How to compose functions that return Option[List] in Scala?

Question

Suppose I have two functions to get orders and order items:

def getOrders(): Option[List[Int]] = ...
def getOrderItems(orderId: Int): Option[List[Int]] = ...
         


        

Answer 1

You really want to be able to turn the middle two layers of Option[List[Option[List[Int]]]] inside out, so that you can get the options and lists next to each other. This operation is called sequencing, and it's provided by Scalaz:

import scalaz._, Scalaz._

val items: Option[List[Int]] =
  getOrders.flatMap(_.map(getOrderItems).sequence).map(_.flatten)

You could equivalently use traverse, which combines the map and sequence operations:

val items: Option[List[Int]] =
  getOrders.flatMap(_ traverse getOrderItems).map(_.flatten)

If you don't want to use Scalaz, you could write your own (less polymorphic) sequence:

def sequence[A](xs: List[Option[A]]) = xs.foldRight(Some(Nil): Option[List[A]]) {
  case (Some(h), Some(t)) => Some(h :: t)
  case _ => None
}

And then:

val items: Option[List[Int]] = getOrders.flatMap(
  orderIds => sequence(orderIds.map(getOrderItems))
).map(_.flatten)

The monad transformation solution is actually pretty straightforward as well (if you're willing to use Scalaz):

val items: Option[List[Int]] = (
  for {
    orderId <- ListT(getOrders)
    itemId  <- ListT(getOrderItems(orderId))
  } yield itemId
).underlying

The nice thing about this approach is that you don't have to think about where you need to flatten, sequence, etc.—the plain old monadic operations do exactly what you want.