fix: don't run participant status check until a game is initialized

a stupid hardcoded timeout hack was the only measure in place for this
previously

client/src/api/study/request.ts

@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ export class StudyAPI {
   constructor(public store: TStore, public ajax: AjaxRequest) {}
 
   async getProlificParticipantStatus(): Promise<ProlificParticipantStatus> {
-    return this.ajax.get(url("/study/prolific/status"), ({ data }) => {
+    return this.ajax.get(url("/study/prolific/status"), ({ data, status }) => {
+      if (status !== 200) {
+        return null;
+      }
       return data;
     });
   }

client/src/views/ProlificStudy.vue

@@ -120,10 +120,9 @@ export default class ProlificStudy extends Vue {
       this.api.room = await this.$client.create(SOLO_ROOM_NAME, { type });
       applySoloGameServerResponses(this.api.room, this);
       this.started = true;
-      setTimeout(() => {
-        // wait a bit for the room to be initialized
+      this.api.room.onMessage("ready", () => {
         this.fetchProlificParticipantStatus();
-      }, 3 * 1000);
+      });
     } catch (err) {
       console.log("Error creating game room");
       console.error(err);
@@ -132,7 +131,10 @@ export default class ProlificStudy extends Vue {
 
   async fetchProlificParticipantStatus() {
     this.statusLoading = true;
-    this.participantStatus = await this.studyApi.getProlificParticipantStatus();
+    const status = await this.studyApi.getProlificParticipantStatus();
+    if (status) {
+      this.participantStatus = status;
+    }
     this.statusLoading = false;
   }
 

server/src/rooms/sologame/commands.ts

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ export class InitGameCmd extends Cmd<{ user: User }> {
       new SetGameParamsCmd(),
       new PersistGameCmd(),
       new SetFirstRoundCmd(),
+      new BroadcastReadyCmd(),
     ];
   }
 }
@@ -120,6 +121,12 @@ export class SetFirstRoundCmd extends CmdWithoutPayload {
   }
 }
 
+export class BroadcastReadyCmd extends CmdWithoutPayload {
+  execute() {
+    this.room.broadcast("ready", { kind: "ready" });
+  }
+}
+
 export class SendHiddenParamsCmd extends CmdWithoutPayload {
   execute() {
     const data: any = {};

server/src/services/study.ts

@@ -54,6 +54,15 @@ export class StudyService extends BaseService {
     ];
     let currentStep = 1;
 
+    // fail nicely if one of the games hasn't been initialized yet
+    if (soloPlayers.some(p => !p.game)) {
+      throw new ServerError({
+        code: 202,
+        message: "Game not yet initialized",
+        displayMessage: "Game not yet initialized",
+      });
+    }
+
     const hasPlayedBaseline = !!soloPlayers.find(p => p.game.type === "prolificBaseline");
     const hasPlayedVariable = !!soloPlayers.find(p => p.game.type === "prolificVariable");
     if (hasPlayedVariable) {