TypeError: You provided an invalid object where a stream was expected. You can provide an Observable, Promise, Array, or Iterable

Question

I am trying to map from a service call but getting an error. Looked at subscribe is not defined in angular 2? and it said that in order to subscribe we need to

Answer 1

You will get the following error message too when you provide undefined or so to an operator which expects an Observable, eg. takeUntil.

TypeError: You provided an invalid object where a stream was expected. You can provide an Observable, Promise, Array, or Iterable 

Answer 2

I wrote this because I arrive here searching for the same error, and this could be useful for someone in the future.

I get the same error while trying to initialize a service variable from its constructor making a call to a remote API trough http.get and .subscribe()

After many tests without understanding what the problem was, i finally get it: My application had authentication and an HttpInterceptor, and i was trying to initialize the service calling a public API method using http.get(...) without 'No-Auth' headers. I added them like here, and problem solved for me:

getData() {
var reqHeader = new HttpHeaders({ 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-urlencoded','No-Auth':'True' });    
return this.http.get(environment.urlApi.Literales, { headers: reqHeader });  
}

What a headache :(

Answer 3

In my case the error occurred only during e2e tests. It was caused by throwError in my AuthenticationInterceptor.

I imported it from a wrong source because I used WebStorm's import feature. I am using RxJS 6.2.

Wrong:

import { throwError } from 'rxjs/internal/observable/throwError';

Correct:

import { throwError } from 'rxjs';

Here the full code of the interceptor:

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
import { HttpErrorResponse, HttpEvent, HttpHandler, HttpInterceptor, HttpRequest } from '@angular/common/http';
import { Observable, throwError } from 'rxjs';
import { catchError } from 'rxjs/operators';

@Injectable()
export class AuthenticationInterceptor implements HttpInterceptor {

  intercept(req: HttpRequest<any>, next: HttpHandler): Observable<HttpEvent<any>> {
    const reqWithCredentials = req.clone({withCredentials: true});
    return next.handle(reqWithCredentials)
     .pipe(
        catchError(error => {
          if (error.status === 401 || error.status === 403) {
            // handle error
          }
          return throwError(error);
        })
     );
  }
}

Answer 4

I was forgetting to return the other observable in pipe(switchMap(

this.dataService.getPerson(personId).pipe(
  switchMap(person => {
     //this.dataService.getCompany(person.companyId); // return missing
     return this.dataService.getCompany(person.companyId);
  })
)

Answer 5

I'm not sure if this will help anyone, but in my case further up my chain I was using distinctUntilChanged and an exception inside a function there was manifesting with this error message.

Answer 6

A hint for anyone experiencing this. This can happen when a switchMap doesn't receive an observable return value (like null). Simply add a default case, so it always returns an observable.

        switchMap((dateRange) => {
          if (dateRange === 'Last 24 hours') {
            return $observable1;
          }
          if (dateRange === 'Last 7 Days') {
            return $observable2;
          }
          if (dateRange === 'Last 30 Days') {
            return $observable3;
          }
          // This line will work for default cases
          return $observableElse;
        })