rmgr

Helps to release resources gracefully.

Install

npm i --save rmgr

Usage example

rmgr exposes a factory function that creates an rmgr instance. For each resource you register its initialize and dispose functions with the instance's add method. Then, whenever you need to release the resources you just call close method:

const rmgr = require('rmgr')
 
const { MongoClient } = require('mongodb')
const Redis = require('ioredis')
const express = require('express')
 
const resources = rmgr()
 
/*
    In case of one of the following resources initialization failure,
    the app shutdowns gracefully (i.e. closes all already inited resources)
    before reporting the error.
*/
 
try {
 
    const mongoClient = await resources.add(
        () => MongoClient.connect('mongodb://localhost'),
        mongoClient => mongoClient.close()
    )
 
    const redis = await resources.add(
        (cb) => {
            const redis = new Redis({ retryStrategy: () => false })
            redis.once('error', cb)
            redis.once('connect', function () {
                redis.removeListener('error', cb)
                cb(null, redis)
            })
        },
        (redis, cb) => redis.quit(cb)
    )
 
    const server = await resources.add(
        (cb) => {
            const server = express().listen(0)
            server.once('error', cb)
            server.once('listening', function () {
                server.removeListener('error', cb)
                cb(null, server)
            })
        },
        // throw timeout error, if not closed within a minute
        rmgr.timeout((server, cb) => server.close(cb), 60000)
    )
 
    // ... now, you can use the initialized resources ...
 
} catch (err) {
 
    // An initialization error occured, just print it.
    // All opened resources are closed and the app is about to exit gracefully.
 
    console.error(err)
}
 
process.on('SIGINT', async function () {
    try {
        await resources.close()
    } catch (err) {
        console.error(err)
        process.exit(1) // We've done our best.
    }
})

The problem

This section describes the problem the module solves.

It's tedious to set up graceful resource handling properly. Especially when there are several resources to manage. Some of the resources may fail on initialization step and then all already initialized ones have to be teared down properly. Handling all this in a graceful way without a special helper leads to a messy cluttered code that gets worse with every single resource added:

 
// With try-catch for every resource
 
const resourceA = await initResourceA()
 
try {
 
    const resourceB = await initResourceB()
 
    try {
 
        const resourceC = await initResourceC()
 
        try {
 
            // ... and so on
 
        } catch (err) {
 
            await close(resourceC)
        }
 
    } catch (err) {
 
        await close(resourceB)
    }
 
} catch (err) {
 
    await close(resourceA)
}
 
// With "if-inited" for every resource
 
let resourceA, resourceB, resourceC
 
try {
 
    resourceA = await initResourceA()
    resourceB = await initResourceB()
    resourceC = await initResourceC()
 
} catch (err) {
 
    if (resourceC) {
        await close(resourceC)
    }
 
    if (resourceB) {
        await close(resourceB)
    }
 
    if (resourceA) {
        await close(resourceA)
    }
}

rmgr helps to handle this in an easy-to-use, reliable and concise way:

 
const resources = rmgr()
 
const resourceA = await resources.add(
    () => initResourceA(),
    resourceA => close(resourceA)
)
 
const resourceB = await resources.add(
    () => initResourceB(),
    resourceB => close(resourceB)
)
 
const resourceC = await resources.add(
    () => initResourceC(),
    resourceC => close(resourceC)
)
 
// yes, with **rmgr** try-catch is not required to close all the resources
// in a graceful way (it may only be needed to catch an initialization error)

API

rmgr () => resources

A factory function that initializes an rmgr instance.

resources.add (initialize, dispose) => Promise

Awaits initialize function to resolve, and returns its result. dispose is called either when resources.close is called, or when one of consequent resources.add's initialize function is thrown. Both initialize and dispose functions support both callbacks and promises. To use the callback you need to add corresponding parameter to the required initialize or dispose function.

initialize ([cb])

It is expected to resolve a resource that later will be disposed. When cb param is specified, the function is called with the ordinary node-style callback of signature (err, resource).

dispose (resource, [cb])

Should dispose previously initialized resource. When cb param is specified, the function is called with a node-style callback of signature (err).

resources.close () => Promise

Closes all the registered resources by calling corresponding dispose functions in the reverse order of initialization. All consequent resources.add and resources.close calls are ignored.

rmgr.timeout(fn, ms) => Promise

Many resources include timeouts handling, but some are not. For such cases rmgr provides timeout wrapper for corresponding initialize and dispose functions. It throws rmgr.TimeoutError, if specified fn function is not resolved within ms milliseconds. The fn function allows using both callbacks and promises.

fn ([resource], [cb])

fn is just an initialize or dispose function to wrap. The way they are called is the same as without the wrapping, see details.

rmgr.TimeoutError

Instances of the TimeoutError are thrown by rmgr.timeout when the timeout is expired.

rmgr.using(PromiseLib) => rmgr

Returns rmgr factory function that uses specified PromiseLib.

Miscellaneous

on process.exit

process.exit is a hard way to close your app, which may have unforeseen side effects on your resources, so, use it as the last resort. It still has its use even with rmgr but it's well defined. You should always call process.exit in the following two cases:

• when rmdm.close is rejected with an error (see the usage example),
• or, in case you are using rmgr.timeout, when resources.add is rejected with a rmgr.TimeoutError.

What to count as a resource?

A rule of a thumb is that you would add to rmgr everything that will prevent your process from exiting.

Combining several rmgrs

rmgrs can be combined, though it should be rarely needed:

const Resources = require('rmrg')
 
const subresources = Resources()
const otherSubresources = Resources()
const resourcesRoot = Resources()
 
subresources.add(/* */)
otherSubresources.add(/* */)
 
resourcesRoot.add(
    () => subresources,
    subresources => subresources.close()
)
 
resourcesRoot.add(
    () => otherSubresources,
    otherSubresources => otherSubresources.close()
)
 
await resourcesRoot.close() // close all the resources from all rmgrs