applyq

A JavaScript library for applying asynchronous calls to an API.

Installation

npm install --save applyq

How the Asynchronous Syntax Works

Lets say there is a JavaScript object on the page but it is unknown where and when it will be loaded. However, you would like to have the possibility to interact with it at any place on the page. The asynchronous syntax makes it possible to call the API before its loaded.

The asynchronous syntax uses a queue, which is a first-in, first-out data structure that collects API calls until the target object is ready to execute them.

To push an API call onto the queue, you must convert it from the traditional JavaScript syntax into a command array. Command arrays are simply JavaScript arrays that conform to a certain format. The first element in a command array is the name of the object method you want to call. It must be a string. The rest of the elements are the arguments you want to pass to the object method. These can be any JavaScript value.

The following code calls logger.log using the traditional syntax:

logger.log('Hello world!');

The equivalent code in the asynchronous syntax:

window._loggerq = window._loggerq || [];
_loggerq.push(['log', 'Hello world!']);

Usage

Once the object is loaded and initialized, it has to execute the queued command arrays. This can be done by calling applyq:

var logger = new Logger();
applyq(logger, _loggerq);

After the object had been initialized, there is no need to store the commands anymore. The commands can be executed right away. That's why after calling applyq the push method of the commands queue is overridden. The overridden version of push is executing the command arrays immediately instead of storing them.

Whitelist of methods

You might want to process a subset of commands only. In that case you can path the list of commands to process:

/* In this case only commands passed to the register() method will be processed */
applyq(server, _serverq, ['register']);

P.S.

Some of the explanations of the Asynchronous Syntax were taken from Google Analytics Tracking Basics (Asynchronous Syntax).

License

MIT