Poll

Generalized implementation of polling with support for timeout and polling interval.

Example

result = Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100, timeout_milliseconds: 500) do
  some_request()
end

Overview

• The block is executed in a loop until it returns a value
• Polling will continue indefinitely unless a timeout is specified
• The polling interval avoids flooding the resource with requests

Usage

Polling Terminates When the Block Returns a Value

result = Poll.() do
  :something # Polling terminates immediately
end

No Polling Interval

When no polling interval is specified, block re-executes immediately at the conclusion of the previous cycle.

result = Poll.(timeout_milliseconds: 500) do
  nil
end

This can have adverse effects if the resource being polled cannot withstand being flooded with such a quick succession of requests.

With a Polling Interval

When a polling interval is specified, block re-executes once per polling interval rather than executing immediately at the conclusion of the previous cycle.

This can relieve pressure from a resource that might otherwise be flooded with such a quick succession of requests if there were no polling interval specified. The polling interval can provide a pause between executions of the block.

result = Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100, timeout_milliseconds: 500) do
  nil # Polls for 500 milliseconds, with a 100 millisecond pause between cycles
end

If the cycle execution time is greater than the polling interval time, the block is re-executed immediately at the conclusion of the previous cycle.

result = Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100, timeout_milliseconds: 500) do
  sleep 101/1000.0 # Cycle is longer than the polling interval. No pause between executions
  nil
end

No Timeout

Without specifying a timeout, polling will continue indefinitely while the block returns no result.

result = Poll.() do
  nil # Infinite loop with a no pause between execution cycles
end

result = Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100) do
  nil # Infinite loop with a 100 millisecond pause between execution cycles
end

With a Timeout

When a timeout is specified, polling will continue only as long as the duration of the timeout.

result = Poll.(timeout_milliseconds: 500) do
  nil # Loops for 500 milliseconds
end

Delay Condition

When the delay condition is met at the end of the execution of the block that the poller is given, the poller will delay for interval_milliseconds.

The delay condition is based on the value of what is returned from the block.

By default, polling stops when the block returns either nil or an object that responds to empty?

Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100) do
  nil # Poll loop restarts after 100 milliseconds delay because block returns nil
end

The delay condition can varied by specifying a lambda that will be evaluated to determine whether the block should be restarted.

delay_condition = -> (result) { result.even?(result) }

Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100, delay_condition: delay_condition) do
  2 # Result is even, therefore delay 100 milliseconds and re-execute the block
end

Poll.(interval_milliseconds: 100, delay_condition: delay_condition) do
  3 # Result is odd, therefore end the poll loop
end

License

The poll library is released under the MIT License.