jQuery Deferred: $.when() with multiple objects

Question

I need a method to fetch different scripts with a callback. This method works ok:

fetchScripts:function() {
    var _this=this;
    $.when(
        $.ajax({
            url:_this.url + 'library/script-one.js',
            type:'get',
            cache:true
        }),
        $.ajax({
            url:_this.url + 'library/script-two.js',
            type:'get',
            cache:true
        }),
        { .... },
        $.ajax({
            url:_this.url + 'library/script-n.js',
            type:'get',
            cache:true
        })
    ).then(function() {
        console.log('fetch is done');

    })
},

But i'd like to more generalize the method because redundany is increasing. Is it possible to pass a promise to $.when()? Below my first attempt - but url is always the same, i.e. 'script-n.js' Maybe i missed the point and you could illustrate a more "beauty" solution

fetchScripts:function() {
    this.deferred=new $.Deferred();
    this.promise=this.deferred.promise();
    var _this=this;
    $.each([
        'script-one.js',
        'script-two.js',
        ( .... ),
        'script-n.js'
    ],function() {
        _this.script=this;
        _this.promise.then(function(){
            return $.ajax({
                url:_this.url + 'library/' + _this.script,
                type:'get',
                cache:true
            })
        });
    });
    $.when(
        this.promise
    ).then(function() {
        console.log('fetch is done');

    });
    this.deferred.resolve();
},

Answer 1

You still need $.when. But instead, create an array of Deferreds (or promises) and then apply it to $.when:

fetchScripts:function() {
    var base = this.url;
    var defaults = {
        type:'get',
        cache:true
    };

    var libraries = [
        'library/script-one.js',
        'library/script-two.js',
        'library/script-n.js'
    ];

    var deferreds = $.map(libraries, function(current) {
        var ajaxOptions = $.extend({ url:  base + current }, defaults);
        return $.ajax(ajaxOptions);
    });

    $.when.apply($, deferreds).then(function() {
        console.log('All done');
    });
}

Alternatively to extending the default settings, you could just use $.ajax(defaults).

Answer 2

Try

fetchScripts: function() {
    var deferred = new $.Deferred();
    var _this=this;

    var promises = $.map([
        'script-one.js',
        'script-two.js',
        ( .... ),
        'script-n.js'
    ], function(item, idx) {
        return $.ajax({
            url:_this.url + 'library/' + item.script,
            type:'get',
            cache:true
        })
    });

    $.when.apply($, promises).then(function() {
        console.log('fetch is done');
        deferred.resolve()
    });
    return deferred.promise();
}