node.js - While loop with promises

Question

What would be the idiomatic way to do something like a while loop with promises. So:

do something if the condition still stands do it again repeat then do something else.

dosomething.then(possilblydomoresomethings).then(finish)

I've done it this way I was wondering if there were any better/more idomatic ways?

var q = require('q');

var index = 1;

var useless =  function(){
        var currentIndex = index;
        console.log(currentIndex)
        var deferred = q.defer();
        setTimeout(function(){
            if(currentIndex > 10)
                deferred.resolve(false);
            else deferred.resolve(true);
            },500);
        return deferred.promise;
    }

var control = function(cont){
        var deferred = q.defer();
        if(cont){
                index = index + 1;
                useless().then(control).then(function(){
                        deferred.resolve();
                    });
            }
         else deferred.resolve();
        return deferred.promise;
    }

var chain = useless().then(control).then(function(){console.log('done')});

Output: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 done

Answer 1

Here's a reusable function that I think is pretty clear.

var Q = require("q");

// `condition` is a function that returns a boolean
// `body` is a function that returns a promise
// returns a promise for the completion of the loop
function promiseWhile(condition, body) {
    var done = Q.defer();

    function loop() {
        // When the result of calling `condition` is no longer true, we are
        // done.
        if (!condition()) return done.resolve();
        // Use `when`, in case `body` does not return a promise.
        // When it completes loop again otherwise, if it fails, reject the
        // done promise
        Q.when(body(), loop, done.reject);
    }

    // Start running the loop in the next tick so that this function is
    // completely async. It would be unexpected if `body` was called
    // synchronously the first time.
    Q.nextTick(loop);

    // The promise
    return done.promise;
}


// Usage
var index = 1;
promiseWhile(function () { return index <= 11; }, function () {
    console.log(index);
    index++;
    return Q.delay(500); // arbitrary async
}).then(function () {
    console.log("done");
}).done();