Accessing elements using $$ or elements in webdriverio - webdriver-io

Question

I want to access web elements using the $$ or elements command using webdriverio. I know they return array of web elements but I am facing tough time accessing them, probably because I am new to webdriverio.
I tried the below code:
var webdriverio = require('webdriverio');
var options = {
desiredCapabilities: {
browserName: 'firefox',
},
};
var client = webdriverio.remote(options);
client
.init()
.url(some url)
.isExisting(selector).then(function(isExisting)) {
if(isExisting) {
var bText = this.$$('textarea[name="message_text]') // this code onwards it is not working
bText.then(function (res) {
console.log(res.length);
console.log(res);
res.value.forEach(function (elem) {
return this.click(elem.ELEMENT)
.setValue(elem.ELEMENT,'some text')
.keys('Enter')
})
})
In the above code, I can see the array res in console but the forEach loop doesn't seem to work. I want to perform click, setValue and keys('Enter') for each of the element present in this.$$('textarea[name="message_text"]') also not able to understand why the returned elements are in a form of JSON objects?
If anyone could guide me in right direction that would help!

Answer 1

Use 'client' instead of 'this' to select the elements.
var bText = client.$$('textarea[name="message_text]') // this code onwards it is not working
bText.then(function (res) {
console.log(res.length);
console.log(res);
See use of runner here -
https://github.com/webdriverio/webdriverio/issues/1043

Answer 2

#ChristianB's suggestion worked actually,since webdriverio's standalone app is built on top of webdriverjs whose methods return promises we need to resolve them properly.I was able to do this using map & Promise.all :
var bText = this.$$('textarea[name="message_text]')
bText.then(function (res) {
console.log(res.length);
console.log(res);
var promises = res.map(function (elem) {
return client
.elementIdClick(elem.ELEMENT)
.setValue(elem.selector,'some text')
.keys('Enter')
})
return Promise.all(promises)
})