Nested queries using javascript in cloud code (Parse.com)

Question

Is it possible to do nested queries in cloud code?

I want to be able to do something like

var adList = [];
var query2 = new Parse.Query(\"QR\");
var          


        

Answer 1

I think the below code might help someone,

var adList = [];
var query2 = new Parse.Query("QR");
var query = new Parse.Query("Campaigns");
query.equalTo("isFeatured", true);

query.find().then(function(results) {
    var _ = require('underscore');
    var promise = Parse.Promise.as();
    _.each(results, function(resultObj) { 
        var ad = [];
        ad.push(resultObj.get("Type"));    //Adds "Type" to the ad array
        ad.push(resultObj.id);     //gets the objectID and appends it to the arrayy

        //second INNER QUERY
        query2.equalTo("abc", true);
        adList.push(ad);
        return query2.first().then(function(results) {
            adList.push(5);
        });
    });
    return promise;
}).then(function() {
    response.success(adList);
}, function (error) {
    response.error("Error "+error.message);
});

Answer 2

The second query is asynchronous so wrapping it in a for won't work.

response.success gets triggered before the second query finished so you are returning before actually waiting for the results. I would tell you to move response.success inside of the second success callback of query2 but that won't work either since you are running an async operation synchronously inside a for so you will send the response in the first success.

Don't run an async operation inside a loop. It doesn't work.

I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish here but you'll have to instantiate a new Query for every call if you want to make as many queries as results.

Again, I'm not sure what is exactly you are trying to do but here is a way you can do something like that:

    var adList = [];
    var query = new Parse.Query("Campaigns");
    query.equalTo("isFeatured", true);

    query.find({
        success: function(results)  {
            var queries = [];

            for (var i=0; i<results.length; i++){
                var query2 = new Parse.Query("QR");
                query2.equalTo("abc",true);

                var ad = [];
                ad.push(results[i].get("Type"));
                ad.push(results[i].id);
                adList.push(ad);
                queries.push(query2);
            }

            var totalLength = results.length;

            function makeQueries(qs){
                qs.shift().first({
                    success: function(currentResult) {
                        // do stuff with currentResult
                        if(qs.length){
                            makeQueries(qs);
                        } else {
                            console.log('We successfully made ' + totalLength + ' queries')
                            // we are done with the queries
                            response.success(adList);
                        }
                    },
                    error: function() {
                        response.error('Error in inner queries nº' + totalLength - qs.length)
                    }
                });
            }
            makeQueries(queries);
        },
        error: function(){
            response.error("failed");
        }
    });

Bar in mind that Parse Cloud Code let you run code for aprox 5/7 seconds and this might be very slow if you have a lot of results. Btw, take a look a Parse's matchesQuery method.

Example taken from their docs:

    var Post = Parse.Object.extend("Post");
    var Comment = Parse.Object.extend("Comment");
    var innerQuery = new Parse.Query(Post);
    innerQuery.exists("image");
    var query = new Parse.Query(Comment);
    query.matchesQuery("post", innerQuery);
    query.find({
      success: function(comments) {
        // comments now contains the comments for posts with images.
      }
    });        

Answer 3

I was able to cobble up the following answer. This works for me. Following the parse.com documentation guidelines for parallel promises. I create two promise arrays. One of them serves as promise array for inner loop. The other one serves as promise array for the outer loop.

Parse.Cloud.define("getFriends", function (request, response) {
  var _ = require('underscore.js');
  var queryFields = request.params.queryFields;
  //var ClassToSearch = Parse.Object.extend("User");

  var promises = [];
  var promises2 = [];
  var FinalResult = [];
 var asyncFunc = function (userIDArray) {
    _.each(queryFields, function (queryField) {
      var query = new Parse.Query(Parse.User);
      query.equalTo("yourColumnName", queryField);
      promises.push(
        query.find().then(function (results) {
       _.each(results, function (resultObj) { 
        //nested query
        var ClassToSearch = Parse.Object.extend("AnotherColumn");
        var query2 = new Parse.Query(ClassToSearch);
        query2.equalTo("yourColumnName", resultObj);
        promises2.push(        
          query2.first().then(function (itinerary) {
          FinalResults.push(itinerary);
        }));

      });
      return Parse.Promise.when(promises2);
    })
          )
    });
    // Return a new promise that is resolved when all of the requests are done 
    return Parse.Promise.when(promises);
  };
  asyncFunc(queryFields).then(function () {
    console.log("all http requests were made");
    response.success(FinalResults);
  }, function (error) {
    console.log("there was some error");
  });
});