NAME

Future::AsyncAwait::Awaitable - the interface required by Future::AsyncAwait

DESCRIPTION

This module documents the method interface required by Future::AsyncAwait to operate on future instances returned by expressions invoked by the await keyword, and returned by functions declared by async sub. This information is largely of relevance to implementors of other module integrations, event systems, or similar. It is not necessary to make regular use of the syntax provided by the module when working with existing event systems.

The methods required by this interface are all capitalised and prefixed with AWAIT_..., ensuring they are unlikely to clash with existing methods on a class which may have differing semantics.

Role::Tiny

If Role::Tiny is available, this module declares itself to be a role that requires the following named methods. The role supplies no code to the applied class, but can be useful for checking that you have in fact implemented all of the required methods.

Conformance Test

To assist implementors of alternative future-like classes, an API conformance test suite is provided by Test::Future::AsyncAwait::Awaitable. You may find this useful to check that your implementation is suitable.

CONSTRUCTORS

The following methods are expected to create new future instances. They make use of the class set by the prevailing future_class import argument, if set, or default to Future if not.

AWAIT_NEW_DONE

Generate a new immediate future that is successful. The future will already be ready and have the list of values set as its result.

$f = $CLASS->AWAIT_NEW_DONE( @results );

# $f->AWAIT_IS_READY will be true
# $f->AWAIT_GET will return @results

AWAIT_NEW_FAIL

Generate a new immediate future that is failed. The future will already be ready and invoking the "AWAIT_GET" method will throw the given exception.

$f = $CLASS->AWAIT_NEW_FAIL( $message );

# $f->AWAIT_IS_READY will be true
# $f->AWAIT_GET will throw $message

INSTANCE METHODS

AWAIT_CLONE

Generate a new pending future of the same type as an existing one, which is not modified by doing so. It will only be invoked on instances that are currently pending.

$new_f = $f->AWAIT_CLONE;

If the instance has any fields that are required for successful operation (such as application-wide context or event system components) these ought to be copied. The method should not otherwise copy any per-instance state such as pending callbacks or partial results.

AWAIT_DONE

Sets the success result of an existing still-pending future. It will only be invoked on future instances that are currently pending.

$f->AWAIT_DONE( @results );

# $f->AWAIT_IS_READY will now be true
# $f->AWAIT_GET will now return @results

AWAIT_FAIL

Sets the failure result of an existing still-pending future. It will only be invoked on future instances that are currently pending.

$f->AWAIT_FAIL( $message );

# $f->AWAIT_IS_READY will now be true
# $f->AWAIT_GET will now throw $message

AWAIT_IS_READY

Returns true if a future is ready (successful, failed or cancelled); false if still pending.

$bool = $f->AWAIT_IS_READY;

AWAIT_IS_CANCELLED

Returns true is a future has already been cancelled; false if still pending, successful or failed.

$bool = $f->AWAIT_IS_CANCELLED;

An implementation that does not support cancellation can simply return a constant false here:

sub AWAIT_IS_CANCELLED { 0 }

AWAIT_GET

Yields the result of a successful future (or just the first value if called in scalar context). Throws the failure message as an exception if called on a a failed one. Will not be invoked on a pending or cancelled future.

@result = $f->AWAIT_GET;
$result = $f->AWAIT_GET;
$f->AWAIT_GET;

AWAIT_ON_READY

Attach a new CODE reference to be invoked when the future becomes ready (by success or failure). The arguments and context that $code is invoked with are unspecified.

$f->AWAIT_ON_READY( $code );

AWAIT_CHAIN_CANCEL

Attach a future instance to be cancelled when another one is cancelled.

$f1->AWAIT_CHAIN_CANCEL( $f2 );

When $f1 is cancelled, then $f2 is cancelled. There is no link from $f2 back to $f1 - whenever $f2 changes state here, nothing special happens to $f1.

An implementation that does not support cancellation can simply ignore this method.

sub AWAIT_CHAIN_CANCEL { }

An older version of this API specification named this AWAIT_ON_CANCEL, but that name will be repurposed for attaching code blocks in a later version.

AWAIT_ON_CANCEL

Attach a new CODE reference to be invoked when the future is cancelled.

$f->AWAIT_ON_CANCEL( $code );

An implementation that does not support cancellation can simply ignore this method.

sub AWAIT_ON_CANCEL { }

AWAIT_WAIT

Called by the toplevel await expression in order to run the event system and wait for the instance to be ready. It should return results or throw an exception in the same manner as "AWAIT_GET".

@result = $f->AWAIT_WAIT;
$result = $f->AWAIT_WAIT;
$f->AWAIT_WAIT;

AUTHOR

Paul Evans <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk>