call php script from javascript and get php script's output back in javascript

Let me clear you the problem.

The php script( say "geturl.php" )  is on the same server/host as javascript/html page. Moreover geturl.php is a simple php script which  takes a url and downoad its content parse it to get required string and then output it through echo.

Now I want to  call this geturl.php from javascript passing url as argument and want to get its output back in some javascript variable.

should i post the code??
 

Use an php-AJXA-Framework like http://www.xajaxproject.org

<?php
include './xajax/xajax_core/xajax.inc.php';

$xajax = new xajax();

$rqstAdd =& $xajax->register(XAJAX_FUNCTION, 'calc');

$xajax->processRequest();

function calc($a)
{
    $response = new xajaxResponse();
    $response->script('myvar=' . ($a+5));
    return $response;
}

HI glcummins,

thanx for ur help. That proved sufficient.
But I have this another problem while using the code from the tutorials.
plaese observe the code


---------------------------javascript code------------------------
<script type="text/javascript">

function setLatLong()
{
        if(output ==null)
        {alert("warning: place is :"+output); }
        else{
                alert("sending request for: "+output);
                geocoder.getLocations(output,setLatLongCallback);
        }
}

function setLatLongCallback(response)
{
                if (!response || response.Status.code != 200)
                {
                        alert("Sorry, Google was unable to find that place:"+ output);
                } else
                {
                        var feed = new google.feeds.Feed("http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_world_edition/front_page/rss.xml");
                        feed.setNumEntries(3);
                        feed.load(function(result)
                        {
                                if (!result.error)
                                {
                                        for (var i = 0; i < result.feed.entries.length; i++)
                                        {
                                                var entry = result.feed.entries[i];
                                                var attributes = ["title", "link", "publishedDate", "contentSnippet"];
                                                for (var j = 0; j < attributes.length; j++)
                                                {                                                      map.addOverlay(addNewsItem(output,response.Placemark[0].Point.coordinates[0],response.Placemark[0].Point.coordinates[1],entry["link"],entry["title"],entry["contentSnippet"],entry["publishedDate"]));
                                                }
                                        }
                                }
                        });

                }
}


function ajaxFunction()
{
        var ajaxRequest;
        try{
                // Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari
                ajaxRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
            } catch (e){
                // Internet Explorer Browsers
                        try{
                                ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
                        } catch (e) {
                                try{
                                        ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                                } catch (e){
                                        // Something went wrong
                                        alert("Your browser broke!");
                                        return false;
                                }
                }
        }


        // Create a function that will receive data sent from the server
        ajaxRequest.onreadystatechange = function(){
                if(ajaxRequest.readyState == 4){
                        output  = ajaxRequest.responseText;         <----------- stroring returned value
                        alert("Value returned is:"+output);                    
                }
        }
        ajaxRequest.open("GET", "http://www.cse.iitd.ac.in/~cs5030206/getHTlocation.php", true);
        ajaxRequest.send(null);

}






    ajaxFunction();                                                        <----------calling ajaxFunction here
    alert("value of output after ajaxfuncton: "+output);              <--------- printing value of var "output"
    setLatLong();                                                           <-------------- this function will use output value

-----------------------------Code Ends-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 this code works fine in explorer. but firefox has some problem.

The problem is that when i call "ajaxFunction" it seems the execution of main program(this script) does not halt or wait until ajaxFunction is returned and it continues with function "setLatLaong". so when i print the value of variable "output" it gives me "undefined". This is not the case with explorer 7.0.

Any suggestions why is this going this way????

sorry ......little more
When I run this in firefox first I will output --->

Value of after ajaxfunction : undefined
Warning: place is :undefined


then i get this line:
Value returned is: Patna                     <---------------this is the value correclty returned from the php script

thats is setLatLong function starts before ajaxFunction is returned.

crap..........it does not even work correcly in explorer........I mean execution order is arbit......sometime it does work .........other times it doesnt.
can i control the excution usig control statements i.e. wait while "output" variable is undefined and then excute setLatLong.