Another use that I've been putting to good purpose is fetching data from multiple sources. In the example below, I'm fetching multiple, independent JSON schema objects used in an existing application for validation between a client and a REST server. In this case, I don't want the browser-side application to start loading data before it has all the schemas loaded. $.when.apply().then() is perfect for this. Thank to Raynos for pointers on using then(fn1, fn2) to monitor for error conditions.

fetch_sources = function (schema_urls) {
    var fetch_one = function (url) {
            return $.ajax({
                url: url,
                data: {},
                contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
                dataType: "json",
            });
        }
    return $.map(schema_urls, fetch_one);
}

var promises = fetch_sources(data['schemas']);
$.when.apply(null, promises).then(

function () {
    var schemas = $.map(arguments, function (a) {
        return a[0]
    });
    start_application(schemas);
}, function () {
    console.log("FAIL", this, arguments);
});     

这里是一个与ehynd的答案略有不同的AJAX缓存实现。

正如fortuneRice的后续问题所指出的，如果请求在其中一个返回之前执行，ehynd的实现实际上并不能阻止多个相同的请求。也就是说,

for (var i=0; i<3; i++) {
    getData("xxx");
}

如果“xxx”的结果之前没有被缓存过，很可能会导致3个AJAX请求。

这可以通过缓存请求的deferred而不是结果来解决:

var cache = {};

function getData( val ){

    // Return a promise from the cache (if available)
    // or create a new one (a jqXHR object) and store it in the cache.
    var promise = cache[val];
    if (!promise) {
        promise = $.ajax('/foo/', {
            data: { value: val },
            dataType: 'json'
        });
        cache[val] = promise;
    }
    return promise;
}

$.when(getData('foo')).then(function(resp){
    // do something with the response, which may
    // or may not have been retreived using an
    // XHR request.
});

1)使用它来确保回调的有序执行:

var step1 = new Deferred();
var step2 = new Deferred().done(function() { return step1 });
var step3 = new Deferred().done(function() { return step2 });

step1.done(function() { alert("Step 1") });
step2.done(function() { alert("Step 2") });
step3.done(function() { alert("All done") });
//now the 3 alerts will also be fired in order of 1,2,3
//no matter which Deferred gets resolved first.

step2.resolve();
step3.resolve();
step1.resolve();

2)用它来验证应用的状态:

var loggedIn = logUserInNow(); //deferred
var databaseReady = openDatabaseNow(); //deferred

jQuery.when(loggedIn, databaseReady).then(function() {
  //do something
});

另一个使用deferred来实现任何类型的计算(通常是一些性能密集型或长时间运行的任务)的缓存的例子:

var ResultsCache = function(computationFunction, cacheKeyGenerator) {
    this._cache = {};
    this._computationFunction = computationFunction;
    if (cacheKeyGenerator)
        this._cacheKeyGenerator = cacheKeyGenerator;
};

ResultsCache.prototype.compute = function() {
    // try to retrieve computation from cache
    var cacheKey = this._cacheKeyGenerator.apply(this, arguments);
    var promise = this._cache[cacheKey];

    // if not yet cached: start computation and store promise in cache 
    if (!promise) {
        var deferred = $.Deferred();
        promise = deferred.promise();
        this._cache[cacheKey] = promise;

        // perform the computation
        var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
        args.push(deferred.resolve);
        this._computationFunction.apply(null, args);
    }

    return promise;
};

// Default cache key generator (works with Booleans, Strings, Numbers and Dates)
// You will need to create your own key generator if you work with Arrays etc.
ResultsCache.prototype._cacheKeyGenerator = function(args) {
    return Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments).join("|");
};

下面是一个使用这个类来执行一些(模拟繁重的)计算的例子:

// The addingMachine will add two numbers
var addingMachine = new ResultsCache(function(a, b, resultHandler) {
    console.log("Performing computation: adding " + a + " and " + b);
    // simulate rather long calculation time by using a 1s timeout
    setTimeout(function() {
        var result = a + b;
        resultHandler(result);
    }, 1000);
});

addingMachine.compute(2, 4).then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

addingMachine.compute(1, 1).then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

// cached result will be used
addingMachine.compute(2, 4).then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

同样的底层缓存也可以用于缓存Ajax请求:

var ajaxCache = new ResultsCache(function(id, resultHandler) {
    console.log("Performing Ajax request for id '" + id + "'");
    $.getJSON('http://jsfiddle.net/echo/jsonp/?callback=?', {value: id}, function(data) {
        resultHandler(data.value);
    });
});

ajaxCache.compute("anID").then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

ajaxCache.compute("anotherID").then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

// cached result will be used
ajaxCache.compute("anID").then(function(result) {
    console.log("result: " + result);
});

您可以在这个jsFiddle中使用上述代码。

我只是在实际代码中使用了Deferred。在jQuery终端项目中，我有函数exec调用用户定义的命令(就像他进入并按下enter)，我添加了延迟到API和调用exec数组。是这样的:

terminal.exec('command').then(function() {
   terminal.echo('command finished');
});

or

terminal.exec(['command 1', 'command 2', 'command 3']).then(function() {
   terminal.echo('all commands finished');
});

命令可以运行异步代码，exec需要按顺序调用用户代码。我的第一个api使用暂停/恢复调用对，在新的api中，当用户返回承诺时，我调用那些自动。所以用户代码可以直接使用

return $.get('/some/url');

or

var d = new $.Deferred();
setTimeout(function() {
    d.resolve("Hello Deferred"); // resolve value will be echoed
}, 500);
return d.promise();

我使用这样的代码:

exec: function(command, silent, deferred) {
    var d;
    if ($.isArray(command)) {
        return $.when.apply($, $.map(command, function(command) {
            return self.exec(command, silent);
        }));
    }
    // both commands executed here (resume will call Term::exec)
    if (paused) {
        // delay command multiple time
        d = deferred || new $.Deferred();
        dalyed_commands.push([command, silent, d]);
        return d.promise();
    } else {
        // commands may return promise from user code
        // it will resolve exec promise when user promise
        // is resolved
        var ret = commands(command, silent, true, deferred);
        if (!ret) {
            if (deferred) {
                deferred.resolve(self);
                return deferred.promise();
            } else {
                d = new $.Deferred();
                ret = d.promise();
                ret.resolve();
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }
},

Dalyed_commands用于恢复函数，使用所有的Dalyed_commands再次调用exec。

和部分命令函数(我已经剥离了不相关的部分)

function commands(command, silent, exec, deferred) {

    var position = lines.length-1;
    // Call user interpreter function
    var result = interpreter.interpreter(command, self);
    // user code can return a promise
    if (result != undefined) {
        // new API - auto pause/resume when using promises
        self.pause();
        return $.when(result).then(function(result) {
            // don't echo result if user echo something
            if (result && position === lines.length-1) {
                display_object(result);
            }
            // resolve promise from exec. This will fire
            // code if used terminal::exec('command').then
            if (deferred) {
                deferred.resolve();
            }
            self.resume();
        });
    }
    // this is old API
    // if command call pause - wait until resume
    if (paused) {
        self.bind('resume.command', function() {
            // exec with resume/pause in user code
            if (deferred) {
                deferred.resolve();
            }
            self.unbind('resume.command');
        });
    } else {
        // this should not happen
        if (deferred) {
            deferred.resolve();
        }
    }
}

这是一个自我宣传的答案，但我花了几个月的时间研究这个问题，并在2012年旧金山jQuery大会上展示了结果。

这是一个免费视频的谈话:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juRtEEsHI9E