Delay calls to JavaScript functions, ensuring all are processed in order without any being discarded

Is there a way for a function to limit the frequency of its calls without discarding them? Instead of dropping calls that are too frequent, is it possible to queue them up and space them out over time, say X milliseconds apart? I've explored concepts like throttle and debounce, but they seem to discard calls rather than queuing them for future execution.

Is there a more efficient solution than implementing a queue with a process() method that runs on an interval of X milliseconds? Are there any standard implementations available in JavaScript frameworks that can achieve this functionality? I've checked out underscore.js without success so far.

Answer №1

Executing this code without using a framework is actually quite straightforward:

var stack = [], 
    timer = null;

function completeTask() {
    var item = stack.shift();
    // carry out task
    if (stack.length === 0) {
        clearInterval(timer);
        timer = null;
    }
}

function addToQueue(item) {
    stack.push(item);
    if (timer === null) {
        timer = setInterval(completeTask, 500);
    }
}

http://jsfiddle.net/6TPed/4/

Answer №2

An instance provided as an illustration that moves this forward or allows for a custom one to be set

function RateLimit(fn, delay, context) {
    var canInvoke = true,
        queue = [],
        timeout,
        limited = function () {
            queue.push({
                context: context || this,
                arguments: Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments)
            });
            if (canInvoke) {
                canInvoke = false;
                timeEnd();
            }
        };
    function run(context, args) {
        fn.apply(context, args);
    }
    function timeEnd() {
        var e;
        if (queue.length) {
            e = queue.splice(0, 1)[0];
            run(e.context, e.arguments);
            timeout = window.setTimeout(timeEnd, delay);
        } else
            canInvoke = true;
    }
    limited.reset = function () {
        window.clearTimeout(timeout);
        queue = [];
        canInvoke = true;
    };
    return limited;
}

At this moment

function foo(x) {
    console.log('hello world', x);
}
var bar = RateLimit(foo, 1e3);
bar(1); // logs: hello world 1
bar(2);
bar(3);
// undefined, bar is void
// ..
// logged: hello world 2
// ..
// logged: hello world 3

Answer №3

If you're looking for well-supported modules to handle rate limiting, here are some top choices:

  • Check out limiter, the most popular rate limiter.
  • function-rate-limit offers a simple API with good usage stats on npmjs.
  • valvelet is a newer module that claims to support promises for an even better job, although it hasn't gained much popularity yet.

Answer №4

After searching for a TypeScript adaptation, I stumbled upon @Dan Dascelescu's JavaScript fiddle and decided to enhance it with typings.

If you have any suggestions to improve the type definitions, please feel free to leave a comment 🙏

function rateLimit<T>(
  fn: (...args: Array<any>) => void,
  delay: number,
  context?: T
) {
  const queue: Array<{ context: T; arguments: Array<any> }> = []
  let timer: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null

  function processQueue() {
    const item = queue.shift()

    if (item) {
      fn.apply<T, Array<any>, void>(item.context, item.arguments)
    }

    if (queue.length === 0 && timer) {
      clearInterval(timer)
      timer = null
    }
  }

  return function limited(this: T, ...args: Array<any>) {
    queue.push({
      context: context || this,
      arguments: [...args],
    })

    if (!timer) {
      processQueue() // initiate immediately on first call
      timer = setInterval(processQueue, delay)
    }
  }
}

Answer №5

In my opinion, using decorators can greatly enhance the simplicity and reusability of this code:

/**
 * Asynchronously pauses execution for a specified amount of time.
 * @param milliseconds
 * @returns
 */
function asyncPause(milliseconds: number): Promise<void> {
  return new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
    setTimeout(() => { resolve(); }, milliseconds);
  });
}

/**
 * Generates a random integer within a given range.
 * The maximum is exclusive while the minimum is inclusive.
 * @param min
 * @param max
 */
export const getRandomInt = (
  min: number,
  max: number,
): number => (
  Math.floor(
    Math.random() * (
      Math.floor(max) - Math.ceil(min)
    ) + Math.ceil(min),
  )
);

/**
 * Throttles the execution of a method by a fixed millisecond duration if a number is provided.
 * If a tuple is passed, it will throttle by a randomly generated time (in ms) between each call.
 * @param milliseconds
 * @returns
 */
function throttle(milliseconds: number | [number, number]): any {
  let lastCall = 0;
  return function (target: any, propertyKey: string, descriptor: PropertyDescriptor) {
    const originalMethod = descriptor.value;
    descriptor.value = async function (...args: any[]) {
      const currentTime = Date.now();
      if (!lastCall) {
        lastCall = currentTime;
        return originalMethod.apply(this, args);
      }
      const duration = Array.isArray(milliseconds)
        ? getRandomInt(milliseconds[0], milliseconds[1])
        : Math.round(milliseconds);

      const timeDifference = currentTime - lastCall;
      if (timeDifference < duration) {
        await asyncPause(duration - timeDifference);
      }
      lastCall = Date.now();
      return originalMethod.apply(this, args);
    };

    return descriptor;
  };
}

Now you can simply implement it like so:

class MyClass {
  @throttle(1000)
  async limitedMethod() {
    await performTask()
  }

  @throttle([1000, 5000])
  async randomizedLimitedMethod() {
    await performTask()
  }
}

TSPlayground

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