javascript - Removing nested promises

Question

I'm new to promises and writing network code using requests and promises in NodeJS.

I would like to remove these nested promises and chain them instead, but I'm not sure how I'd go about it/whether it is the right way to go.

exports.viewFile = function(req, res) {
var fileId = req.params.id;
boxContentRequest('files/' + fileId + '/content', req.user.box.accessToken)
    .then(function(response) {
        boxViewerRequest('documents', {url: response.request.href}, 'POST')
            .then(function(response) {
                boxViewerRequest('sessions', {document_id: response.body.id}, 'POST')
                    .then(function(response) {
                        console.log(response);
                    });
            });
    });
};

This is the request code:

var baseContentURL = 'https://api.box.com/2.0/';
var baseViewerURL = 'https://view-api.box.com/1/';

function boxContentRequest(url, accessToken) {
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
            var options = {
                url: baseContentURL + url,
                headers: {
                    Authorization: 'Bearer ' + accessToken,
                }
            };
      request(options, function (err, res) {
        if (err) {
          return reject(err);
        } else if (res.statusCode !== 200) {
          err = new Error("Unexpected status code: " + res.statusCode);
          err.res = res;
          return reject(err);
        }
        resolve(res);
      });
    });
}

function boxViewerRequest(url, body, method) {
    return new Promise(function (resolve, reject) {
            var options = {
                method: method,
                url: baseViewerURL + url,
                headers: {
                    Authorization: 'Token ' + config.box.viewerApiKey
                },
                json: body
            };
      request(options, function (err, res, body) {
        if (err) {
          return reject(err);
        } else if (res.statusCode !== 200 && res.statusCode !== 201 && res.statusCode !== 202) {
          err = new Error("Unexpected status code: " + res.statusCode);
          err.res = res;
          return reject(err);
        }
        resolve(res, body);
      });
    });
}

Any insight would be appreciated.

Answer 1

From every then callback, you will need to return the new promise:

exports.viewFile = function(req, res) {
    var fileId = req.params.id;
    boxContentRequest('files/' + fileId + '/content', req.user.box.accessToken)
      .then(function(response) {
          return boxViewerRequest('documents', {url: response.request.href}, 'POST');
      })
      .then(function(response) {
          return boxViewerRequest('sessions', {document_id: response.body.id}, 'POST');
      })
      .then(function(response) {
          console.log(response);
      });
};

The promise that is returned by the .then() call will then resolve with the value from the "inner" promise, so that you easily can chain them.

Generic pattern:

somePromise.then(function(r1) {
    return nextPromise.then(function(r2) {
        return anyValue;
    });
}) // resolves with anyValue

     ||
    ||/
     /

somePromise.then(function(r1) {
    return nextPromise;
}).then(function(r2) {
    return anyValue;
}) // resolves with anyValue as well