david234

david234

I am working on a code that will ping an external API every 15 minutes, to retrieve the response and store it in the database.

def get_forecast(city) do
  app_id = My.api_key()
  query_params = URI.encode_query(%{"q" => city, "APPID" => app_id})
  url =
  "https://api.weather.org/data/2.5/forecast?" <> query_params
    case HTTPoison.get(url) do
      {:ok, %HTTPoison.Response{status_code: 200} = response} ->
        {:ok, Jason.decode!(response.body)}
      {:ok, %HTTPoison.Response{status_code: status_code}} ->
        {:error, {:status, status_code}}
      {:error, reason} ->
        {:error, reason}
    end
end

I am running this inside a Task, and that Task is running inside a Genserver.

In application.ex

  use Application



  def start(_type, _args) do
    children = [
      # Starts a worker by calling: FsiIntegration.Worker.start_link(arg)
      # {FsiIntegration.Worker, arg}
      {Task.Supervisor, name: Integration.TaskSupervisor, restart: :transient,  max_restarts: 3, max_seconds: 4000}
    ]

    # See https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Supervisor.html
    # for other strategies and supported options
    opts = [strategy: :one_for_one, name: Integration.Supervisor]
    Supervisor.start_link(children, opts)
  end

In genserver file

defmodule Integration.FsiServer do

  use GenServer

  @timeout 15000

  #Public API
  def start_task do
    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, %{ref: nil}, name: __MODULE__)
  end

  def execute_task(pid) do
    GenServer.call(pid, {:execute, @timeout})
  end

  #Callbacks API
  def init(state) do
    {:ok, state}
  end

  # In this case the task is already running, so we just return :ok.
  def handle_call({:execute, _task_timeout}, _from, %{ref: ref} = state) when is_reference(ref) do
    {:reply, :ok, state}
  end

  # The task is not running yet, so let's start it.
  def handle_call({:execute, task_timeout}, _from, %{ref: nil} = state) do
    IO.inspect state
    task =
      Task.Supervisor.start_child(Integration.TaskSupervisor, fn ->**
       {:ok, _} = IntegrationGet.get_forecast("city")**
     end)

    {:reply, :ok, %{state | ref: task.ref}}
  end

  # The task completed successfully
  def handle_info({ref, answer}, %{ref: ref} = state) do
    Process.demonitor(ref, [:flush])
    {:noreply, %{state | ref: nil}}
  end

  # The task failed
  def handle_info({:DOWN, ref, :process, _pid, _reason}, %{ref: ref} = state) do
    {:noreply, %{state | ref: nil}}
  end
end

My questions are :

I know I have to improve on the below code. Can you guys me insight on how to make this better

  use Application



  def start(_type, _args) do
    children = [
      # Starts a worker by calling: FsiIntegration.Worker.start_link(arg)
      # {FsiIntegration.Worker, arg}
      {Task.Supervisor, name: Integration.TaskSupervisor, restart: :transient,  max_restarts: 3, max_seconds: 4000}
    ]

    # See https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Supervisor.html
    # for other strategies and supported options
    opts = [strategy: :one_for_one, name: Integration.Supervisor]
    Supervisor.start_link(children, opts)
  end
  def handle_call({:execute, task_timeout}, _from, %{ref: nil} = state) do
    IO.inspect state
    task =
      Task.Supervisor.start_child(Integration.TaskSupervisor, fn ->
       {:ok, _} = IntegrationGet.get_forecast("city")
     end)

    {:reply, :ok, %{state | ref: task.ref}}
  end
  1. The time interval between restarts I have set max_seconds to 5 seconds. But the restart happens immediately.

  2. Is Task.Supervisor.start_child is good for making an external API request. Just it will make a single API request in this case. Or I have to go for async_nolink or async under Task module
    My use case is request an external API and store the response in the DB.

Showing Posts 1 to 4

kwando

kwando

The max_restarts and max_seconds options only states how many (max_restarts) restarts of a child in a time period of time (max_seconds) the supervisor should tolerate before crashing.

You can read about max_seconds here: Supervisor — Elixir v1.20.2.

  1. I would start with something simpler like this:
defmodule WeatherPoller do
  use GenServer

  def start_link([]) do
    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, [])
  end

  def init([]) do
    send(self(), :execute)
    {:ok, []}
  end

  def handle_info(:execute, state) do
    case IntegrationGet.get_forecast("city") do
      {:ok, response} ->
        store_response(response)

      {:error, error} ->
        handle_error(response)
    end

    {:noreply, schedule_next(state)}
  end

  defp schedule_next(state) do
    Process.send_after(self(), :execute, :timer.seconds(15))
    state
  end
end

andreaseriksson

andreaseriksson

I like option 3 here:

But with the part of handling a failure, I would put in a sleep

# Unexpected failure
  def handle_info({:DOWN, ref, :process, _pid, _reason}, %{ref: ref} = state) do
    :timer.sleep(3000)
    # restart the task
    task = do_start_task()
    {:noreply, %{state | ref: task.ref}}
  end
LostKobrakai

LostKobrakai

sleep will block the process from handling anything else in the meantime. It’s usually better to use sent_interval to receive another message at a later time to trigger the restart, but staying responsive to other messages.

andreaseriksson

andreaseriksson

True, 100% agree. Was in ruby land for a moment

— All posts loaded —

Where Next? Top

Trending in Discussions Top

budgie
A little off-topic, but I feel like people here have a good head on their shoulders. I used to be quite good at making software. Was luc...
New
axelson
Hi there! :wave: @frigidcode and I (but mostly him) have been running an Elixir Book club, we’re almost done with Designing Elixir Syste...
New
achempion
I’ve been using Emacs as my main code editor for more than a two years. It’s a custom build version although I’ve tried doom emacs and sp...
New
juhalehtonen
There has been a thread to discuss the Stack Overflow Developer Survey on this forum every year since 2018, so here’s yet another one for...
New
budgie
I love Elixir. It’s one of 2 programming languages I’ve ever fallen in love with. But I don’t use it anymore. Serverless was the promis...
New
jtormey
Lately I’ve been thinking about how to organize components as a LiveView application grows. One of the pain points I’ve found (for myself...
New
Null-logic-0
What IDE or editor are you using for Elixir development? Personally, I use Zed, and I really like it, but sometimes I wish there were a ...
New

Other Trending Topics Top

GenericJam
Edit: 2026 May 15 - This post is archived. Mob is alive!! Main docs: mob v0.7.11 — Documentation A bit of explanation for the slightly c...
New
garrison
Hobbes is a low-level distributed database for the Elixir programming language. Hobbes provides a simple, safe, and scalable storage lay...
New
KristerV
Hey. Is there anyone here who creates agents in their apps? Not talking about using agents, but creating them. I’m finding it pretty diff...
New
mudasobwa
I fully migrated to my own harness from Anthropic/Gemini and I think it’s time to share it. Welcome DSH, the DeepSeek Harness, fully writ...
New
mcass19
ExRatatui lets you cook up rich terminal UIs in Elixir, powered by Rust’s ratatui via Rustler NIFs. Build interactive terminal applicatio...
New
georgeguimaraes
Just published claude-code-elixir, a plugin marketplace for Claude Code with Elixir support. These are the plugins I’ve been using for my...
New

We're in Beta

About us Mission Statement

Options

Thread Display Mode




Thread Preview

Skip Thread Previews