How can I periodically execute a function with asyncio? - python

I'm migrating from tornado to asyncio, and I can't find the asyncio equivalent of tornado's PeriodicCallback. (A PeriodicCallback takes two arguments: the function to run and the number of milliseconds between calls.)
Is there such an equivalent in asyncio?
If not, what would be the cleanest way to implement this without running the risk of getting a RecursionError after a while?

For Python versions below 3.5:
import asyncio
#asyncio.coroutine
def periodic():
while True:
print('periodic')
yield from asyncio.sleep(1)
def stop():
task.cancel()
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
loop.call_later(5, stop)
task = loop.create_task(periodic())
try:
loop.run_until_complete(task)
except asyncio.CancelledError:
pass
For Python 3.5 and above:
import asyncio
async def periodic():
while True:
print('periodic')
await asyncio.sleep(1)
def stop():
task.cancel()
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
loop.call_later(5, stop)
task = loop.create_task(periodic())
try:
loop.run_until_complete(task)
except asyncio.CancelledError:
pass

When you feel that something should happen "in background" of your asyncio program, asyncio.Task might be good way to do it. You can read this post to see how to work with tasks.
Here's possible implementation of class that executes some function periodically:
import asyncio
from contextlib import suppress
class Periodic:
def __init__(self, func, time):
self.func = func
self.time = time
self.is_started = False
self._task = None
async def start(self):
if not self.is_started:
self.is_started = True
# Start task to call func periodically:
self._task = asyncio.ensure_future(self._run())
async def stop(self):
if self.is_started:
self.is_started = False
# Stop task and await it stopped:
self._task.cancel()
with suppress(asyncio.CancelledError):
await self._task
async def _run(self):
while True:
await asyncio.sleep(self.time)
self.func()
Let's test it:
async def main():
p = Periodic(lambda: print('test'), 1)
try:
print('Start')
await p.start()
await asyncio.sleep(3.1)
print('Stop')
await p.stop()
await asyncio.sleep(3.1)
print('Start')
await p.start()
await asyncio.sleep(3.1)
finally:
await p.stop() # we should stop task finally
if __name__ == '__main__':
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
loop.run_until_complete(main())
Output:
Start
test
test
test
Stop
Start
test
test
test
[Finished in 9.5s]
As you see on start we just start task that calls some functions and sleeps some time in endless loop. On stop we just cancel that task. Note, that task should be stopped at the moment program finished.
One more important thing that your callback shouldn't take much time to be executed (or it'll freeze your event loop). If you're planning to call some long-running func, you possibly would need to run it in executor.

A variant that may be helpful: if you want your recurring call to happen every n seconds instead of n seconds between the end of the last execution and the beginning of the next, and you don't want calls to overlap in time, the following is simpler:
async def repeat(interval, func, *args, **kwargs):
"""Run func every interval seconds.
If func has not finished before *interval*, will run again
immediately when the previous iteration finished.
*args and **kwargs are passed as the arguments to func.
"""
while True:
await asyncio.gather(
func(*args, **kwargs),
asyncio.sleep(interval),
)
And an example of using it to run a couple tasks in the background:
async def f():
await asyncio.sleep(1)
print('Hello')
async def g():
await asyncio.sleep(0.5)
print('Goodbye')
async def main():
t1 = asyncio.ensure_future(repeat(3, f))
t2 = asyncio.ensure_future(repeat(2, g))
await t1
await t2
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
loop.run_until_complete(main())

There is no built-in support for periodic calls, no.
Just create your own scheduler loop that sleeps and executes any tasks scheduled:
import math, time
async def scheduler():
while True:
# sleep until the next whole second
now = time.time()
await asyncio.sleep(math.ceil(now) - now)
# execute any scheduled tasks
async for task in scheduled_tasks(time.time()):
await task()
The scheduled_tasks() iterator should produce tasks that are ready to be run at the given time. Note that producing the schedule and kicking off all the tasks could in theory take longer than 1 second; the idea here is that the scheduler yields all tasks that should have started since the last check.

Alternative version with decorator for python 3.7
import asyncio
import time
def periodic(period):
def scheduler(fcn):
async def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
while True:
asyncio.create_task(fcn(*args, **kwargs))
await asyncio.sleep(period)
return wrapper
return scheduler
#periodic(2)
async def do_something(*args, **kwargs):
await asyncio.sleep(5) # Do some heavy calculation
print(time.time())
if __name__ == '__main__':
asyncio.run(do_something('Maluzinha do papai!', secret=42))

Based on #A. Jesse Jiryu Davis answer (with #Torkel Bjørnson-Langen and #ReWrite comments) this is an improvement which avoids drift.
import time
import asyncio
#asyncio.coroutine
def periodic(period):
def g_tick():
t = time.time()
count = 0
while True:
count += 1
yield max(t + count * period - time.time(), 0)
g = g_tick()
while True:
print('periodic', time.time())
yield from asyncio.sleep(next(g))
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
task = loop.create_task(periodic(1))
loop.call_later(5, task.cancel)
try:
loop.run_until_complete(task)
except asyncio.CancelledError:
pass

This solution uses the decoration concept from Fernando José Esteves de Souza, the drifting workaround from Wojciech Migda and a superclass in order to generate most elegant code as possible to deal with asynchronous periodic functions.
Without threading.Thread
The solution is comprised of the following files:
periodic_async_thread.py with the base class for you to subclass
a_periodic_thread.py with an example subclass
run_me.py with an example instantiation and run
The PeriodicAsyncThread class in the file periodic_async_thread.py:
import time
import asyncio
import abc
class PeriodicAsyncThread:
def __init__(self, period):
self.period = period
def periodic(self):
def scheduler(fcn):
async def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
def g_tick():
t = time.time()
count = 0
while True:
count += 1
yield max(t + count * self.period - time.time(), 0)
g = g_tick()
while True:
# print('periodic', time.time())
asyncio.create_task(fcn(*args, **kwargs))
await asyncio.sleep(next(g))
return wrapper
return scheduler
#abc.abstractmethod
async def run(self, *args, **kwargs):
return
def start(self):
asyncio.run(self.run())
An example of a simple subclass APeriodicThread in the file a_periodic_thread.py:
from periodic_async_thread import PeriodicAsyncThread
import time
import asyncio
class APeriodicThread(PeriodicAsyncThread):
def __init__(self, period):
super().__init__(period)
self.run = self.periodic()(self.run)
async def run(self, *args, **kwargs):
await asyncio.sleep(2)
print(time.time())
Instantiating and running the example class in the file run_me.py:
from a_periodic_thread import APeriodicThread
apt = APeriodicThread(2)
apt.start()
This code represents an elegant solution that also mitigates the time drift problem of other solutions. The output is similar to:
1642711285.3898764
1642711287.390698
1642711289.3924973
1642711291.3920736
With threading.Thread
The solution is comprised of the following files:
async_thread.py with the canopy asynchronous thread class.
periodic_async_thread.py with the base class for you to subclass
a_periodic_thread.py with an example subclass
run_me.py with an example instantiation and run
The AsyncThread class in the file async_thread.py:
from threading import Thread
import asyncio
import abc
class AsyncThread(Thread):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
#abc.abstractmethod
async def async_run(self, *args, **kwargs):
pass
def run(self, *args, **kwargs):
# loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
# asyncio.set_event_loop(loop)
# loop.run_until_complete(self.async_run(*args, **kwargs))
# loop.close()
asyncio.run(self.async_run(*args, **kwargs))
The PeriodicAsyncThread class in the file periodic_async_thread.py:
import time
import asyncio
from .async_thread import AsyncThread
class PeriodicAsyncThread(AsyncThread):
def __init__(self, period, *args, **kwargs):
self.period = period
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.async_run = self.periodic()(self.async_run)
def periodic(self):
def scheduler(fcn):
async def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
def g_tick():
t = time.time()
count = 0
while True:
count += 1
yield max(t + count * self.period - time.time(), 0)
g = g_tick()
while True:
# print('periodic', time.time())
asyncio.create_task(fcn(*args, **kwargs))
await asyncio.sleep(next(g))
return wrapper
return scheduler
An example of a simple subclass APeriodicThread in the file a_periodic_thread.py:
import time
from threading import current_thread
from .periodic_async_thread import PeriodicAsyncThread
import asyncio
class APeriodicAsyncTHread(PeriodicAsyncThread):
async def async_run(self, *args, **kwargs):
print(f"{current_thread().name} {time.time()} Hi!")
await asyncio.sleep(1)
print(f"{current_thread().name} {time.time()} Bye!")
Instantiating and running the example class in the file run_me.py:
from .a_periodic_thread import APeriodicAsyncTHread
a = APeriodicAsyncTHread(2, name = "a periodic async thread")
a.start()
a.join()
This code represents an elegant solution that also mitigates the time drift problem of other solutions. The output is similar to:
a periodic async thread 1643726990.505269 Hi!
a periodic async thread 1643726991.5069854 Bye!
a periodic async thread 1643726992.506919 Hi!
a periodic async thread 1643726993.5089169 Bye!
a periodic async thread 1643726994.5076022 Hi!
a periodic async thread 1643726995.509422 Bye!
a periodic async thread 1643726996.5075526 Hi!
a periodic async thread 1643726997.5093904 Bye!
a periodic async thread 1643726998.5072556 Hi!
a periodic async thread 1643726999.5091035 Bye!

For multiple types of scheduling I'd recommend APSScheduler which has asyncio support.
I use it for a simple python process I can fire up using docker and just runs like a cron executing something weekly, until I kill the docker/process.

This is what I did to test my theory of periodic call backs using asyncio. I don't have experience using Tornado, so I'm not sure exactly how the periodic call backs work with it. I am used to using the after(ms, callback) method in Tkinter though, and this is what I came up with. While True: Just looks ugly to me even if it is asynchronous (more so than globals). The call_later(s, callback, *args) method uses seconds not milliseconds though.
import asyncio
my_var = 0
def update_forever(the_loop):
global my_var
print(my_var)
my_var += 1
# exit logic could be placed here
the_loop.call_later(3, update_forever, the_loop) # the method adds a delayed callback on completion
event_loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
event_loop.call_soon(update_forever, event_loop)
event_loop.run_forever()

Related

How to separately measure time spent suspended and blocking for a given coroutine in python?

Suppose I have a coroutine function in python that looks like this :
async def foo():
time.sleep(1)
await asyncio.sleep(1)
Which blocks for 1 second and suspends for another second without blocking the event loop. Suppose I want to measure the time spent by this function for time spent blocking and suspended
...
Initially, I made a decorator like this:
def time_this(coro_func):
async def wrapper(*a, **k):
start = time.perf_counter()
ret = await coro_func(*a, **k)
elapsed = time.perf_counter() - start
print(f"Time spent blocking IO: {elapsed}, suspended: ...")
return ret
return wrapper
and decorated foo with it.
Which produced this result :
Time spent blocking IO: 2.021167900005821, suspended: ...
This isn't correct, because only 1 second is spent blocking, and 1 second is spent suspended.
Ideally, I wanted something like this :
Time spent blocking IO: 1.0, suspended: 1.0
How do I get such a result from measuring async context switching?
Full code used above to reproduce:
import asyncio, time
def time_this(coro_func):
async def wrapper(*a, **k):
start = time.perf_counter()
ret = await coro_func(*a, **k)
elapsed = time.perf_counter() - start
print(f"Time spent blocking IO: {elapsed}, suspended: ...")
return ret
return wrapper
#time_this
async def foo():
time.sleep(1)
await asyncio.sleep(1)
async def main():
await foo()
asyncio.run(main())

Automatic conversion of standard function into asynchronous function in Python

In most of the asynchronous coroutines I write, I only need to replace the function definition def func() -> async def func() and the sleep time.sleep(s) -> await asyncio.sleep(s).
Is it possible to convert a standard python function into an async function where all the time.sleep(s) is converted to await asyncio.sleep(s)?
Example
Performance during task
Measure performance during a task
import asyncio
import random
async def performance_during_task(task):
stop_event = asyncio.Event()
target_task = asyncio.create_task(task(stop_event))
perf_task = asyncio.create_task(measure_performance(stop_event))
await target_task
await perf_task
async def measure_performance(event):
while not event.is_set():
print('Performance: ', random.random())
await asyncio.sleep(.2)
if __name__ == "__main__":
asyncio.run(
performance_during_task(task)
)
Task
The task has to be defined with async def and await asyncio.sleep(s)
async def task(event):
for i in range(10):
print('Step: ', i)
await asyncio.sleep(.2)
event.set()
into ->
Easy task definition
To have others not worrying about async etc. I want them to be able to define a task normally (e.g. with a decorator?)
#as_async
def easy_task(event):
for i in range(10):
print('Step: ', i)
time.sleep(.2)
event.set()
So that it can be used as an async function with e.g. performance_during_task()
I think I found a solution similar to the interesting GitHub example mentioned in the comments and a similar post here.
We can write a decorator like
from functools import wraps, partial
def to_async(func):
#wraps(func) # Makes sure that function is returned for e.g. func.__name__ etc.
async def run(*args, loop=None, executor=None, **kwargs):
if loop is None:
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop(). # Make event loop of nothing exists
pfunc = partial(func, *args, **kwargs) # Return function with variables (event) filled in
return await loop.run_in_executor(executor, pfunc).
return run
Such that easy task becomes
#to_async
def easy_task(event):
for i in range(10):
print('Step: ', i)
time.sleep(.2)
event.set()
Where wraps makes sure we can call attributes of the original function (explained here).
And partial fills in the variables as explained here.

How to change the time period for selected processes only using asyncio?

I have the following code that executes a list of methods (_tick_watchers) every 10 seconds. While this is fine for most of the methods on the _tick_watchers list, there are some that I need to be executed only once every 5 minutes. Any ideas for a simple & neat way to do so?
async def on_tick(self):
while not self._exiting:
await asyncio.sleep(10)
now = time.time()
# call all tick watchers
for w in self._tick_watchers:
w(now)
Since asyncio doesn't come with a scheduler for repeating tasks, you can generalise your on_tick() into one:
import time
import asyncio
class App:
def my_func_1(self, now):
print('every second\t{}'.format(now))
def my_func_5(self, now):
print('every 5 seconds\t{}'.format(now))
def __init__(self):
self.exiting = False
async def scheduler(self, func, interval):
while not self.exiting:
now = time.time()
func(now)
await asyncio.sleep(interval)
# to combat drift, you could try something like this:
# await asyncio.sleep(interval + now - time.time())
async def run(self):
asyncio.ensure_future(self.scheduler(self.my_func_5, 5.0))
asyncio.ensure_future(self.scheduler(self.my_func_1, 1.0))
await asyncio.sleep(11)
self.exiting = True
asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(App().run()) # test run
Note that currently you do not start your task every 10 seconds: you wait for 10 seconds after the task exits. The small difference accumulates over time, which might be important.
You have some class for periodic execution? If so, you can add timeout parameter to it.
timeout in init:
def __init__(self, timeout=10):
self.timeout = timeout
and use it in tick handler:
async def on_tick(self):
while not self._exiting:
await asyncio.sleep(self.timeout)
# ...
Then create and run several instances of that class with different timeouts.

run async while loop independently

Is it possible to run an async while loop independently of another one?
Instead of the actual code I isolated the issue I am having in the following example code
import asyncio, time
class Time:
def __init__(self):
self.start_time = 0
async def dates(self):
while True:
t = time.time()
if self.start_time == 0:
self.start_time = t
yield t
await asyncio.sleep(1)
async def printer(self):
while True:
print('looping') # always called
await asyncio.sleep(self.interval)
async def init(self):
async for i in self.dates():
if i == self.start_time:
self.interval = 3
await self.printer()
print(i) # Never Called
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
t = Time()
loop.run_until_complete(t.init())
Is there a way to have the print function run independently so print(i) gets called each time?
What it should do is print(i) each second and every 3 seconds call self.printer(i)
Essentially self.printer is a separate task that does not need to be called very often, only every x seconds(in this case 3).
In JavaScript the solution is to do something like so
setInterval(printer, 3000);
EDIT: Ideally self.printer would also be able to be canceled / stopped if a condition or stopping function is called
The asyncio equivalent of JavaScript's setTimeout would be asyncio.ensure_future:
import asyncio
async def looper():
for i in range(1_000_000_000):
print(f'Printing {i}')
await asyncio.sleep(0.5)
async def main():
print('Starting')
future = asyncio.ensure_future(looper())
print('Waiting for a few seconds')
await asyncio.sleep(4)
print('Cancelling')
future.cancel()
print('Waiting again for a few seconds')
await asyncio.sleep(2)
print('Done')
if __name__ == '__main__':
asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(main())
You'd want to register your self.printer() coroutine as a separate task; pass it to asyncio.ensure_future() rather than await on it directly:
asyncio.ensure_future(self.printer())
By passing the coroutine to asyncio.ensure_future(), you put it on the list of events that the loop switches between as each awaits on further work to be completed.
With that change, your test code outputs:
1516819094.278697
looping
1516819095.283424
1516819096.283742
looping
1516819097.284152
# ... etc.
Tasks are the asyncio equivalent of threads in a multithreading scenario.

Python - Timer with asyncio/coroutine

I am trying to set a timer that will interrupt the running process and call a coroutine when it fires. However, I'm not sure what the right way to accomplish this is. I've found AbstractEventLoop.call_later, along with threading.Timer but neither of these seem to work (or I'm using them incorrectly). The code is pretty basic and looks something like this:
def set_timer( time ):
self.timer = Timer( 10.0, timeout )
self.timer.start()
#v2
#self.timer = get_event_loop()
#self.timer.call_later( 10.0, timeout )
return
async def timeout():
await some_func()
return
What is the correct way to set a non-blocking timer, that will call a callback function after some number of seconds? Being able to cancel the timer would be a bonus but is not a requirement. The major things I need are: non-blocking and successfully calling the co-routine. Right now it returns an error that the object can't be await'd (if I toss an await in) or that some_func was never await'd, and the expected output never happens.
Creating Task using ensure_future is a common way to start some job executing without blocking your execution flow. You can also cancel tasks.
I wrote example implementation for you to have something to start from:
import asyncio
class Timer:
def __init__(self, timeout, callback):
self._timeout = timeout
self._callback = callback
self._task = asyncio.ensure_future(self._job())
async def _job(self):
await asyncio.sleep(self._timeout)
await self._callback()
def cancel(self):
self._task.cancel()
async def timeout_callback():
await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
print('echo!')
async def main():
print('\nfirst example:')
timer = Timer(2, timeout_callback) # set timer for two seconds
await asyncio.sleep(2.5) # wait to see timer works
print('\nsecond example:')
timer = Timer(2, timeout_callback) # set timer for two seconds
await asyncio.sleep(1)
timer.cancel() # cancel it
await asyncio.sleep(1.5) # and wait to see it won't call callback
loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
asyncio.set_event_loop(loop)
try:
loop.run_until_complete(main())
finally:
loop.run_until_complete(loop.shutdown_asyncgens())
loop.close()
Output:
first example:
echo!
second example:
Thanks Mikhail Gerasimov for your answer, it was very useful. Here is an extension to Mikhail’s anwer. This is an interval timer with some twists. Perhaps it is useful for some users.
import asyncio
class Timer:
def __init__(self, interval, first_immediately, timer_name, context, callback):
self._interval = interval
self._first_immediately = first_immediately
self._name = timer_name
self._context = context
self._callback = callback
self._is_first_call = True
self._ok = True
self._task = asyncio.ensure_future(self._job())
print(timer_name + " init done")
async def _job(self):
try:
while self._ok:
if not self._is_first_call or not self._first_immediately:
await asyncio.sleep(self._interval)
await self._callback(self._name, self._context, self)
self._is_first_call = False
except Exception as ex:
print(ex)
def cancel(self):
self._ok = False
self._task.cancel()
async def some_callback(timer_name, context, timer):
context['count'] += 1
print('callback: ' + timer_name + ", count: " + str(context['count']))
if timer_name == 'Timer 2' and context['count'] == 3:
timer.cancel()
print(timer_name + ": goodbye and thanks for all the fish")
timer1 = Timer(interval=1, first_immediately=True, timer_name="Timer 1", context={'count': 0}, callback=some_callback)
timer2 = Timer(interval=5, first_immediately=False, timer_name="Timer 2", context={'count': 0}, callback=some_callback)
try:
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
loop.run_forever()
except KeyboardInterrupt:
timer1.cancel()
timer2.cancel()
print("clean up done")
The solution proposed by Mikhail has one drawback. Calling cancel() cancels both: the timer and the actual callback (if cancel() fired after timeout is passed, but actual job is still in progress). Canceling the job itself may be not the desired behavior.
An alternative approach is to use loop.call_later:
async def some_job():
print('Job started')
await asyncio.sleep(5)
print('Job is done')
loop = asyncio.get_event_loop() # or asyncio.get_running_loop()
timeout = 5
timer = loop.call_later(timeout, lambda: asyncio.ensure_future(some_job()))
timer.cancel() # cancels the timer, but not the job, if it's already started

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