Allow an array of deferreds as first argument to .when()

[Tomalak]

This is a feature proposal for the Deferred module.

.when() currently only supports a list of (any number of) individual arguments.

I've been in the situation where I have an array of deferred objects, most commonly a list of pending Ajax calls, which forces me to make use of a construct like jQuery.when.apply(jQuery, array) in order to pass them to .when().

It should be possible to pass an array of deferreds directly to .when() as its only argument, like this jQuery.when(array).

The source code (​https://github.com/jquery/jquery/blob/master/src/deferred.js#L93) shows that it would be possible to extend .when() in that way through a trivial change and without breaking existing functionality.

I've created a pull request that shows the change ​https://github.com/jquery/jquery/pull/1304

[Timmy Willison]

I like this. My main use of when is $.when.apply.

[markelog]

Me too, i also use $.when.apply a lot, anologue of Q.all/when.all might be pretty useful, but from ​jQuery.when doc:

If a single argument is passed to jQuery.when and it is not a Deferred or a Promise, it will be treated as a resolved Deferred and any doneCallbacks attached will be executed immediately.

Although i doubt any code depend on that feature.

@Tomalak, BTW when you submitting a pull request, in addition to source changes and ticket number, you should also have tests that support new functionality and signed ​CLA, see ​this site for more information.

[scottgonzalez]

Although i doubt any code depend on that feature.

Why would you doubt that? It's a pretty powerful and common feature. There's a reason that Q.all() has to exist, and it's because Q() will accept any single value just like jQuery.when().

I don't see how we can even be considering this.

[Rick Waldron]

Duplicate of #8256.
Sorry dudes...

[Timmy Willison]

Sorry, I missed that ticket 18 months ago.

[Rick Waldron]

Replying to timmywil:

Sorry, I missed that ticket 18 months ago.

No worries ;)

[Tomalak]

Ah damn, it seemed like such a good idea.

[jaubourg]

I'm not against a $.whenAll thingy. It's just that we wouldn't be using it in core.