asked on

response from ajax call within a function

I have an ajax call within a function and when I return the result of the ajax call from the function it comes back undefined, what am I doing wrong here ?

	function get_applications(){
		var application_list = "";
		
		$.ajax({
			url: '../ajax/some_file.php',
			contentType: false,
			processData: false,
			type: 'POST',
			success: function(data){
				application_list = data;
			//	console.log(data);
			},
			error: function() { 
			//	console.log('NOT updated'); 
			}			
		});
		return application_list;
	}

Open in new window

Scott Fell

Open your browser, hit the f12 key to get to dev tools and view the network tab. Now run the the page and look for some_file.php. Click on that and you can view what is being posted to the page and what is being returned.

If you are not sure how to do that, then create a test environment for us and post a link to your test page using fake data.

impressionexpress

ASKER

If I reactivate line 11 in my code above, I get the result Im looking for in the console. so the link to the php script is working. I need to get the value that im getting on line 11 (the data variable) and return it from the get_applications() function if I return at line 11, I get undefined.

impressionexpress

ASKER

Maybe you can suggest a better way to do this

Step 1: Get The current contents of a div (html included)
Step 2: Do the ajax call and get the results from the php script
Step 3: append the results of step 2 to the results of step 1

This is why I created the ajax call within a function, also because eventually I will have to pass some arguments

I also want to count the instances of a class from step 1 and compare with the results of step 2

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

impressionexpress

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Scott Fell

ok, it was a scope issue. In your original code, you just needed to return the variable in the success function.

Glad you have it figured out.