How do I return the response from an asynchronous

Question

I have a function foo which makes an Ajax request. How can I return the response from foo?

I tried returning the value from the success callback as well as assigning the response to a local variable inside the function and returning that one, but none of those ways actually return the response.

function foo() {
    var result;

    $.ajax({
        url: '...',
        success: function(response) {
            result = response;
            // return response; // <- I tried that one as well
        }
    });

    return result;
}

var result = foo(); // It always ends up being `undefined`.

Answer 1

It's a very common issue we face while struggling with the 'mysteries' of JavaScript. Let me try demystifying this mystery today.

Let's start with a simple JavaScript function:

function foo(){
// do something 
 return 'wohoo';
}

let bar = foo(); // bar is 'wohoo' here

That's a simple synchronous function call (where each line of code is 'finished with its job' before the next one in sequence), and the result is same as expected.

Now let's add a bit of twist, by introducing little delay in our function, so that all lines of code are not 'finished' in sequence. Thus, it will emulate the asynchronous behavior of function :

function foo(){
 setTimeout( ()=>{
   return 'wohoo';
  }, 1000 )
}

let bar = foo() // bar is undefined here

So there you go, that delay just broke the functionality we expected! But what exactly happened ? Well, it's actually pretty logical if you look at the code. the function foo(), upon execution, returns nothing (thus returned value is undefined), but it does start a timer, which executes a function after 1s to return 'wohoo'. But as you can see, the value that's assigned to bar is the immediately returned stuff from foo(), not anything else that comes later.

So, how do we tackle this issue?

Let's ask our function for a PROMISE. Promise is really about what it means : it means that the function guarantees you to provide with any output it gets in future. so let's see it in action for our little problem above :

function foo(){
   return new Promise( (resolve, reject) => { // I want foo() to PROMISE me something
    setTimeout ( function(){ 
      // promise is RESOLVED , when execution reaches this line of code
       resolve('wohoo')// After 1 second, RESOLVE the promise with value 'wohoo'
    }, 1000 )
  })
}

let bar ; 
foo().then( res => {
 bar = res;
 console.log(bar) // will print 'wohoo'
});

Thus, the summary is - to tackle the asynchronous functions like ajax based calls etc., you can use a promise to resolve the value (which you intend to return). Thus, in short you resolve value instead of returning, in asynchronous functions.

UPDATE (Promises with async/await)

Apart from using then/catch to work with promises, there exists one more approach. The idea is to recognize an asynchronous function and then wait for the promises to resolve, before moving to the next line of code. It's still just the promises under the hood, but with a different syntactical approach. To make things clearer, you can find a comparison below:

then/catch version:

function saveUsers(){
     getUsers()
      .then(users => {
         saveSomewhere(users);
      })
      .catch(err => {
         throw err;
       })
     resolve(users);
 }

async/await version:

  async function fetchUsers(){
     try{
        let users = await getUsers()
        saveSomewhere(users);
     }
     catch(err){
        throw err;
     }
  }

Answer 2

→ For a more general explanation of async behaviour with different examples, please see Why is my variable unaltered after I modify it inside of a function? - Asynchronous code reference

→ If you already understand the problem, skip to the possible solutions below.

The problem

The A in Ajax stands for asynchronous . That means sending the request (or rather receiving the response) is taken out of the normal execution flow. In your example, $.ajax returns immediately and the next statement, return result;, is executed before the function you passed as success callback was even called.

Here is an analogy which hopefully makes the difference between synchronous and asynchronous flow clearer:

Synchronous

Imagine you make a phone call to a friend and ask him to look something up for you. Although it might take a while, you wait on the phone and stare into space, until your friend gives you the answer that you needed.

The same is happening when you make a function call containing "normal" code:

function findItem() {
    var item;
    while(item_not_found) {
        // search
    }
    return item;
}

var item = findItem();

// Do something with item
doSomethingElse();

Even though findItem might take a long time to execute, any code coming after var item = findItem(); has to wait until the function returns the result.

Asynchronous

You call your friend again for the same reason. But this time you tell him that you are in a hurry and he should call you back on your mobile phone. You hang up, leave the house and do whatever you planned to do. Once your friend calls you back, you are dealing with the information he gave to you.

That's exactly what's happening when you do an Ajax request.

findItem(function(item) {
    // Do something with item
});
doSomethingElse();

Instead of waiting for the response, the execution continues immediately and the statement after the Ajax call is executed. To get the response eventually, you provide a function to be called once the response was received, a callback (notice something? call back ?). Any statement coming after that call is executed before the callback is called.

---

Solution(s)

Embrace the asynchronous nature of JavaScript! While certain asynchronous operations provide synchronous counterparts (so does "Ajax"), it's generally discouraged to use them, especially in a browser context.

Why is it bad do you ask?

JavaScript runs in the UI thread of the browser and any long running process will lock the UI, making it unresponsive. Additionally, there is an upper limit on the execution time for JavaScript and the browser will ask the user whether to continue the execution or not.

All of this is really bad user experience. The user won't be able to tell whether everything is working fine or not. Furthermore, the effect will be worse for users with a slow connection.

In the following we will look at three different solutions that are all building on top of each other:

• Promises with async/await (ES2017+, available in older browsers if you use a transpiler or regenerator)
• Callbacks (popular in node)
• Promises with then() (ES2015+, available in older browsers if you use one of the many promise libraries)

All three are available in current browsers, and node 7+.

---

ES2017+: Promises with async/await

The ECMAScript version released in 2017 introduced syntax-level support for asynchronous functions. With the help of async and await, you can write asynchronous in a "synchronous style". The code is still asynchronous, but it's easier to read/understand.

async/await builds on top of promises: an async function always returns a promise. await "unwraps" a promise and either result in the value the promise was resolved with or throws an error if the promise was rejected.

Important: You can only use await inside an async function. Right now, top-level await isn't yet supported, so you might have to make an async IIFE (Immediately Invoked Function Expression) to start an async context.

You can read more about async and await on MDN.

Here is an example that builds on top of delay above:

// Using 'superagent' which will return a promise.
var superagent = require('superagent')

// This is isn't declared as `async` because it already returns a promise
function delay() {
  // `delay` returns a promise
  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
    // Only `delay` is able to resolve or reject the promise
    setTimeout(function() {
      resolve(42); // After 3 seconds, resolve the promise with value 42
    }, 3000);
  });
}


async function getAllBooks() {
  try {
    // GET a list of book IDs of the current user
    var bookIDs = await superagent.get('/user/books');
    // wait for 3 seconds (just for the sake of this example)
    await delay();
    // GET information about each book
    return await superagent.get('/books/ids='+JSON.stringify(bookIDs));
  } catch(error) {
    // If any of the awaited promises was rejected, this catch block
    // would catch the rejection reason
    return null;
  }
}

// Start an IIFE to use `await` at the top level
(async function(){
  let books = await getAllBooks();
  console.log(books);
})();

Current browser and node versions support async/await. You can also support older environments by transforming your code to ES5 with the help of regenerator (or tools that use regenerator, such as Babel).

---

Let functions accept callbacks

A callback is simply a function passed to another function. That other function can call the function passed whenever it is ready. In the context of an asynchronous process, the callback will be called whenever the asynchronous process is done. Usually, the result is passed to the callback.

In the example of the question, you can make foo accept a callback and use it as success callback. So this

var result = foo();
// Code that depends on 'result'

becomes

foo(function(result) {
    // Code that depends on 'result'
});

Here we defined the function "inline" but you can pass any function reference:

function myCallback(result) {
    // Code that depends on 'result'
}

foo(myCallback);

foo itself is defined as follows:

function foo(callback) {
    $.ajax({
        // ...
        success: callback
    });
}

callback will refer to the function we pass to foo when we call it and we simply pass it on to success. I.e. once the Ajax request is successful, $.ajax will call callback and pass the response to the callback (which can be referred to with result, since this is how we defined the callback).

You can also process the response before passing it to the callback:

function foo(callback) {
    $.ajax({
        // ...
        success: function(response) {
            // For example, filter the response
            callback(filtered_response);
        }
    });
}

It's easier to write code using callbacks than it may seem. After all, JavaScript in the browser is heavily event-driven (DOM events). Receiving the Ajax response is nothing else but an event.
Difficulties could arise when you have to work with third-party code, but most problems can be solved by just thinking through the application flow.

---

ES2015+: Promises with then()

The Promise API is a new feature of ECMAScript 6 (ES2015), but it has good browser support already. There are also many libraries which implement the standard Promises API and provide additional methods to ease the use and composition of asynchronous functions (e.g. bluebird).

Promises are containers for future values. When the promise receives the value (it is resolved) or when it is cancelled (rejected), it notifies all of its "listeners" who want to access this value.

The advantage over plain callbacks is that they allow you to decouple your code and they are easier to compose.

Here is a simple example of using a promise:

function delay() {
  // `delay` returns a promise
  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
    // Only `delay` is able to resolve or reject the promise
    setTimeout(function() {
      resolve(42); // After 3 seconds, resolve the promise with value 42
    }, 3000);
  });
}

delay()
  .then(function(v) { // `delay` returns a promise
    console.log(v); // Log the value once it is resolved
  })
  .catch(function(v) {
    // Or do something else if it is rejected 
    // (it would not happen in this example, since `reject` is not called).
  });

Applied to our Ajax call we could use promises like this:

function ajax(url) {
  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhr.onload = function() {
      resolve(this.responseText);
    };
    xhr.onerror = reject;
    xhr.open('GET', url);
    xhr.send();
  });
}

ajax("/echo/json")
  .then(function(result) {
    // Code depending on result
  })
  .catch(function() {
    // An error occurred
  });

Describing all the advantages that promise offer is beyond the scope of this answer, but if you write new code, you should seriously consider them. They provide a great abstraction and separation of your code.

More information about promises: HTML5 rocks - JavaScript Promises

Side note: jQuery's deferred objects

Deferred objects are jQuery's custom implementation of promises (before the Promise API was standardized). They behave almost like promises but expose a slightly different API.

Every Ajax method of jQuery already returns a "deferred object" (actually a promise of a deferred object) which you can just return from your function:

function ajax() {
    return $.ajax(...);
}

ajax().done(function(result) {
    // Code depending on result
}).fail(function() {
    // An error occurred
});

Side note: Promise gotchas

Keep in mind that promises and deferred objects are just containers for a future value, they are not the value itself. For example, suppose you had the following:

function checkPassword() {
    return $.ajax({
        url: '/password',
        data: {
            username: $('#username').val(),
            password: $('#password').val()
        },
        type: 'POST',
        dataType: 'json'
    });
}

if (checkPassword()) {
    // Tell the user they're logged in
}

This code misunderstands the above asynchrony issues. Specifically, $.ajax() doesn't freeze the code while it checks the '/password' page on your server - it sends a request to the server and while it waits, immediately returns a jQuery Ajax Deferred object, not the response from the server. That means the if statement is going to always get this Deferred object, treat it as true, and proceed as though the user is logged in. Not good.

But the fix is easy:

checkPassword()
.done(function(r) {
    if (r) {
        // Tell the user they're logged in
    } else {
        // Tell the user their password was bad
    }
})
.fail(function(x) {
    // Tell the user something bad happened
});

---

Not recommended: Synchronous "Ajax" calls

As I mentioned, some(!) asynchronous operations have synchronous counterparts. I don't advocate their use, but for completeness' sake, here is how you would perform a synchronous call:

Without jQuery

If you directly use a XMLHTTPRequest object, pass false as third argument to .open.

jQuery

If you use jQuery, you can set the async option to false. Note that this option is deprecated since jQuery 1.8. You can then either still use a success callback or access the responseText property of the jqXHR object:

function foo() {
    var jqXHR = $.ajax({
        //...
        async: false
    });
    return jqXHR.responseText;
}

If you use any other jQuery Ajax method, such as $.get, $.getJSON, etc., you have to change it to $.ajax (since you can only pass configuration parameters to $.ajax).

Heads up! It is not possible to make a synchronous JSONP request. JSONP by its very nature is always asynchronous (one more reason to not even consider this option).

Answer 3

The simplest solution is create a JavaScript function and call it for the Ajax success callback.

function callServerAsync(){
    $.ajax({
        url: '...',
        success: function(response) {

            successCallback(response);
        }
    });
}

function successCallback(responseObj){
    // Do something like read the response and show data
    alert(JSON.stringify(responseObj)); // Only applicable to JSON response
}

function foo(callback) {

    $.ajax({
        url: '...',
        success: function(response) {
           return callback(null, response);
        }
    });
}

var result = foo(function(err, result){
          if (!err)
           console.log(result);    
}); 

Answer 4

I will answer with a horrible-looking, hand-drawn comic. The second image is the reason why result is undefined in your code example.

Answer 5

Most of the answers here give useful suggestions for when you have a single async operation, but sometimes, this comes up when you need to do an asynchronous operation for each entry in an array or other list-like structure. The temptation is to do this:

// WRONG
var results = [];
theArray.forEach(function(entry) {
    doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
        results.push(result);
    });
});
console.log(results); // E.g., using them, returning them, etc.

Example:

// WRONG
var theArray = [1, 2, 3];
var results = [];
theArray.forEach(function(entry) {
    doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
        results.push(result);
    });
});
console.log("Results:", results); // E.g., using them, returning them, etc.

function doSomethingAsync(value, callback) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    setTimeout(function() {
        console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
        callback(value * 2);
    }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

The reason that doesn't work is that the callbacks from doSomethingAsync haven't run yet by the time you're trying to use the results.

So, if you have an array (or list of some kind) and want to do async operations for each entry, you have two options: Do the operations in parallel (overlapping), or in series (one after another in sequence).

Parallel

You can start all of them and keep track of how many callbacks you're expecting, and then use the results when you've gotten that many callbacks:

var results = [];
var expecting = theArray.length;
theArray.forEach(function(entry, index) {
    doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
        results[index] = result;
        if (--expecting === 0) {
            // Done!
            console.log("Results:", results); // E.g., using the results
        }
    });
});

Example:

var theArray = [1, 2, 3];
var results = [];
var expecting = theArray.length;
theArray.forEach(function(entry, index) {
    doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
        results[index] = result;
        if (--expecting === 0) {
            // Done!
            console.log("Results:", results); // E.g., using the results
        }
    });
});

function doSomethingAsync(value, callback) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    setTimeout(function() {
        console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
        callback(value * 2);
    }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

(We could do away with expecting and just use results.length === theArray.length, but that leaves us open to the possibility that theArray is changed while the calls are outstanding...)

Notice how we use the index from forEach to save the result in results in the same position as the entry it relates to, even if the results arrive out of order (since async calls don't necessarily complete in the order in which they were started).

But what if you need to return those results from a function? As the other answers have pointed out, you can't; you have to have your function accept and call a callback (or return a Promise). Here's a callback version:

function doSomethingWith(theArray, callback) {
    var results = [];
    var expecting = theArray.length;
    theArray.forEach(function(entry, index) {
        doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
            results[index] = result;
            if (--expecting === 0) {
                // Done!
                callback(results);
            }
        });
    });
}
doSomethingWith(theArray, function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

Example:

function doSomethingWith(theArray, callback) {
    var results = [];
    var expecting = theArray.length;
    theArray.forEach(function(entry, index) {
        doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
            results[index] = result;
            if (--expecting === 0) {
                // Done!
                callback(results);
            }
        });
    });
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3], function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value, callback) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    setTimeout(function() {
        console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
        callback(value * 2);
    }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

Or here's a version returning a Promise instead:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        var results = [];
        var expecting = theArray.length;
        theArray.forEach(function(entry, index) {
            doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
                results[index] = result;
                if (--expecting === 0) {
                    // Done!
                    resolve(results);
                }
            });
        });
    });
}
doSomethingWith(theArray).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

Of course, if doSomethingAsync passed us errors, we'd use reject to reject the promise when we got an error.)

Example:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        var results = [];
        var expecting = theArray.length;
        theArray.forEach(function(entry, index) {
            doSomethingAsync(entry, function(result) {
                results[index] = result;
                if (--expecting === 0) {
                    // Done!
                    resolve(results);
                }
            });
        });
    });
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3]).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value, callback) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    setTimeout(function() {
        console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
        callback(value * 2);
    }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

(Or alternately, you could make a wrapper for doSomethingAsync that returns a promise, and then do the below...)

If doSomethingAsync gives you a Promise, you can use Promise.all:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return Promise.all(theArray.map(function(entry) {
        return doSomethingAsync(entry);
    }));
}
doSomethingWith(theArray).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

If you know that doSomethingAsync will ignore a second and third argument, you can just pass it directly to map (map calls its callback with three arguments, but most people only use the first most of the time):

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return Promise.all(theArray.map(doSomethingAsync));
}
doSomethingWith(theArray).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

Example:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return Promise.all(theArray.map(doSomethingAsync));
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3]).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        setTimeout(function() {
            console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
            resolve(value * 2);
        }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
    });
}

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Note that Promise.all resolves its promise with an array of the results of all of the promises you give it when they are all resolved, or rejects its promise when the first of the promises you give it rejects.

Series

Suppose you don't want the operations to be in parallel? If you want to run them one after another, you need to wait for each operation to complete before you start the next. Here's an example of a function that does that and calls a callback with the result:

function doSomethingWith(theArray, callback) {
    var results = [];
    doOne(0);
    function doOne(index) {
        if (index < theArray.length) {
            doSomethingAsync(theArray[index], function(result) {
                results.push(result);
                doOne(index + 1);
            });
        } else {
            // Done!
            callback(results);
        }
    }
}
doSomethingWith(theArray, function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

(Since we're doing the work in series, we can just use results.push(result) since we know we won't get results out of order. In the above we could have used results[index] = result;, but in some of the following examples we don't have an index to use.)

Example:

function doSomethingWith(theArray, callback) {
    var results = [];
    doOne(0);
    function doOne(index) {
        if (index < theArray.length) {
            doSomethingAsync(theArray[index], function(result) {
                results.push(result);
                doOne(index + 1);
            });
        } else {
            // Done!
            callback(results);
        }
    }
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3], function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value, callback) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    setTimeout(function() {
        console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
        callback(value * 2);
    }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

(Or, again, build a wrapper for doSomethingAsync that gives you a promise and do the below...)

If doSomethingAsync gives you a Promise, if you can use ES2017+ syntax (perhaps with a transpiler like Babel), you can use an async function with for-of and await:

async function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    const results = [];
    for (const entry of theArray) {
        results.push(await doSomethingAsync(entry));
    }
    return results;
}
doSomethingWith(theArray).then(results => {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

Example:

async function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    const results = [];
    for (const entry of theArray) {
        results.push(await doSomethingAsync(entry));
    }
    return results;
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3]).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        setTimeout(function() {
            console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
            resolve(value * 2);
        }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
    });
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

If you can't use ES2017+ syntax (yet), you can use a variation on the "Promise reduce" pattern (this is more complex than the usual Promise reduce because we're not passing the result from one into the next, but instead gathering up their results in an array):

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return theArray.reduce(function(p, entry) {
        return p.then(function(results) {
            return doSomethingAsync(entry).then(function(result) {
                results.push(result);
                return results;
            });
        });
    }, Promise.resolve([]));
}
doSomethingWith(theArray).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

Example:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return theArray.reduce(function(p, entry) {
        return p.then(function(results) {
            return doSomethingAsync(entry).then(function(result) {
                results.push(result);
                return results;
            });
        });
    }, Promise.resolve([]));
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3]).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        setTimeout(function() {
            console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
            resolve(value * 2);
        }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
    });
}

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}

...which is less cumbersome with ES2015+ arrow functions:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return theArray.reduce((p, entry) => p.then(results => doSomethingAsync(entry).then(result => {
        results.push(result);
        return results;
    })), Promise.resolve([]));
}
doSomethingWith(theArray).then(results => {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

Example:

function doSomethingWith(theArray) {
    return theArray.reduce((p, entry) => p.then(results => doSomethingAsync(entry).then(result => {
        results.push(result);
        return results;
    })), Promise.resolve([]));
}
doSomethingWith([1, 2, 3]).then(function(results) {
    console.log("Results:", results);
});

function doSomethingAsync(value) {
    console.log("Starting async operation for " + value);
    return new Promise(function(resolve) {
        setTimeout(function() {
            console.log("Completing async operation for " + value);
            resolve(value * 2);
        }, Math.floor(Math.random() * 200));
    });
}

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  max-height: 100% !important;
}

Answer 6

Another approach to return a value from an asynchronous function, is to pass in an object that will store the result from the asynchronous function.

Here is an example of the same:

var async = require("async");

// This wires up result back to the caller
var result = {};
var asyncTasks = [];
asyncTasks.push(function(_callback){
    // some asynchronous operation
    $.ajax({
        url: '...',
        success: function(response) {
            result.response = response;
            _callback();
        }
    });
});

async.parallel(asyncTasks, function(){
    // result is available after performing asynchronous operation
    console.log(result)
    console.log('Done');
});

I am using the result object to store the value during the asynchronous operation. This allows the result be available even after the asynchronous job.

I use this approach a lot. I would be interested to know how well this approach works where wiring the result back through consecutive modules is involved.