Is there a way to wait until method is completed?

English Forum Developers & API
1

I’m writing a code for script actions.
I want to get subtask’s gids after duplicating a task with subtasks.
So I worte a code below at the begining.

body = {
      "data": {
        "name": task.data.name,
        "include": ["notes","assignee","subtasks","attachments","tags","followers","projects","dependencies","parent"]
      }
    };
const newTask = await tasksApiInstance.duplicateTask(body, task_gid);

After that, I’ll confirm whether a duplication has finished.
I assume using jobsApiInstance.getJob() with loop like below.

i = 0;
while(i<10){
  const jobStatus = jobsApiInstance.getJob(......);
  if(jobStatus.data.status === "succeeded"){
    break;
  }
  i++;
}

But I’m worried about requiring a lot in a short time.
Is there a way to wait like timer?

1 Like
2

Hi @Tetsuo_Kawakami,

Yes, you’ll want to wait between each iteration of checking for successful completion of the job.

Try this code:

async function run() {
  const task = await tasksApiInstance.getTask(task_gid);
  body = {
      "data": {
        "name": task.data.name,
        "include": ["notes","assignee","subtasks","attachments","tags","followers","projects","dependencies","parent"]
      }
    };
  const jobInfo = await tasksApiInstance.duplicateTask(body, task_gid);
  await waitForJobCompletion(jobInfo.data.gid);
  log("The job finished!")
}

const sleep = ms => new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, ms));

async function waitForJobCompletion(jobId) {
  for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    const jobStatus = await jobsApiInstance.getJob(jobId);
    if (jobStatus.data.status === "succeeded") {
      return jobStatus;
    }
    if (i < 9) { // don't wait after the last attempt
      await sleep(5000); // wait 5 seconds before next iteration
    }
  }
  throw new Error("Timed out waiting for job");
}

// To function properly, the script must end with returning a Promise via run().
run();
2 Likes
3

@Phil_Seeman
thanks for your help!
I tried it.Unfortunately an error below occured.

 Encountered an error: {"name":"Error","message":"setTimeout is not supported in this environment","stack":"    at <anonymous> (eval.js)\n    at Promise (native)\n    at sleep (eval.js)\n    at waitForJobCompletion (eval.js:33)\n"}

That would mean Asana doesn’t allow us to use setTimeout().
I’ll find out another way.

4

That’s odd, it worked perfectly for me, including the setTimeout. Not sure why you’re getting that error.

5

@Phil_Seeman
Thanks for your reply.
Yes. That’s very weird.Which did you execute it in script actions or in your local env?
I run it in my phoenix env.
Anyway I’ll try again and struggle.

6

I ran it in script actions in my Phoenix environment!

@Mikhail_Melikhov any idea why it worked in my Phoenix script action but not @Tetsuo_Kawakami’s?

7

I noticed that sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t.
When it works, a job status is succeeded at the first iteration. So sleep() doesn’t run.

In the end, how can we wait in script action?
Does anyone have a solution for it?

8

Hi @Phil_Seeman TIL that native JS timers are indeed not allowed in action scripts.

Is it possible that the tests you ran succeeded simply because the job completed quickly enough that a sleep() function call wasn’t needed?

9

@Phil_Seeman
Please don’t be offended, but I turned off Solution check because the problem isn’t solved.

@Mikhail_Melikhov
It’s nice to meet you.I think it’s the first contact with you.
I think we should avoid requiring a lot in a short time to confirm a job status.
Do you have any idea to wait between each iteration in script action?

10

Ah, well Ok!

Yes that’s possible.

11

No worries!

I can think of a few other ideas for waiting, but I don’t know if any of them are supported in this particular environment so I think we should wait (no pun intended) for some guidance from Asana, who knows what can and can’t run here.

1 Like
12

“Helpful” guidance has arrived. Please try one or more of:

  • Pace back and forth in your office while repeatedly looking at your watch
  • Cue this (turn on sound)
  • Light up a cigarette; that always used to make the bus you were waiting for appear right away so it should hasten the script’s completion.

Sorry, @Tetsuo_Kawakami!

Larry

2 Likes
13

Hi @Tetsuo_Kawakami , it’s great to meet you, and thank you for highlighting such a valid use case.

@dbrdak identified a potential approach to simulate native timeouts, but before sharing, we’d like to confirm internally whether this is the most suitable solution. We’ll get back to this shortly with an update.

4 Likes
14

Chiming in to say I also had this issue (my code must not have ever invoked setTimeout while testing so I didn’t realize it wasn’t supported and then dropped the script on like 30 projects with thousands of tasks lol). Really looking forward to the (potential, hopefully) solution!

2 Likes
15

Hi everyone!

After checking with our developers, I can confirm that using a custom sleep / setTimeout function is supported. That said, please remember that script actions have a maximum runtime of 60 seconds. This limit is in place for security reasons – for example, to protect against mistakes such as infinite loops.

If your workflow requires more time, consider breaking down a complex rule into smaller rules that trigger each other. This can help separate your logic into multiple steps and avoid hitting the 60-second timeout.

Here’s an example of a simple sleep function shared by our developers:

const sleep = async (ms) => {
    log('Waiting...');
    const start = Date.now()
    let currentTime = Date.now()
    while(currentTime - start < ms){
        currentTime = Date.now()
    }
};
6 Likes
16

@dbrdak
Thank you for the solution.
I confirmed it on my side.It worked well!

4 Likes