txaio Overview

Brief History

This library has been factored out of the Autobahn|Python WAMP client library. The ApplicationSession object from that project therefore serves as a good example of how to use this library in a complex use-case. See https://github.com/tavendo/AutobahnPython/blob/master/autobahn/wamp/protocol.py#L410

We are releasing it in the hopes these utilities are useful on their own to other projects using event-based Python.

Overview by Example

The simplest way to use txaio is to import txaio and use the helper functions directly. Using the library in this manner will automatically select the event-loop to use: Twisted if it’s available, then asyncio and finally Trollius if those fail.

If you wish to be explicit about the event-loop you want, call txaio.use_twisted() or txaio.use_asyncio() which will fail (with an ImportError) if that implementation isn’t available.

Note that to use this library successfully you shouldn’t call methods on futures – use only txaio methods to operate on them.

import txaio

def cb(value):
    print("Callback:", value)

def eb(fail):
    # fail will implement txaio.IFailedPromise
    print("Errback:", fail)
    fail.printTraceback()

f = txaio.create_future()
txaio.add_callbacks(f, cb, eb)

# ...other things happen...

try:
    answer = do_something()
    fail = None
except Exception:
    fail = txaio.create_failure()

# the point here is that you "somehow" arrange to call either
# reject() or resolve() on every future you've created.

if fail:
    txaio.reject(f, fail)
else:
    txaio.resolve(f, answer)

Restrictions and Caveats

txaio is not a new event-based programming solution. It is not a complete box-set of async tools.

It is one piece that can help you to write cross-event-loop asynchronous code. For example, you’ll note that there’s no way to run “the event loop” – that’s up to you.

However, it is basically a “lowest common denominator” tool. There is a minimum of wrapping, etcetera.

Futures and Deferreds

In most cases asyncio is trying to be “as thin as possible” wrapper around the different APIs. So, there’s nothing wrapping Future or Deferred – you get the bare objects. This means that txaio.create_future() returns you the native object, which you then pass to txaio.add_callbacks()

Similarly, txaio.call_later() returns the underlying object (IDelayedCall in Twisted or a Handle in asyncio). These both have a cancel() method, but little else in common.

Callbacks and Errbacks

Twisted and asyncio have made different design-decisions. One that stands out is callbacks, and callback chaining. In Twisted, the return value from an earlier callback is what gets passed to the next callback. Similarly, errbacks in Twisted can cancel the error. There are not equivalent facilities in asyncio: if you add multiple callbacks, they all get the same value (or exception).

When using txaio, don’t depend on chaining. This means that your callback and errback methods must always return their input argument so that Twisted works if you add multiple callbacks or errbacks (and doesn’t unexpectedly cancel errors).

txaio does add the concept of an errback for handling errors (a concept asyncio does not have) and therefore adds one helper to encapsulate exceptions (similar to Twisted’s Failure object) which only exists in the asyncio implementation.

There is no inlineCallbacks or coroutine decorator support. Don’t use these.

Real Examples

You are encouraged to look at Autobahn|Python for an example of a system that can run on both Twisted and asyncio. In particular, look at the difference between autobahn/twisted/websocket.py and autobahn/asyncio/websocket.py and the compatibility super-class in autobahn/wamp/protocol.py which is the piece that uses txaio to provide an event-loop agnostic implementation that both the Twisted and asyncio concrete ApplicationSession objects inherit from.

autobahn.wamp.protocol.ApplicationSession is glued to a particular event-loop via autobahn.twisted.wamp.ApplicationSession which takes advantage of txaio.tx.LoopMixin to provde the helpers-methods attached to self.

In this manner, code in the generic implementation simply always calls txaio methods via self.create_future() or similar and users of Autobahn|Python can choose between asyncio and Twisted as they prefer by either from autobahn.twisted.wamp import ApplicationSession or from autobahn.asyncio.wamp import ApplicationSession

Cross-API Magic

If you wish to write Twisted-like code that uses asyncio as its event-loop, you should look at txtulip. I do not know of a project that lets you write asyncio-like code that runs on Twisted’s event-loop.