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 AsynchronousDynamicModule

Source Notebook

A wrapper function for dynamic modules that causes a placeholder to be shown during initialization

Contributed by: Sjoerd Smit

ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"][DynamicModule[…,Initialization⧴(init)]]

returns a new DynamicModule that initializes the expression init asynchronously. During the initialization, a spinner will be shown and the content of the DynamicModule will not evaluate before the initialization has finished.

ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"][DynamicModule[…],placeholder]

shows placeholder during initialization.

ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"][DynamicModule[…],placeholder,flag]

uses the variable flag to determine if the initialization has finished.

Details

The SynchronousInitialization option of the original DynamicModule will be ignored. The returned DynamicModule will always have SynchronousInitialization→False.
If no Initialization option is specified, ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"] will return the DynamicModule unchanged.

Examples

Basic Examples (2) 

The following DynamicModule shows a pink box during the initialization because the inner dynamic causes an error message:

In[1]:=
DynamicModule[{x}, Dynamic[First[x]], SynchronousInitialization -> False, Initialization :> ( x = {}; Pause[3]; AppendTo[x, 1] ) ]
Out[1]=

AsynchronousDynamicModule automatically fixes this problem:

In[2]:=
ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"]@DynamicModule[{x}, Dynamic[First[x]], SynchronousInitialization -> False, Initialization :> ( x = {}; Pause[3]; AppendTo[x, 1] ) ]
Out[2]=

Scope (2) 

The Print statement will not evaluate before the initialization finishes. All evaluation of the DynamicModule is prevented before the initialization has finished:

In[3]:=
ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"]@DynamicModule[{x}, Dynamic[ Print["Hi!"]; First[x] ], SynchronousInitialization -> False, Initialization :> ( x = {}; Pause[3]; AppendTo[x, 1] ) ]
Out[3]=

Any placeholder can be used to show progress of the initialization:

In[4]:=
ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"][ DynamicModule[{x}, Dynamic[ x ], SynchronousInitialization -> False, Initialization :> ( x = {}; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, 1]; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, 2]; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, 3]; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, 4]; ) ], Dynamic@ProgressIndicator[Length[x], {0, 4}] ]
Out[4]=

Applications (1) 

You can specify a dynamically updated variable that returns the content to its initialization state. This update action can then be reused in the content of the DynamicModule:

In[5]:=
ResourceFunction["AsynchronousDynamicModule"][ DynamicModule[{ x, start, updateAction }, Dynamic[ Column[{ x, Slider[Dynamic[start], {0, 10, 1}], Button["Update", updateAction[start], Method -> "Queued", ImageSize -> All ] }] ], SynchronousInitialization -> False, Initialization :> ( start = 0; updateAction[startVal_] := ( initQ = False; x = {}; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, startVal + 1]; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, startVal + 2]; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, startVal + 3]; Pause[1]; AppendTo[x, startVal + 4]; initQ = True ); updateAction[start] ) ], Dynamic@ProgressIndicator[Length[x], {0, 4}], initQ ]
Out[5]=

Publisher

Sjoerd Smit

Requirements

Wolfram Language 11.3 (March 2018) or above

Version History

  • 2.0.2 – 13 July 2021

License Information