be fixed with .finally:

function ajaxGetAsync(url) {
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
        var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest;
        xhr.addEventListener("error", reject);
        xhr.addEventListener("load", resolve);
        xhr.open("GET", url);
        xhr.send(null);
    }).finally(function() {
        $("#ajax-loader-animation").hide();
    });
}

Now the animation is hidden but an exception or the actual return value will automatically skip the finally and propagate to further chainers. This is more in line with the synchronous finally keyword.

For compatibility with earlier ECMAScript version, an alias .lastly() is provided for .finally().

#####.bind(dynamic thisArg) -> Promise

Create a promise that follows this promise, but is bound to the given thisArg value. A bound promise will call its handlers with the bound value set to this. Additionally promises derived from a bound promise will also be bound promises with the same thisArg binding as the original promise.

If thisArg is a promise or thenable, its resolution will be awaited for and the bound value will be the promise's fulfillment value. If thisArg rejects then the returned promise is rejected with the thisArg's rejection reason. Note that this means you cannot use this without checking inside catch handlers for promises that bind to promise because in case of rejection of thisArg, this will be undefined.

Without arrow functions that provide lexical this, the correspondence between async and sync code breaks down when writing object-oriented code. .bind() alleviates this.

Consider:

MyClass.prototype.method = function() {
    try {
        var contents = fs.readFileSync(this.file);
        var url = urlParse(contents);
        var result = this.httpGetSync(url);
        var refined = this.refine(result);
        return this.writeRefinedSync(refined);
    }
    catch (e) {
        this.error(e.stack);
    }
};

The above has a direct translation:

MyClass.prototype.method = function() {
    return fs.readFileAsync(this.file).bind(this)
    .then(function(contents) {
        var url = urlParse(contents);
        return this.httpGetAsync(url);
    }).then(function(result) {
        var refined = this.refine(result);
        return this.writeRefinedAsync(refined);
    }).catch(function(e) {
        this.error(e.stack);
    });
};

.bind() is the most efficient way of utilizing this with promises. The handler functions in the above code are not closures and can therefore even be hoisted out if needed. There is literally no overhead when propagating the bound value from one promise to another.

.bind() also has a useful side purpose - promise handlers don't need to share a function to use shared state:

somethingAsync().bind({})
.spread(function (aValue, bValue) {
    this.aValue = aValue;
    this.bValue = bValue;
    return somethingElseAsync(aValue, bValue);
})
.then(function (cValue) {
    return this.aValue + this.bValue + cValue;
});

The above without .bind() could be achieved with:

var scope = {};
somethingAsync()
.spread(function (aValue, bValue) {
    scope.aValue = aValue;
    scope.bValue = bValue;
    return somethingElseAsync(aValue, bValue);
})
.then(function (cValue) {
    return scope.aValue + scope.bValue + cValue;
});

However, there are many differences when you look closer:

Requires a statement so cannot be used in an expression context
If not there already, an additional wrapper function is required to avoid leaking or sharing scope
The handler functions are now closures, thus less efficient and not reusable

Note that bind is only propagated with promise transformation. If you create new promise chains inside a handler, those chains are not bound to the "upper" this:

something().bind(var1).then(function() {
    //`this` is var1 here
    return Promise.all(getStuff()).then(function(results) {
        //`this` is undefined here
        //refine results here etc
    });
}).then(function() {
    //`this` is var1 here
});

However, if you are utilizing the full bluebird API offering, you will almost never need to resort to nesting promises in the first place. The above should be written more like:

something().bind(var1).then(function() {
    //`this` is var1 here
    return getStuff();
}).map(function(result) {
    //`this` is var1 here
    //refine result here
}).then(function() {
    //`this` is var1 here
});

Also see this Stackoverflow answer on a good example on how utilizing the collection instance methods like .map() can clean up code.

If you don't want to return a bound promise to the consumers of a promise, you can rebind the chain at the end:

MyClass.prototype.method = function() {
    return fs.readFileAsync(this.file).bind(this)
    .then(function(contents) {
        var url = urlParse(contents);
        return this.httpGetAsync(url);
    }).then(function(result) {
        var refined = this.refine(result);
        return this.writeRefinedAsync(refined);
    }).catch(function(e) {
        this.error(e.stack);
    }).bind(); //The `thisArg` is implicitly undefined - I.E. the default promise `this` value
};

Rebinding can also be abused to do something gratuitous like this:

Promise.resolve("my-element")
    .bind(document)
    .then(document.getElementById)
    .bind(console)
    .then(console.log);

The above does console.log(document.getElementById("my-element"));. The .bind()s are necessary because in browser neither of the methods can be called as a stand-alone function.

#####Promise.join(Promise|Thenable|value promises..., Function handler) -> Promise

For coordinating multiple concurrent discrete promises. While .all() is good for handling a dynamically sized list of uniform promises, Promise.join is much easier (and more performant) to use when you have a fixed amount of discrete promises that you want to coordinate concurrently, for example:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var join = Promise.join;

join(getPictures(), getComments(), getTweets(),
    function(pictures, comments, tweets) {
    console.log("in total: " + pictures.length + comments.length + tweets.length);
});

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
var pg = Promise.promisifyAll(require("pg"));
var join = Promise.join;
var connectionString = "postgres://username:password@localhost/database";

var fContents = fs.readFileAsync("file.txt", "utf8");
var fStat = fs.statAsync("file.txt");
var fSqlClient = pg.connectAsync(connectionString).spread(function(client, done) {
    client.close = done;
    return client;
});

join(fContents, fStat, fSqlClient, function(contents, stat, sqlClient) {
    var query = "                                                              \
        INSERT INTO files (byteSize, contents)                                 \
        VALUES ($1, $2)                                                        \
    ";
   return sqlClient.queryAsync(query, [stat.size, contents]).thenReturn(query);
})
.then(function(query) {
    console.log("Successfully ran the Query: " + query);
})
.finally(function() {
    // This is why you want to use Promise.using for resource management
    if (fSqlClient.isFulfilled()) {
        fSqlClient.value().close();
    }
});

Note: In 1.x and 0.x Promise.join used to be a Promise.all that took the values in as arguments instead in an array. This behavior has been deprecated but is still supported partially - when the last argument is an immediate function value the new semantics will apply

#####Promise.try(Function fn [, Array<dynamic>|dynamic arguments] [, dynamic ctx] ) -> Promise

Start the chain of promises with Promise.try. Any synchronous exceptions will be turned into rejections on the returned promise.

function getUserById(id) {
    return Promise.try(function() {
        if (typeof id !== "number") {
            throw new Error("id must be a number");
        }
        return db.getUserById(id);
    });
}

Now if someone uses this function, they will catch all errors in their Promise .catch handlers instead of having to handle both synchronous and asynchronous exception flows.

Note about second argument: if it's specifically a true array, its values become respective arguments for the function call. Otherwise it is passed as is as the first argument for the function call.

For compatibility with earlier ECMAScript version, an alias Promise.attempt() is provided for Promise.try().

#####Promise.method(Function fn) -> Function

Returns a new function that wraps the given function fn. The new function will always return a promise that is fulfilled with the original functions return values or rejected with thrown exceptions from the original function.

This method is convenient when a function can sometimes return synchronously or throw synchronously.

Example without using Promise.method:

MyClass.prototype.method = function(input) {
    if (!this.isValid(input)) {
        return Promise.reject(new TypeError("input is not valid"));
    }

    if (this.cache(input)) {
        return Promise.resolve(this.someCachedValue);
    }

    return db.queryAsync(input).bind(this).then(function(value) {
        this.someCachedValue = value;
        return value;
    });
};

Using the same function Promise.method, there is no need to manually wrap direct return or throw values into a promise:

MyClass.prototype.method = Promise.method(function(input) {
    if (!this.isValid(input)) {
        throw new TypeError("input is not valid");
    }

    if (this.cache(input)) {
        return this.someCachedValue;
    }

    return db.queryAsync(input).bind(this).then(function(value) {
        this.someCachedValue = value;
        return value;
    });
});

#####Promise.resolve(dynamic value) -> Promise

Create a promise that is resolved with the given value. If value is already a trusted Promise, it is returned as is. If value is not a thenable, a fulfilled Promise is returned with value as its fulfillment value. If value is a thenable (Promise-like object, like those returned by jQuery's $.ajax), returns a trusted Promise that assimilates the state of the thenable.

Example: ($ is jQuery)

Promise.resolve($.get("http://www.google.com")).then(function() {
    //Returning a thenable from a handler is automatically
    //cast to a trusted Promise as per Promises/A+ specification
    return $.post("http://www.yahoo.com");
}).then(function() {

}).catch(function(e) {
    //jQuery doesn't throw real errors so use catch-all
    console.log(e.statusText);
});

#####Promise.reject(dynamic reason) -> Promise

Create a promise that is rejected with the given reason.

#####Promise.bind(dynamic thisArg) -> Promise

Sugar for Promise.resolve(undefined).bind(thisArg);. See .bind().

##Synchronous inspection

Often it is known in certain code paths that a promise is guaranteed to be fulfilled at that point - it would then be extremely inconvenient to use .then() to get at the promise's value as the callback is always called asynchronously.

Note: In recent versions of Bluebird a design choice was made to expose .reason() and .value as well as other inspection methods on promises directly in order to make the below use case easier to work with. The Promise.settle method still returns a PromiseInspection array as its result. Every promise is now also a PromiseInspection and inspection methods can be used on promises freely.

For example, if you need to use values of earlier promises in the chain, you could nest:

// From Q Docs https://github.com/kriskowal/q/#chaining
// MIT License Copyright 2009–2014 Kristopher Michael Kowal.
function authenticate() {
    return getUsername().then(function (username) {
        return getUser(username);
    // chained because we will not need the user name in the next event
    }).then(function (user) {
        // nested because we need both user and password next
        return getPassword().then(function (password) {
            if (user.passwordHash !== hash(password)) {
                throw new Error("Can't authenticate");
            }
        });
    });
}

Or you could take advantage of the fact that if we reach password validation, then the user promise must be fulfilled:

function authenticate() {
    var user = getUsername().then(function(username) {
        return getUser(username);
    });

    return user.then(function(user) {
        return getPassword();
    }).then(function(password) {
        // Guaranteed that user promise is fulfilled, so .value() can be called here
        if (user.value().passwordHash !== hash(password)) {
            throw new Error("Can't authenticate");
        }
    });
}

In the latter the indentation stays flat no matter how many previous variables you need, whereas with the former each additional previous value would require an additional nesting level.

The `PromiseInspection` Interface

This interface is implemented by Promise instances as well as PromiseInspection results returned by calling Promise.settle.

#####.isFulfilled() -> boolean

See if this promise has been fulfilled.

#####.isRejected() -> boolean

See if this promise has been rejected.

#####.isPending() -> boolean

See if this promise is pending (not fulfilled or rejected).

#####.value() -> dynamic

Get the fulfillment value of this promise. Throws an error if the promise isn't fulfilled - it is a bug to call this method on an unfulfilled promise.

You should check if this promise is .isFulfilled() before calling .value() - or only call .value() in code paths where it's guaranteed that this promise is fulfilled.

#####.reason() -> dynamic

Get the rejection reason of this promise. Throws an error if the promise isn't rejected - it is a bug to call this method on an unrejected promise.

You should check if this promise is .isRejected() before calling .reason() - or only call .reason() in code paths where it's guaranteed that this promise is rejected.

##Collections

Methods of Promise instances and core static methods of the Promise class to deal with collections of promises or mixed promises and values.

All collection methods have a static equivalent on the Promise object, e.g. somePromise.map(...)... is same as Promise.map(somePromise, ...)..., somePromise.all() is same as Promise.all(somePromise) and so on.

None of the collection methods modify the original input. Holes in arrays are treated as if they were defined with the value undefined.

#####.all() -> Promise

Given an array, or a promise of an array, which contains promises (or a mix of promises and values) return a promise that is fulfilled when all the items in the array are fulfilled. The promise's fulfillment value is an array with fulfillment values at respective positions to the original array. If any promise in the array rejects, the returned promise is rejected with the rejection reason.

var files = [];
for (var i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
    files.push(fs.writeFileAsync("file-" + i + ".txt", "", "utf-8"));
}
Promise.all(files).then(function() {
    console.log("all the files were created");
});

#####.props() -> Promise

Like .all() but for object properties instead of array items. Returns a promise that is fulfilled when all the properties of the object are fulfilled. The promise's fulfillment value is an object with fulfillment values at respective keys to the original object. If any promise in the object rejects, the returned promise is rejected with the rejection reason.

If object is a trusted Promise, then it will be treated as a promise for object rather than for its properties. All other objects are treated for their properties as is returned by Object.keys - the object's own enumerable properties.

Promise.props({
    pictures: getPictures(),
    comments: getComments(),
    tweets: getTweets()
}).then(function(result) {
    console.log(result.tweets, result.pictures, result.comments);
});

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
var _ = require("lodash");
var path = require("path");
var util = require("util");

function directorySizeInfo(root) {
    var counts = {dirs: 0, files: 0};
    var stats = (function reader(root) {
        return fs.readdirAsync(root).map(function(fileName) {
            var filePath = path.join(root, fileName);
            return fs.statAsync(filePath).then(function(stat) {
                stat.filePath = filePath;
                if (stat.isDirectory()) {
                    counts.dirs++;
                    return reader(filePath)
                }
                counts.files++;
                return stat;
            });
        }).then(_.flatten);
    })(root).then(_);

    var smallest = stats.call("min", "size").call("pick", "size", "filePath").call("value");
    var largest = stats.call("max", "size").call("pick", "size", "filePath").call("value");
    var totalSize = stats.call("pluck", "size").call("reduce", function(a, b) {
        return a + b;
    }, 0);

    return Promise.props({
        counts: counts,
        smallest: smallest,
        largest: largest,
        totalSize: totalSize
    });
}


directorySizeInfo(process.argv[2] || ".").then(function(sizeInfo) {
    console.log(util.format("                                                \n\
        %d directories, %d files                                             \n\
        Total size: %d bytes                                                 \n\
        Smallest file: %s with %d bytes                                      \n\
        Largest file: %s with %d bytes                                       \n\
    ", sizeInfo.counts.dirs, sizeInfo.counts.files, sizeInfo.totalSize,
        sizeInfo.smallest.filePath, sizeInfo.smallest.size,
        sizeInfo.largest.filePath, sizeInfo.largest.size));
});

Note that if you have no use for the result object other than retrieving the properties, it is more convenient to use Promise.join():

Promise.join(getPictures(), getComments(), getTweets(),
    function(pictures, comments, tweets) {
    console.log(pictures, comments, tweets);
});

#####.settle() -> Promise

Given an array, or a promise of an array, which contains promises (or a mix of promises and values) return a promise that is fulfilled when all the items in the array are either fulfilled or rejected. The fulfillment value is an array of PromiseInspection instances at respective positions in relation to the input array.

This method is useful for when you have an array of promises and you'd like to know when all of them resolve - either by fulfilling or rejecting. For example:

var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
// map array into array of promises
var files = ['a.txt', 'b.txt'].map(function(fileName) {
    return fs.readFileAsync(fileName, "utf8");
});
Promise.settle(files).then(function(results) {
    // results is a PromiseInspection array
    // this is reached once the operations are all done, regardless if
    // they're successful or not.
    var r = results[0];
    if (r.isFulfilled()) {  // check if was successful
        console.log(r.value()); // the promise's return value
        r.reason(); // throws because the promise is fulfilled
    } else if (r.isRejected()) { // check if the read failed
        console.log(r.reason()); //reason
        r.value(); // throws because the promise is rejected
    }
});

#####.any() -> Promise

Like .some(), with 1 as count. However, if the promise fulfills, the fulfillment value is not an array of 1 but the value directly.

#####.race() -> Promise

Given an array, or a promise of an array, which contains promises (or a mix of promises and values) return a promise that is fulfilled or rejected as soon as a promise in the array is fulfilled or rejected with the respective rejection reason or fulfillment value.

You most likely want to use the .any() method.

#####.some(int count) -> Promise

Initiate a competetive race between multiple promises or values (values will become immediately fulfilled promises). When count amount of promises have been fulfilled, the returned promise is fulfilled with an array that contains the fulfillment values of the winners in order of resolution.

This example pings 4 nameservers, and logs the fastest 2 on console:

Promise.some([
    ping("ns1.example.com"),
    ping("ns2.example.com"),
    ping("ns3.example.com"),
    ping("ns4.example.com")
], 2).spread(function(first, second) {
    console.log(first, second);
});

If too many promises are rejected so that the promise can never become fulfilled, it will be immediately rejected with an AggregateError of the rejection reasons in the order they were thrown in.

You can get a reference to AggregateError from Promise.AggregateError.

//For clarity assumes bluebird error types have been globalized
Promise.some(...)
    .then(...)
    .then(...)
    .catch(AggregateError, function(err) {
        err.forEach(function(e) {
            console.error(e.stack);
        });
    });

#####.map(Function mapper [, Object options]) -> Promise

Map an array, or a promise of an array, which contains promises (or a mix of promises and values) with the given mapper function with the signature (item, index, arrayLength) where item is the resolved value of a respective promise in the input array. If any promise in the input array is rejected the returned promise is rejected as well.

The mapper function for a given item is called as soon as possible, that is, when the promise for that item's index in the input array is fulfilled. This doesn't mean that the result array has items in random order, it means that .map can be used for concurrency coordination unlike .all().call("map", fn).all().

Example (copy paste and run):

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var join = Promise.join;
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
fs.readdirAsync(".").map(function(fileName) {
    var stat = fs.statAsync(fileName);
    var contents = fs.readFileAsync(fileName).catch(function ignore() {});
    return join(stat, contents, function(stat, contents) {
        return {
            stat: stat,
            fileName: fileName,
            contents: contents
        }
    });
// The return value of .map is a promise that is fulfilled with an array of the mapped values
// That means we only get here after all the files have been statted and their contents read
// into memory. If you need to do more operations per file, they should be chained in the map
// callback for concurrency.
}).call("sort", function(a, b) {
    return a.fileName.localeCompare(b.fileName);
}).each(function(file) {
    var contentLength = file.stat.isDirectory() ? "(directory)" : file.contents.length + " bytes";
    console.log(file.fileName + " last modified " + file.stat.mtime + " " + contentLength)
});

Example of static map:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var join = Promise.join;
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));

var fileNames = ["file1.json", "file2.json"];
Promise.map(fileNames, function(fileName) {
    return fs.readFileAsync(fileName)
        .then(JSON.parse)
        .catch(SyntaxError, function(e) {
            e.fileName = fileName;
            throw e;
        })
}).then(function(parsedJSONs) {
    console.log(parsedJSONs);
}).catch(SyntaxError, function(e) {
   console.log("Invalid JSON in file " + e.fileName + ": " + e.message);
});

######Option: concurrency

You may optionally specify a concurrency limit:

...map(..., {concurrency: 1});

The concurrency limit applies to promises returned by the mapper function (since the operations the promises in the input array are "watching" are already running and thus cannot be limited). For example, if concurrency is 3 and the mapper callback has been called enough so that there are 3 returned promises currently pending, no further callbacks are called until one of the pending promises resolves.

Playing with the first example with and without limits, and seeing how it affects the duration when reading 20 files:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var join = Promise.join;
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
var concurrency = parseFloat(process.argv[2] || "Infinity");
console.time("reading files");
fs.readdirAsync(".").map(function(fileName) {
    var stat = fs.statAsync(fileName);
    var contents = fs.readFileAsync(fileName).catch(function ignore() {});
    return join(stat, contents, function(stat, contents) {
        return {
            stat: stat,
            fileName: fileName,
            contents: contents
        }
    });
// The return value of .map is a promise that is fulfilled with an array of the mapped values
// That means we only get here after all the files have been statted and their contents read
// into memory. If you need to do more operations per file, they should be chained in the map
// callback for concurrency.
}, {concurrency: concurrency}).call("sort", function(a, b) {
    return a.fileName.localeCompare(b.fileName);
}).then(function() {
    console.timeEnd("reading files");
});

$ sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
$ node test.js 1
reading files 35ms
$ sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches
$ node test.js Infinity
reading files: 9ms

such concurrency

#####.reduce(Function reducer [, dynamic initialValue]) -> Promise

Reduce an array, or a promise of an array, which contains promises (or a mix of promises and values) with the given reducer function with the signature (total, item, index, arrayLength) where item is the resolved value of a respective promise in the input array, and total is either the initial value, or the result of the previous iteration. If any promise in the input array is rejected the returned promise is rejected as well.

If the reducer function returns a promise or a thenable, the result for the promise is awaited for before continuing with next iteration.

Read given files sequentially while summing their contents as an integer. Each file contains just the text 10.

Promise.reduce(["file1.txt", "file2.txt", "file3.txt"], function(total, fileName) {
    return fs.readFileAsync(fileName, "utf8").then(function(contents) {
        return total + parseInt(contents, 10);
    });
}, 0).then(function(total) {
    //Total is 30
});

If intialValue is undefined (or a promise that resolves to undefined) and the array contains only 1 item, the callback will not be called and undefined is returned. If the array is empty, the callback will not be called and initialValue is returned (which may be undefined).

Reduce will call the reducer as soon as possible, this is why you might want to use it over .all().call("reduce").

#####.filter(Function filterer [, Object options]) -> Promise

An efficient shortcut for doing:

....map(function(value, index, length) {
    return [filterer(value, index, length), value];
}).then(function(values) {
    return values.filter(function(stuff) {
        return stuff[0] == true
    }).map(function(stuff) {
        return stuff[1];
    });
});

######Option: concurrency

See .map();

#####.each(Function iterator) -> Promise

Iterate over an array, or a promise of an array, which contains promises (or a mix of promises and values) with the given iterator function with the signature (item, index, value) where item is the resolved value of a respective promise in the input array. Iteration happens in serially. If any promise in the input array is rejected the returned promise is rejected as well.

Resolves to the original array unmodified, this method is meant to be used for side effects. If the iterator function returns a promise or a thenable, the result for the promise is awaited for before continuing with next iteration.

Example where you might want to utilize .each:

// Source: http://jakearchibald.com/2014/es7-async-functions/
function loadStory() {
  return getJSON('story.json')
    .then(function(story) {
      addHtmlToPage(story.heading);
      return story.chapterURLs.map(getJSON);
    })
    .each(function(chapter) { addHtmlToPage(chapter.html); })
    .then(function() { addTextToPage("All done"); })
    .catch(function(err) { addTextToPage("Argh, broken: " + err.message); })
    .then(function() { document.querySelector('.spinner').style.display = 'none'; });
}

##Resource management

Managing resources properly without leaks can be surprisingly challenging. Simply using .finally is not enough as the following example demonstrates:

function doStuff() {
    return Promise.all([
        connectionPool.getConnectionAsync(),
        fs.readFileAsync("file.sql", "utf8")
    ]).spread(function(connection, fileContents) {
        return connection.query(fileContents).finally(function() {
            connection.close();
        });
    }).then(function() {
        console.log("query successful and connection closed");
    });
}

It is very subtle but over time this code will exhaust the entire connection pool and the server needs to be restarted. This is because reading the file may fail and then of course .spread is not called at all and thus the connection is not closed.

One could solve this by either reading the file first or connecting first, and only proceeding if the first step succeeds. However, this would lose a lot of the benefits of using asynchronity and we might almost as well go back to using simple synchronous code.

We can do better, retaining concurrency and not leaking resources, by using using():

var using = Promise.using;

using(getConnection(),
      fs.readFileAsync("file.sql", "utf8"), function(connection, fileContents) {
    return connection.query(fileContents);
}).then(function() {
    console.log("query successful and connection closed");
});

#####Promise.using(Promise|Disposer promise, Promise|Disposer promise ..., Function handler) -> Promise

In conjunction with .disposer(), using will make sure that no matter what, the specified disposer will be called when the promise returned by the callback passed to using has settled. The disposer is necessary because there is no standard interface in node for disposing resources.

Here is a simple example (where getConnection() [has been defined] to return a proper Disposer))

using(getConnection(), function(connection) {
   // Don't leak the `connection` variable anywhere from here
   // it is only guaranteed to be open while the promise returned from
   // this callback is still pending
   return connection.queryAsync("SELECT * FROM TABLE");
   // Code that is chained from the promise created in the line above
   // still has access to `connection`
}).then(function(rows) {
    // The connection has been closed by now
    console.log(rows);
});

Using multiple resources:

using(getConnection(), function(conn1) {
    return using(getConnection(), function(conn2) {
        // use conn1 and conn 2 here
    });
}).then(function() {
    // Both connections closed by now
})

The above can also be written as (with a caveat, see below)

using(getConnection(), getConnection(), function(conn1, conn2) {
    // use conn1 and conn2
}).then(function() {
    // Both connections closed by now
})

However, if the second getConnection() throws synchronously, the first connection is leaked. This will not happen when using APIs through bluebird promisified methods though. You can wrap functions that could throw in Promise.method which will turn synchronous rejections into rejected promises.

Note that you can mix promises and disposers, so that you can acquire all the things you need in parallel instead of sequentially

// The files don't need resource management but you should
// still start the process of reading them even before you have the connection
// instead of waiting for the connection

// The connection is always closed, no matter what fails at what point
using(readFile("1.txt"), readFile("2.txt"), getConnection(), function(txt1, txt2, conn) {
    // use conn and have access to txt1 and txt2
});

#####.disposer(Function disposer) -> Disposer

A meta method used to specify the disposer method that cleans up a resource when using using().

Example:

// This function doesn't return a promise but a Disposer
// so it's very hard to use it wrong (not passing it to `using`)
function getConnection() {
    return pool.getConnectionAsync().disposer(function(connection, promise) {
        connection.close();
    });
}

Real example:

var pg = require("pg");
// uncomment if necessary
// var Promise = require("bluebird");
// Promise.promisifyAll(pg);

function getSqlConnection(connectionString) {
    var close;
    return pg.connectAsync(connectionString).spread(function(client, done) {
        close = done;
        return client;
    }).disposer(function() {
        if (close) close();
    });
}

module.exports = getSqlConnection;

Real example 2:

var mysql = require("mysql");
// uncomment if necessary
// var Promise = require("bluebird");
// Promise.promisifyAll(mysql);
// Promise.promisifyAll(require("mysql/lib/Connection").prototype);
// Promise.promisifyAll(require("mysql/lib/Pool").prototype);
var pool  = mysql.createPool({
    connectionLimit: 10,
    host: 'example.org',
    user: 'bob',
    password: 'secret'
});

function getSqlConnection() {
    return pool.getConnectionAsync().disposer(function(connection) {
        connection.release();
    });
}

module.exports = getSqlConnection;

The second argument passed to a disposer is the result promise of the using block, which you can inspect synchronously.

Example:

function getTransaction() {
    return db.getTransactionAsync().disposer(function(tx, promise) {
        return promise.isFulfilled() ? tx.commitAsync() : tx.rollbackAsync();
    });
}


// If the using block completes successfully, the transaction is automatically committed
// Any error or rejection will automatically roll it back
using(getTransaction(), function(tx) {
    return tx.queryAsync(...).then(function() {
        return tx.queryAsync(...)
    }).then(function() {
        return tx.queryAsync(...)
    });
});

Real example 3, transactions with postgres:

var pg = require('pg');
var Promise = require('bluebird');
Promise.promisifyAll(pg);

function getTransaction(connectionString) {
    var close;
    return pg.connectAsync(connectionString).spread(function(client, done) {
        close = done;
        return client.queryAsync('BEGIN').then(function () {
            return client;
        });
    }).disposer(function(client, promise) {
        if (promise.isFulfilled()) {
            return client.queryAsync('COMMIT').then(closeClient);
        } else {
            return client.queryAsync('ROLLBACK').then(closeClient);
        }
        function closeClient() {
            if (close) close(client);
        }
    });
}

exports.getTransaction = getTransaction;

Note about disposers in node

If a disposer method throws, its highly likely that it failed to dispose of the resource. In that case, Bluebird has two options - it can either ignore the error and continue with program execution or throw an exception (crashing the process in node.js). Bluebird prefers to do the later because resources are typically scarce. For example, if database connections cannot be disposed of and Bluebird ignores that, the connection pool will be quickly depleted and the process will become unusable. Since Bluebird doesn't know how to handle that, the only sensible default is to crash the process.

If you anticipate thrown errors while disposing of the resource you should use a try..catch block (or Promise.try) and write the appropriate code to handle the errors.

##Promisification

Promisification means converting an existing promise-unaware API to a promise-returning API.

The usual way to use promises in node is to promisifyAll some API and start exclusively calling promise returning versions of the APIs methods. E.g.

var fs = require("fs");
Promise.promisifyAll(fs);
// Now you can use fs as if it was designed to use bluebird promises from the beginning

fs.readFileAsync("file.js", "utf8").then(...)

Note that the above is an exceptional case because fs is a singleton instance. Most libraries can be promisified by requiring the library's classes (constructor functions) and calling promisifyAll on the .prototype. This only needs to be done once in the entire application's lifetime and after that you may use the library's methods exactly as they are documented, except by appending the "Async"-suffix to method calls and using the promise interface instead of the callback interface.

As a notable exception in fs, fs.existsAsync doesn't work as expected, because Node's fs.exists doesn't call back with error as first argument. More at #418. One possible workaround is using fs.statAsync.

Some examples of the above practice applied to some popular libraries:

// The most popular redis module
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("redis"));

// The most popular mongodb module
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("mongodb"));

// The most popular mysql module
var Promise = require("bluebird");
// Note that the library's classes are not properties of the main export
// so we require and promisifyAll them manually
Promise.promisifyAll(require("mysql/lib/Connection").prototype);
Promise.promisifyAll(require("mysql/lib/Pool").prototype);

// Mongoose
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("mongoose"));

// Request
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("request"));
// Use request.getAsync(...) not request(..), it will not return a promise

// mkdir
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("mkdirp"));
// Use mkdirp.mkdirpAsync not mkdirp(..), it will not return a promise

// winston
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("winston"));

// rimraf
var Promise = require("bluebird");
// The module isn't promisified but the function returned is
var rimrafAsync = Promise.promisify(require("rimraf"));

// xml2js
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("xml2js"));

// jsdom
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("jsdom"));

// fs-extra
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs-extra"));

// prompt
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("prompt"));

// Nodemailer
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("nodemailer"));

// ncp
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("ncp"));

// pg
var Promise = require("bluebird");
Promise.promisifyAll(require("pg"));

In all of the above cases the library made its classes available in one way or another. If this is not the case, you can still promisify by creating a throwaway instance:

var ParanoidLib = require("...");
var throwAwayInstance = ParanoidLib.createInstance();
Promise.promisifyAll(Object.getPrototypeOf(throwAwayInstance));
// Like before, from this point on, all new instances + even the throwAwayInstance suddenly support promises

See also Promise.promisifyAll().

#####Promise.promisify(Function nodeFunction [, dynamic receiver]) -> Function

Returns a function that will wrap the given nodeFunction. Instead of taking a callback, the returned function will return a promise whose fate is decided by the callback behavior of the given node function. The node function should conform to node.js convention of accepting a callback as last argument and calling that callback with error as the first argument and success value on the second argument.

If the nodeFunction calls its callback with multiple success values, the fulfillment value will be an array of them.

If you pass a receiver, the nodeFunction will be called as a method on the receiver.

Example of promisifying the asynchronous readFile of node.js fs-module:

var readFile = Promise.promisify(require("fs").readFile);

readFile("myfile.js", "utf8").then(function(contents) {
    return eval(contents);
}).then(function(result) {
    console.log("The result of evaluating myfile.js", result);
}).catch(SyntaxError, function(e) {
    console.log("File had syntax error", e);
//Catch any other error
}).catch(function(e) {
    console.log("Error reading file", e);
});

Note that if the node function is a method of some object, you can pass the object as the second argument like so:

var redisGet = Promise.promisify(redisClient.get, redisClient);
redisGet('foo').then(function() {
    //...
});

But this will also work:

var getAsync = Promise.promisify(redisClient.get);
getAsync.call(redisClient, 'foo').then(function() {
    //...
});

Tip

Use .spread with APIs that have multiple success values:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var request = Promise.promisify(require('request'));
request("http://www.google.com").spread(function(response, body) {
    console.log(body);
}).catch(function(err) {
    console.error(err);
});

The above uses request library which has a callback signature of multiple success values.

#####Promise.promisifyAll(Object target [, Object options]) -> Object

Promisifies the entire object by going through the object's properties and creating an async equivalent of each function on the object and its prototype chain. The promisified method name will be the original method name suffixed with "Async". Any class properties of the object (which is the case for the main export of many modules) are also promisified, both static and instance methods. Class property is a property with a function value that has a non-empty .prototype object. Returns the input object.

Note that the original methods on the object are not overwritten but new methods are created with the Async-suffix. For example, if you promisifyAll() the node.js fs object use fs.statAsync() to call the promisified stat method.

Example:

Promise.promisifyAll(require("redis"));

//Later on, all redis client instances have promise returning functions:

redisClient.hexistsAsync("myhash", "field").then(function(v) {

}).catch(function(e) {

});

It also works on singletons or specific instances:

var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));

fs.readFileAsync("myfile.js", "utf8").then(function(contents) {
    console.log(contents);
}).catch(function(e) {
    console.error(e.stack);
});

See promisification for more examples.

The entire prototype chain of the object is promisified on the object. Only enumerable are considered. If the object already has a promisified version of the method, it will be skipped. The target methods are assumed to conform to node.js callback convention of accepting a callback as last argument and calling that callback with error as the first argument and success value on the second argument. If the node method calls its callback with multiple success values, the fulfillment value will be an array of them.

If a method name already has an "Async"-suffix, it will be duplicated. E.g. getAsync's promisified name is getAsyncAsync.

######Option: suffix

Optionally, you can define a custom suffix through the options object:

var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"), {suffix: "MySuffix"});
fs.readFileMySuffix(...).then(...);

All the above limitations apply to custom suffices:

Choose the suffix carefully, it must not collide with anything
PascalCase the suffix
The suffix must be a valid JavaScript identifier using ASCII letters
Always use the same suffix everywhere in your application, you could create a wrapper to make this easier:

module.exports = function myPromisifyAll(target) {
    return Promise.promisifyAll(target, {suffix: "MySuffix"});
};

######Option: filter

Optionally, you can define a custom filter through the options object:

Promise.promisifyAll(..., {
    filter: function(name, func, target, passesDefaultFilter) {
        // name = the property name to be promisified without suffix
        // func = the function
        // target = the target object where the promisified func will be put with name + suffix
        // passesDefaultFilter = whether the default filter would be passed
        // return boolean (return value is coerced, so not returning anything is same as returning false)

        return passesDefaultFilter && ...
    }
})

The default filter function is:

function defaultFilter(name, func) {
    return util.isIdentifier(name) &&
        name.charAt(0) !== "_" &&
        !util.isClass(func);
}

(util is bluebird util, not node.js util)

######Option: promisifier

Optionally, you can define a custom promisifier, so you could promisifyAll e.g. the chrome APIs used in Chrome extensions.

The promisifier gets a reference to the original method and should return a function which returns a promise.

function DOMPromisifier(originalMethod) {
    // return a function
    return function promisified() {
        var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
        // Needed so that the original method can be called with the correct receiver
        var self = this;
        // which returns a promise
        return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
            args.push(resolve, reject);
            originalMethod.apply(self, args);
        });
    };
}

// Promisify e.g. chrome.browserAction
Promise.promisifyAll(chrome.browserAction, {promisifier: DOMPromisifier});

// Later
chrome.browserAction.getTitleAsync({tabId: 1})
    .then(function(result) {

    });

Combining filter with promisifier for the restler module to promisify event emitter:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var restler = require("restler");
var methodNamesToPromisify = "get post put del head patch json postJson putJson".split(" ");

function EventEmitterPromisifier(originalMethod) {
    // return a function
    return function promisified() {
        var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
        // Needed so that the original method can be called with the correct receiver
        var self = this;
        // which returns a promise
        return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
            // We call the originalMethod here because if it throws,
            // it will reject the returned promise with the thrown error
            var emitter = originalMethod.apply(self, args);

            emitter
                .on("success", function(data, response) {
                    resolve([data, response]);
                })
                .on("fail", function(data, response) {
                    // Erroneous response like 400
                    resolve([data, response]);
                })
                .on("error", function(err) {
                    reject(err);
                })
                .on("abort", function() {
                    reject(new Promise.CancellationError());
                })
                .on("timeout", function() {
                    reject(new Promise.TimeoutError());
                });
        });
    };
};

Promise.promisifyAll(restler, {
    filter: function(name) {
        return methodNamesToPromisify.indexOf(name) > -1;
    },
    promisifier: EventEmitterPromisifier
});

// ...

// Later in some other file

var restler = require("restler");
restler.getAsync("http://...", ...,).spread(function(data, response) {

})

Using defaultPromisifier parameter to add enhancements on top of normal node promisification:

var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"), {
    promisifier: function(originalFunction, defaultPromisifer) {
        var promisified = defaultPromisifier(originalFunction);

        return function() {
            // Enhance normal promisification by supporting promises as
            // arguments

            var args = [].slice.call(arguments);
            var self = this;
            return Promise.all(args).then(function(awaitedArgs) {
                return promisified.apply(self, awaitedArgs);
            });
        };
    }
});

// All promisified fs functions now await their arguments if they are promises
var version = fs.readFileAsync("package.json", "utf8").then(JSON.parse).get("version");
fs.writeFileAsync("the-version.txt", version, "utf8");

#####Promise.fromNode(Function resolver) -> Promise

Returns a promise that is resolved by a node style callback function. This is the most fitting way to do on the fly promisification when libraries don't expose classes for automatic promisification by promisifyAll.

The resolver function is passed a callback that expects to be called back according to error-first node conventions.

Using manual resolver:

// TODO use real library that doesn't expose prototypes for promisification
var object = crummyLibrary.create();
Promise.fromNode(function(callback) {
    object.foo("firstArgument", callback);
}).then(function(result) {
    console.log(result);
})

The same can also be written with .bind:

// TODO use real library that doesn't expose prototypes for promisification
var object = crummyLibrary.create();
Promise.fromNode(object.foo.bind(object, "firstArgument")).then(function(result) {
    console.log(result);
})

#####.nodeify([Function callback] [, Object options]) -> Promise #####.asCallback([Function callback] [, Object options]) -> Promise

Register a node-style callback on this promise. When this promise is either fulfilled or rejected, the node callback will be called back with the node.js convention where error reason is the first argument and success value is the second argument. The error argument will be null in case of success.

Returns back this promise instead of creating a new one. If the callback argument is not a function, this method does not do anything.

This can be used to create APIs that both accept node-style callbacks and return promises:

function getDataFor(input, callback) {
    return dataFromDataBase(input).nodeify(callback);
}

The above function can then make everyone happy.

Promises:

getDataFor("me").then(function(dataForMe) {
    console.log(dataForMe);
});

Normal callbacks:

getDataFor("me", function(err, dataForMe) {
    if( err ) {
        console.error( err );
    }
    console.log(dataForMe);
});

Promises can be rejected with falsy values (or no value at all, equal to rejecting with undefined), however .nodeify will call the callback with an Error object if the promise's rejection reason is a falsy value. You can retrieve the original falsy value from the error's .cause property.

Example:

Promise.reject(null).nodeify(function(err, result) {
    // If is executed
    if (err) {
        // Logs 'null'
        console.log(err.cause);
    }
});

There is no effect on peformance if the user doesn't actually pass a node-style callback function.

######Option: spread

Some nodebacks expect more than 1 success value but there is no mapping for this in the promise world. You may specify the option spread to call the nodeback with multiple values when the fulfillment value is an array:

Promise.resolve([1,2,3]).nodeify(function(err, result) {
    // err == null
    // result is the array [1,2,3]
});

Promise.resolve([1,2,3]).nodeify(function(err, a, b, c) {
    // err == null
    // a == 1
    // b == 2
    // c == 3
}, {spread: true});

Promise.resolve(123).nodeify(function(err, a, b, c) {
    // err == null
    // a == 123
    // b == undefined
    // c == undefined
}, {spread: true});

##Timers

Methods to delay and time promises out.

#####.delay(int ms) -> Promise

Same as calling Promise.delay(this, ms). With the exception that if this promise is bound to a value, the returned promise is bound to that value too.

#####.timeout(int ms [, String message]) -> Promise

Returns a cancellable promise that will be fulfilled with this promise's fulfillment value or rejection reason. However, if this promise is not fulfilled or rejected within ms milliseconds, the returned promise is cancelled with a TimeoutError as the cancellation reason.

You may specify a custom error message with the message parameter.

The example function fetchContent doesn't leave the ongoing http request in the background in case the request cancelled from outside, either manually or through a timeout.

// Assumes TimeoutError and CancellationError are both globally available
function fetchContent() {
    var jqXHR = $.get("http://www.slowpage.com");
    // Resolve the jQuery promise into a bluebird promise
    return Promise.resolve(jqXHR)
        .cancellable()
        .catch(TimeoutError, CancellationError, function(e) {
            jqXHR.abort();
            // Don't swallow it
            throw e;
        })
}

function fetchContentWith5Retries(retries) {
    retries = retries || 0;
    return fetchContent()
        .then(function(result) {
            //..
        })
        .timeout(100)
        .catch(TimeoutError, function(e) {
            if (retries < 5) {
                return fetchContentWith5Retries(retries + 1);
            }
            else {
                throw new Error("couldn't fetch content after 5 timeouts");
            }
        })

#####Promise.delay([dynamic value], int ms) -> Promise

Returns a promise that will be fulfilled with value (or undefined) after given ms milliseconds. If value is a promise, the delay will start counting down when it is fulfilled and the returned promise will be fulfilled with the fulfillment value of the value promise.

Promise.delay(500).then(function() {
    console.log("500 ms passed");
    return "Hello world";
}).delay(500).then(function(helloWorldString) {
    console.log(helloWorldString);
    console.log("another 500 ms passed") ;
});

##Cancellation

By default, a promise is not cancellable. A promise can be marked as cancellable with .cancellable(). A cancellable promise can be cancelled if it's not resolved. Cancelling a promise propagates to the farthest cancellable ancestor of the target promise that is still pending, and rejects that promise with the given reason, or CancellationError by default. The rejection will then propagate back to the original promise and to its descendants. This roughly follows the semantics described here.

Promises marked with .cancellable() return cancellable promises automatically.

If you are the resolver for a promise, you can react to a cancel in your promise by catching the CancellationError:

function ajaxGetAsync(url) {
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest;
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
        xhr.addEventListener("error", reject);
        xhr.addEventListener("load", resolve);
        xhr.open("GET", url);
        xhr.send(null);
    }).cancellable().catch(Promise.CancellationError, function(e) {
        xhr.abort();
        throw e; //Don't swallow it
    });
}

#####.cancellable() -> Promise

Marks this promise as cancellable. Promises by default are not cancellable after v0.11 and must be marked as such for .cancel() to have any effect. Marking a promise as cancellable is infectious and you don't need to remark any descendant promise.

If you have code written prior v0.11 using cancellation, add calls to .cancellable() at the starts of promise chains that need to support cancellation in themselves or somewhere in their descendants.

#####.uncancellable() -> Promise

Create an uncancellable promise based on this promise.

#####.cancel([Error reason]) -> Promise

Cancel this promise with the given reason. The cancellation will propagate to farthest cancellable ancestor promise which is still pending.

That ancestor will then be rejected with the given reason, or a CancellationError if it is not given. (get a reference from Promise.CancellationError) object as the rejection reason.

Promises are by default not cancellable. Use .cancellable() to mark a promise as cancellable.

#####.isCancellable() -> boolean

See if this promise can be cancelled.

##Generators

Using ECMAScript6 generators feature to implement C# 5.0 async/await like syntax.

#####Promise.coroutine(GeneratorFunction generatorFunction) -> Function

Returns a function that can use yield to yield promises. Control is returned back to the generator when the yielded promise settles. This can lead to less verbose code when doing lots of sequential async calls with minimal processing in between. Node version greater than 0.11.2 is required and needs to be executed with the --harmony-generators (or --harmony) command-line switch. All io.js versions are directly supported.

var Promise = require("bluebird");

function PingPong() {

}

PingPong.prototype.ping = Promise.coroutine(function* (val) {
    console.log("Ping?", val)
    yield Promise.delay(500)
    this.pong(val+1)
});

PingPong.prototype.pong = Promise.coroutine(function* (val) {
    console.log("Pong!", val)
    yield Promise.delay(500);
    this.ping(val+1)
});

var a = new PingPong();
a.ping(0);

Running the example with node version at least 0.11.2:

$ node --harmony test.js
Ping? 0
Pong! 1
Ping? 2
Pong! 3
Ping? 4
Pong! 5
Ping? 6
Pong! 7
Ping? 8
...

When called, the coroutine function will start an instance of the generator and returns a promise for its final value.

Doing Promise.coroutine(function*() {}) is almost like using the C# async keyword to mark the function, with yield working as the await keyword. Promises are somewhat like Tasks.

Tip

You are able to yield non-promise values by adding your own yield handler using Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler

#####Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler(function handler) -> void

By default you can only yield Promises and Thenables inside coroutines. You can use this function to add yielding support for arbitrary types.

For example, if you wanted yield 500 to be same as yield Promise.delay(500):

Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler(function(value) {
     if (typeof value === "number") return Promise.delay(value);
});

Yield handlers are called when you yield something that is not supported by default. The first yield handler to return a promise or a thenable will be used. If no yield handler returns a promise or a thenable then an error is raised.

An example of implementing callback support with addYieldHandler:

This is a demonstration of how powerful the feature is and not the recommended usage. For best performance you need to use promisifyAll and yield promises directly.

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = require("fs");

var _ = (function() {
    var promise = null;
    Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler(function(v) {
        if (v === void 0 && promise != null) {
            return promise;
        }
        promise = null;
    });
    return function() {
        var def = Promise.defer();
        promise = def.promise;
        return def.callback;
    };
})();


var readFileJSON = Promise.coroutine(function* (fileName) {
   var contents = yield fs.readFile(fileName, "utf8", _());
   return JSON.parse(contents);
});

An example of implementing thunks support with addYieldHandler:

This is a demonstration of how powerful the feature is and not the recommended usage. For best performance you need to use promisifyAll and yield promises directly.

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = require("fs");

Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler(function(v) {
    if (typeof v === "function") {
        var def = Promise.defer();
        try { v(def.callback); } catch(e) { def.reject(e); }
        return def.promise;
    }
});

var readFileThunk = function(fileName, encoding) {
    return function(cb) {
        return fs.readFile(fileName, encoding, cb);
    };
};

var readFileJSON = Promise.coroutine(function* (fileName) {
   var contents = yield readFileThunk(fileName, "utf8");
   return JSON.parse(contents);
});

An example of handling promises in parallel by adding an addYieldHandler for arrays :

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));

Promise.coroutine.addYieldHandler(function(yieldedValue) {
    if (Array.isArray(yieldedValue)) return Promise.all(yieldedValue);
});

var readFiles = Promise.coroutine(function* (fileNames) {
   var promises = [];

   fileNames.forEach(function (fileName) {
      promises.push(fs.readFileAsync(fileName, "utf8"));
   });

   return yield promises;
});

##Utility

Functions that could potentially be handy in some situations.

#####.tap(Function handler) -> Promise

Like .finally() that is not called for rejections.

getUser().tap(function(user) {
    //Like in finally, if you return a promise from the handler
    //the promise is awaited for before passing the original value through
    return recordStatsAsync();
}).then(function(user) {
    //user is the user from getUser(), not recordStatsAsync()
});

Common case includes adding logging to an existing promise chain:

doSomething()
    .then(...)
    .then(...)
    .then(...)
    .then(...)

doSomething()
    .then(...)
    .then(...)
    .tap(console.log)
    .then(...)
    .then(...)

Note: in browsers it is necessary to call .tap with console.log.bind(console) because console methods can not be called as stand-alone functions.

#####.call(String propertyName [, dynamic arg...]) -> Promise

This is a convenience method for doing:

promise.then(function(obj) {
    return obj[propertyName].call(obj, arg...);
});

For example (.some() is a built-in array method):

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
var path = require("path");
var thisPath = process.argv[2] || ".";
var now = Date.now();

fs.readdirAsync(thisPath)
    .map(function(fileName) {
        return fs.statAsync(path.join(thisPath, fileName));
    })
    .call("some", function(stat) {
        return (now - new Date(stat.mtime)) < 10000;
    })
    .then(function(someFilesHaveBeenModifiedLessThanTenSecondsAgo) {
        console.log(someFilesHaveBeenModifiedLessThanTenSecondsAgo) ;
    });

Chaining lo-dash or underscore methods (Copy-pasteable example):

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var pmap = Promise.map;
var props = Promise.props;
var _ = require("lodash");
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));

function getTotalSize(paths) {
    return pmap(paths, function(path) {
        return fs.statAsync(path).get("size");
    }).reduce(function(a, b) {
        return a + b;
    }, 0);
}

fs.readdirAsync(".").then(_)
    .call("groupBy", function(fileName) {
        return fileName.charAt(0);
    })
    .call("map", function(fileNames, firstCh) {
        return props({
            firstCh: firstCh,
            count: fileNames.length,
            totalSize: getTotalSize(fileNames)
        });
    })
    // Since the currently wrapped array contains promises we need to unwrap it and call .all() before continuing the chain
    // If the currently wrapped thing was an object with properties that might be promises, we would call .props() instead
    .call("value").all().then(_)
    .call("sortBy", "count")
    .call("reverse")
    .call("map", function(data) {
        return data.count + " total files beginning with " + data.firstCh + " with total size of " + data.totalSize + " bytes";
    })
    .call("join", "\n")
    .then(console.log)

#####.get(String propertyName|int index) -> Promise

This is a convenience method for doing:

promise.then(function(obj) {
    return obj[propertyName];
});

For example:

db.query("...")
    .get(0)
    .then(function(firstRow) {

    });

If index is negative, the indexed load will become obj.length + index. So that -1 can be used to read last item in the array, -2 to read the second last and so on. For example:

Promise.resolve([1,2,3]).get(-1).then(function(value) {
    console.log(value); // 3
});

If the index is still negative after obj.length + index, it will be clamped to 0.

When promisifying libraries (e.g. request) that call the callback with multiple arguments, the promisified version of that function will fulfill with an array of the arguments. .get can be a nifty short-hand to get the argument of interest.

For example, if you are only interested in the body when using request, using the normal .spread() pattern isn't the most convenient one:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var request = Promise.promisifyAll(require("request"));

request.getAsync("http://www.google.com").spread(function(response, body) {
    // ...
});

With get:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var request = Promise.promisifyAll(require("request"));

request.getAsync("http://www.google.com").get(1).then(function(body) {
    // ...
});

#####.return(dynamic value) -> Promise

Convenience method for:

.then(function() {
   return value;
});

in the case where value doesn't change its value.

That means value is bound at the time of calling .return() so this will not work as expected:

function getData() {
    var data;

    return query().then(function(result) {
        data = result;
    }).return(data);
}

because data is undefined at the time .return is called.

Function that returns the full path of the written file:

var Promise = require("bluebird");
var fs = Promise.promisifyAll(require("fs"));
var baseDir = process.argv[2] || ".";

function writeFile(path, contents) {
    var fullpath = require("path").join(baseDir, path);
    return fs.writeFileAsync(fullpath, contents).thenReturn(fullpath);
}

writeFile("test.txt", "this is text").then(function(fullPath) {
    console.log("Successfully file at: " + fullPath);
});

For compatibility with earlier ECMAScript version, an alias .thenReturn() is provided for .return().

#####.throw(dynamic reason) -> Promise

Convenience method for:

.then(function() {
   throw reason;
});

Same limitations apply as with .return().

For compatibility with earlier ECMAScript version, an alias .thenThrow() is provided for .throw().

#####Promise.noConflict() -> Object

This is relevant to browser environments with no module loader.

Release control of the Promise namespace to whatever it was before this library was loaded. Returns a reference to the library namespace so you can attach it to something else.

<!-- the other promise library must be loaded first -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/other_promise.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/bluebird_debug.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
//Release control right after
var Bluebird = Promise.noConflict();

//Cast a promise from some other Promise library using the Promise namespace to Bluebird:
var promise = Bluebird.resolve(new Promise());
</script>

#####Promise.setScheduler(Function scheduler) -> void

Scheduler should be a function that asynchronously schedules the calling of the passed in function:

// This is just an example of how to use the api, there is no reason to do this
Promise.setScheduler(function(fn) {
    setTimeout(fn, 0);
});

Setting a custom scheduler could be necessary when you need a faster way to schedule functions than bluebird does by default.

You can also use it as a hook:

// This will synchronize bluebird promise queue flushing with angulars queue flushing
// Angular is also now responsible for choosing the actual scheduler
Promise.setScheduler(function(fn) {
    $rootScope.$evalAsync(fn);
});

#####.reflect() -> Promise<PromiseInspection>

The .reflect() method returns a promise that is always successful when this promise is settled. Its fulfillment value is a PromiseInspection instance that reflects the resolution this promise. See this issue for example usage.

##Built-in error types

Bluebird includes a few built-in error types for common usage. All error types have the same identity across different copies of bluebird module so that pattern matching works in .catch. All error types have a constructor taking a message string as their first argument, with that message becoming the .message property of the error object.

By default the error types need to be referenced from the Promise constructor, e.g. to get a reference to TimeoutError, do var TimeoutError = Promise.TimeoutError. However, for convenience you will probably want to just make the references global.

#####OperationalError()

Represents an error is an explicit promise rejection as opposed to a thrown error. For example, if an error is errbacked by a callback API promisified through promisify() or promisifyAll() and is not a typed error, it will be converted to a OperationalError which has the original error in the .cause property.

OperationalErrors are caught in .error() handlers.

#####TimeoutError()

Signals that an operation has timed out. Used as a custom cancellation reason in .timeout().

#####CancellationError()

Signals that an operation has been aborted or cancelled. The default reason used by .cancel().

#####AggregateError()

A collection of errors. AggregateError is an array-like object, with numeric indices and a .length property. It supports all generic array methods such as .forEach directly.

AggregateErrors are caught in .error() handlers, even if the contained errors are not operational.

.some() and .any() use AggregateError as rejection reason when they fail.

Example:

//Assumes AggregateError has been made global
var err = new AggregateError();
err.push(new Error("first error"));
err.push(new Error("second error"));
throw err;

##Error management configuration

The default approach of bluebird is to immediately log the stack trace when a possibly unhandled rejection happens. For majority of applications this will work perfectly, however for some it will give false positives. Such applications can then use the hooks to implement a more suitable error handling scheme. Any scheme can be implemented on top of these hooks, e.g.:

Immediate logging to stderr (the default)
Logging after the promise became GCd (requires a native node.js module)
Showing a live list of rejected promises
Using no hooks and using .done() to manually to mark end points where rejections will not be handled
...

If there is any rejection event hook registered, global or local, automatic logging is disabled.

###Global rejection events

Starting from 2.7.0 all bluebird instances also fire rejection events globally so that applications can register one universal hook for them.

The global events are:

"unhandledRejection" (corresponds to the local Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection)
"rejectionHandled" (corresponds to the local Promise.onUnhandledRejectionHandled)

Attaching global rejection event handlers in node.js:

// NOTE: event name is camelCase as per node convention
process.on("unhandledRejection", function(reason, promise) {
    // See Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection for parameter documentation
});

// NOTE: event name is camelCase as per node convention
process.on("rejectionHandled", function(promise) {
    // See Promise.onUnhandledRejectionHandled for parameter documentation
});

Attaching global rejection event handlers in browsers:

Using DOM3 addEventListener APIs (support starting from IE9+):

// NOTE: event name is all lower case as per DOM convention
window.addEventListener("unhandledrejection", function(e) {
    // NOTE: e.preventDefault() must be manually called to prevent the default
    // action which is currently to log the stack trace to console.warn
    e.preventDefault();
    // NOTE: parameters are properties of the event detail property
    var reason = e.detail.reason;
    var promise = e.detail.promise;
    // See Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection for parameter documentation
});

// NOTE: event name is all lower case as per DOM convention
window.addEventListener("rejectionhandled", function(e) {
    // NOTE: e.preventDefault() must be manually called prevent the default
    // action which is currently unset (but might be set to something in the future)
    e.preventDefault();
    // NOTE: parameters are properties of the event detail property
    var promise = e.detail.promise;
    // See Promise.onUnhandledRejectionHandled for parameter documentation
});

In Web Workers you may use self.addEventListener(...).

Using legacy APIs (support starting from IE6+):

// NOTE: event name is all lower case as per legacy convention
window.onunhandledrejection = function(reason, promise) {
    // See Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection for parameter documentation
};

// NOTE: event name is all lower case as per legacy convention
window.onrejectionhandled = function(promise) {
    // See Promise.onUnhandledRejectionHandled for parameter documentation
};

#####Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection(Function handler) -> undefined

Note: this hook is specific to the bluebird instance its called on, application developers should use global rejection events

Add handler as the handler to call when there is a possibly unhandled rejection. The default handler logs the error stack to stderr or console.error in browsers.

Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection(function(e, promise) {
    throw e;
});

Passing no value or a non-function will have the effect of removing any kind of handling for possibly unhandled rejections.

#####Promise.onUnhandledRejectionHandled(Function handler) -> undefined

Note: this hook is specific to the bluebird instance its called on, application developers should use global rejection events

Add handler as the handler to call when a rejected promise that was reported as "possibly unhandled rejection" became handled.

Together with onPossiblyUnhandledRejection these hooks can be used to implement a debugger that will show a list of unhandled promise rejections updated in real time as promises become handled.

For example:

var unhandledPromises = [];
Promise.onPossiblyUnhandledRejection(function(reason, promise) {
    unhandledPromises.push(promise);
    //Update some debugger UI
});

Promise.onUnhandledRejectionHandled(function(promise) {
    var index = unhandledPromises.indexOf(promise);
    unhandledPromises.splice(index, 1);
    //Update the debugger UI
});

#####Promise.longStackTraces() -> void

Call this right after the library is loaded to enabled long stack traces. Long stack traces cannot be disabled after being enabled, and cannot be enabled after promises have alread been created. Long stack traces imply a substantial performance penalty, around 4-5x for throughput and 0.5x for latency.

Long stack traces are enabled by default in the debug build.

To enable them in all instances of bluebird in node.js, use the environment variable BLUEBIRD_DEBUG:

BLUEBIRD_DEBUG=1 node server.js

You should enabled long stack traces if you want better debugging experience. For example:

Promise.longStackTraces();
Promise.resolve().then(function outer() {
    return Promise.resolve().then(function inner() {
        return Promise.resolve().then(function evenMoreInner() {
            a.b.c.d()
        }).catch(function catcher(e) {
            console.error(e.stack);
        });
    });
});

Gives

ReferenceError: a is not defined
    at evenMoreInner (<anonymous>:6:13)
From previous event:
    at inner (<anonymous>:5:24)
From previous event:
    at outer (<anonymous>:4:20)
From previous event:
    at <anonymous>:3:9
    at Object.InjectedScript._evaluateOn (<anonymous>:581:39)
    at Object.InjectedScript._evaluateAndWrap (<anonymous>:540:52)
    at Object.InjectedScript.evaluate (<anonymous>:459:21)

While with long stack traces disabled, you would get:

ReferenceError: a is not defined
    at evenMoreInner (<anonymous>:6:13)
    at tryCatch1 (<anonymous>:41:19)
    at Promise$_resolvePromise [as _resolvePromise] (<anonymous>:1739:13)
    at Promise$_resolveLast [as _resolveLast] (<anonymous>:1520:14)
    at Async$_consumeFunctionBuffer [as _consumeFunctionBuffer] (<anonymous>:560:33)
    at Async$consumeFunctionBuffer (<anonymous>:515:14)
    at MutationObserver.Promise$_Deferred (<anonymous>:433:17)

On client side, long stack traces currently only work in Firefox and Chrome.

#####.done([Function fulfilledHandler] [, Function rejectedHandler ]) -> void

Like .then(), but any unhandled rejection that ends up here will be thrown as an error. Note that generally Bluebird is smart enough to figure out unhandled rejections on its own so .done is rarely required. As explained in the error management section, using .done is more of a coding style choice with Bluebird, and is used to explicitly mark the end of a promise chain.

##Progression migration

Progression is deprecated as there are composability and chaining issues with APIs that use promise progression handlers. This API is kept for backwards compatibility and for interoperability between libraries for now. As other libraries move away from the progression API since it really has little to do with promises, so will Bluebird. Implementing the common use case of progress bars can be accomplished using a pattern similar to IProgress in C#.

For old code that still uses it, see the progression docs in the deprecated API documentation.

Using jQuery before:

Promise.resolve($.get(...))
    .progressed(function() {
        // ...
    })
    .then(function() {
        // ...
    })
    .catch(function(e) {
        // ...
    })

Using jQuery after:

Promise.resolve($.get(...).progress(function() {
        // ...
    }))
    .then(function() {
        // ...
    })
    .catch(function(e) {
        // ...
    })

Implementing general progress interfaces like in C#:

function returnsPromiseWithProgress(progressHandler) {
    return doFirstAction().tap(function() {
        progressHandler(0.33);
    }).then(doSecondAction).tap(function() {
        progressHandler(0.66);
    }).then(doThirdAction).tap(function() {
        progressHandler(1.00);
    });
}

returnsPromiseWithProgress(function(progress) {
    ui.progressbar.setWidth((progress * 200) + "px"); // update with on client side
}).then(function(value) { // action complete
   // entire chain is complete.
}).catch(function(e) {
    // error
});

Another example using coroutine:

var doNothing = function() {};
var progressSupportingCoroutine = Promise.coroutine(function* (progress) {
        progress = typeof progress === "function" ? progress : doNothing;
        var first = yield getFirstValue();
        // 33% done
        progress(0.33);
        var second = yield getSecondValue();
        progress(0.67);
        var third = yield getThirdValue();
        progress(1);
        return [first, second, third];
});

var progressConsumingCoroutine = Promise.coroutine(function* () {
    var allValues = yield progressSupportingCoroutine(function(p) {
         ui.progressbar.setWidth((p * 200) + "px");
    });
    var second = allValues[1];
    // ...
});

##Deferred migration

Deferreds are deprecated in favor of the promise constructor. If you need deferreds for some reason, you can create them trivially using the constructor:

function defer() {
    var resolve, reject;
    var promise = new Promise(function() {
        resolve = arguments[0];
        reject = arguments[1];
    });
    return {
        resolve: resolve,
        reject: reject,
        promise: promise
    };
}

For old code that still uses deferred objects, see the deprecated API docs .

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