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

If you're using promises, this answer is for you.

This means AngularJS, jQuery (with deferred), native XHR's replacement (fetch), EmberJS, BackboneJS's save or any node library that returns promises.

Your code should be something along the lines of this:

function foo() {
    var data;
    // or $.get(...).then, or request(...).then, or query(...).then
    fetch("/echo/json").then(function(response){
        data = response.json();
    });
    return data;
}

var result = foo(); // result is always undefined no matter what.

Felix Kling did a fine job writing an answer for people using jQuery with callbacks for AJAX. I have an answer for native XHR. This answer is for generic usage of promises either on the frontend or backend.

---

The core issue

The JavaScript concurrency model in the browser and on the server with NodeJS/io.js is asynchronous and reactive.

Whenever you call a method that returns a promise, the then handlers are always executed asynchronously - that is, after the code below them that is not in a .then handler.

This means when you're returning data the then handler you've defined did not execute yet. This in turn means that the value you're returning has not been set to the correct value in time.

Here is a simple analogy for the issue:

    function getFive(){
        var data;
        setTimeout(function(){ // set a timer for one second in the future
           data = 5; // after a second, do this
        }, 1000);
        return data;
    }
    document.body.innerHTML = getFive(); // `undefined` here and not 5

The value of data is undefined since the data = 5 part has not executed yet. It will likely execute in a second but by that time it is irrelevant to the returned value.

Since the operation did not happen yet (AJAX, server call, IO, timer) you're returning the value before the request got the chance to tell your code what that value is.

One possible solution to this problem is to code re-actively , telling your program what to do when the calculation completed. Promises actively enable this by being temporal (time-sensitive) in nature.

Quick recap on promises

A Promise is a value over time. Promises have state, they start as pending with no value and can settle to:

• fulfilled meaning that the computation completed successfully.
• rejected meaning that the computation failed.

A promise can only change states once after which it will always stay at the same state forever. You can attach then handlers to promises to extract their value and handle errors. then handlers allow chaining of calls. Promises are created by using APIs that return them. For example, the more modern AJAX replacement fetch or jQuery's $.get return promises.

When we call .then on a promise and return something from it - we get a promise for the processed value. If we return another promise we'll get amazing things, but let's hold our horses.

With promises

Let's see how we can solve the above issue with promises. First, let's demonstrate our understanding of promise states from above by using the Promise constructor for creating a delay function:

function delay(ms){ // takes amount of milliseconds
    // returns a new promise
    return new Promise(function(resolve, reject){
        setTimeout(function(){ // when the time is up
            resolve(); // change the promise to the fulfilled state
        }, ms);
    });
}

Now, after we converted setTimeout to use promises, we can use then to make it count:

function delay(ms){ // takes amount of milliseconds
  // returns a new promise
  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject){
    setTimeout(function(){ // when the time is up
      resolve(); // change the promise to the fulfilled state
    }, ms);
  });
}

function getFive(){
  // we're RETURNING the promise, remember, a promise is a wrapper over our value
  return delay(100).then(function(){ // when the promise is ready
      return 5; // return the value 5, promises are all about return values
  })
}
// we _have_ to wrap it like this in the call site, we can't access the plain value
getFive().then(function(five){ 
   document.body.innerHTML = five;
});

Basically, instead of returning a value which we can't do because of the concurrency model - we're returning a wrapper for a value that we can unwrap with then. It's like a box you can open with then.

Applying this

This stands the same for your original API call, you can:

function foo() {
    // RETURN the promise
    return fetch("/echo/json").then(function(response){
        return response.json(); // process it inside the `then`
    });
}

foo().then(function(response){
    // access the value inside the `then`
})

So this works just as well. We've learned we can't return values from already asynchronous calls but we can use promises and chain them to perform processing. We now know how to return the response from an asynchronous call.

ES2015 (ES6)

ES6 introduces generators which are functions that can return in the middle and then resume the point they were at. This is typically useful for sequences, for example:

function* foo(){ // notice the star, this is ES6 so new browsers/node/io only
    yield 1;
    yield 2;
    while(true) yield 3;
}

Is a function that returns an iterator over the sequence 1,2,3,3,3,3,.... which can be iterated. While this is interesting on its own and opens room for a lot of possibility there is one particular interesting case.

If the sequence we're producing is a sequence of actions rather than numbers - we can pause the function whenever an action is yielded and wait for it before we resume the function. So instead of a sequence of numbers, we need a sequence of future values - that is: promises.

This somewhat tricky but very powerful trick lets us write asynchronous code in a synchronous manner. There are several "runners" that do this for you, writing one is a short few lines of code but is beyond the scope of this answer. I'll be using Bluebird's Promise.coroutine here, but there are other wrappers like co or Q.async.

var foo = coroutine(function*(){
    var data = yield fetch("/echo/json"); // notice the yield
    // code here only executes _after_ the request is done
    return data.json(); // data is defined
});

This method returns a promise itself, which we can consume from other coroutines. For example:

var main = coroutine(function*(){
   var bar = yield foo(); // wait our earlier coroutine, it returns a promise
   // server call done here, code below executes when done
   var baz = yield fetch("/api/users/"+bar.userid); // depends on foo's result
   console.log(baz); // runs after both requests done
});
main();

ES2016 (ES7)

In ES7, this is further standardized, there are several proposals right now but in all of them you can await promise. This is just "sugar" (nicer syntax) for the ES6 proposal above by adding the async and await keywords. Making the above example:

async function foo(){
    var data = await fetch("/echo/json"); // notice the await
    // code here only executes _after_ the request is done
    return data.json(); // data is defined
}

It still returns a promise just the same :)

Answer 2

The following example I have written shows how to

• Handle asynchronous HTTP calls;
• Wait for response from each API call;
• Use Promise pattern;
• Use Promise.all pattern to join multiple HTTP calls;

This working example is self-contained. It will define a simple request object that uses the window XMLHttpRequest object to make calls. It will define a simple function to wait for a bunch of promises to be completed.

Context. The example is querying the Spotify Web API endpoint in order to search for playlist objects for a given set of query strings:

[
 "search?type=playlist&q=%22doom%20metal%22",
 "search?type=playlist&q=Adele"
]

For each item, a new Promise will fire a block - ExecutionBlock, parse the result, schedule a new set of promises based on the result array, that is a list of Spotify user objects and execute the new HTTP call within the ExecutionProfileBlock asynchronously.

You can then see a nested Promise structure, that lets you spawn multiple and completely asynchronous nested HTTP calls, and join the results from each subset of calls through Promise.all.

NOTE Recent Spotify search APIs will require an access token to be specified in the request headers:

-H "Authorization: Bearer {your access token}" 

So, you to run the following example you need to put your access token in the request headers:

var spotifyAccessToken = "YourSpotifyAccessToken";
var console = {
    log: function(s) {
        document.getElementById("console").innerHTML += s + "<br/>"
    }
}

// Simple XMLHttpRequest
// based on https://davidwalsh.name/xmlhttprequest
SimpleRequest = {
    call: function(what, response) {
        var request;
        if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
            request = new XMLHttpRequest();
        } else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // Internet Explorer
            try {
                request = new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP');
            }
            catch (e) {
                try {
                  request = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP');
                } catch (e) {}
            }
        }

        // State changes
        request.onreadystatechange = function() {
            if (request.readyState === 4) { // Done
                if (request.status === 200) { // Complete
                    response(request.responseText)
                }
                else
                    response();
            }
        }
        request.open('GET', what, true);
        request.setRequestHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " + spotifyAccessToken);
        request.send(null);
    }
}

//PromiseAll
var promiseAll = function(items, block, done, fail) {
    var self = this;
    var promises = [],
                   index = 0;
    items.forEach(function(item) {
        promises.push(function(item, i) {
            return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
                if (block) {
                    block.apply(this, [item, index, resolve, reject]);
                }
            });
        }(item, ++index))
    });
    Promise.all(promises).then(function AcceptHandler(results) {
        if (done) done(results);
    }, function ErrorHandler(error) {
        if (fail) fail(error);
    });
}; //promiseAll

// LP: deferred execution block
var ExecutionBlock = function(item, index, resolve, reject) {
    var url = "https://api.spotify.com/v1/"
    url += item;
    console.log( url )
    SimpleRequest.call(url, function(result) {
        if (result) {

            var profileUrls = JSON.parse(result).playlists.items.map(function(item, index) {
                return item.owner.href;
            })
            resolve(profileUrls);
        }
        else {
            reject(new Error("call error"));
        }
    })
}

arr = [
    "search?type=playlist&q=%22doom%20metal%22",
    "search?type=playlist&q=Adele"
]

promiseAll(arr, function(item, index, resolve, reject) {
    console.log("Making request [" + index + "]")
    ExecutionBlock(item, index, resolve, reject);
}, function(results) { // Aggregated results

    console.log("All profiles received " + results.length);
    //console.log(JSON.stringify(results[0], null, 2));

    ///// promiseall again

    var ExecutionProfileBlock = function(item, index, resolve, reject) {
        SimpleRequest.call(item, function(result) {
            if (result) {
                var obj = JSON.parse(result);
                resolve({
                    name: obj.display_name,
                    followers: obj.followers.total,
                    url: obj.href
                });
            } //result
        })
    } //ExecutionProfileBlock

    promiseAll(results[0], function(item, index, resolve, reject) {
        //console.log("Making request [" + index + "] " + item)
        ExecutionProfileBlock(item, index, resolve, reject);
    }, function(results) { // aggregated results
        console.log("All response received " + results.length);
        console.log(JSON.stringify(results, null, 2));
    }

    , function(error) { // Error
        console.log(error);
    })

    /////

  },
  function(error) { // Error
      console.log(error);
  });

<div id="console" />

I have extensively discussed this solution here.

Answer 3

Js is a single threaded.

Browser can be divided into three parts:

1)Event Loop

2)Web API

3)Event Queue

Event Loop runs for forever i.e kind of infinite loop.Event Queue is where all your function are pushed on some event(example:click) this is one by one carried out of queue and put into Event loop which execute this function and prepares it self for next one after first one is executed.This means Execution of one function doesn't starts till the function before it in queue is executed in event loop.

Now let us think we pushed two functions in a queue one is for getting a data from server and another utilises that data.We pushed the serverRequest() function in queue first then utiliseData() function. serverRequest function goes in event loop and makes a call to server as we never know how much time it will take to get data from server so this process is expected to take time and so we busy our event loop thus hanging our page, that's where Web API come into role it take this function from event loop and deals with server making event loop free so that we can execute next function from queue.The next function in queue is utiliseData() which goes in loop but because of no data available it goes waste and execution of next function continues till end of the queue.(This is called Async calling i.e we can do something else till we get data)

Let suppose our serverRequest() function had a return statement in a code, when we get back data from server Web API will push it in queue at the end of queue. As it get pushed at end in queue we cannot utilise its data as there is no function left in our queue to utilise this data.Thus it is not possible to return something from Async Call.

Thus Solution to this is callback or promise.

A Image from one of the answers here, Correctly explains callback use... We give our function(function utilising data returned from server) to function calling server.

 function doAjax(callbackFunc, method, url) {
  var xmlHttpReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
  xmlHttpReq.open(method, url);
  xmlHttpReq.onreadystatechange = function() {

      if (xmlHttpReq.readyState == 4 && xmlHttpReq.status == 200) {
        callbackFunc(xmlHttpReq.responseText);
      }


  }
  xmlHttpReq.send(null);

}

In my Code it is called as

function loadMyJson(categoryValue){
  if(categoryValue==="veg")
  doAjax(print,"GET","http://localhost:3004/vegetables");
  else if(categoryValue==="fruits")
  doAjax(print,"GET","http://localhost:3004/fruits");
  else 
  console.log("Data not found");
}

Javscript.info callback

Answer 4

If you're not using jQuery in your code, this answer is for you

Your code should be something along the lines of this:

function foo() {
    var httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
    httpRequest.open('GET', "/echo/json");
    httpRequest.send();
    return httpRequest.responseText;
}

var result = foo(); // always ends up being 'undefined'

Felix Kling did a fine job writing an answer for people using jQuery for AJAX, I've decided to provide an alternative for people who aren't.

(Note, for those using the new fetch API, Angular or promises I've added another answer below)

---

What you're facing

This is a short summary of "Explanation of the problem" from the other answer, if you're not sure after reading this, read that.

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, .send returns immediately and the next statement, return result;, is executed before the function you passed as success callback was even called.

This means when you're returning, the listener you've defined did not execute yet, which means the value you're returning has not been defined.

Here is a simple analogy

function getFive(){ 
    var a;
    setTimeout(function(){
         a=5;
    },10);
    return a;
}

(Fiddle)

The value of a returned is undefined since the a=5 part has not executed yet. AJAX acts like this, you're returning the value before the server got the chance to tell your browser what that value is.

One possible solution to this problem is to code re-actively , telling your program what to do when the calculation completed.

function onComplete(a){ // When the code completes, do this
    alert(a);
}

function getFive(whenDone){ 
    var a;
    setTimeout(function(){
         a=5;
         whenDone(a);
    },10);
}

This is called CPS. Basically, we're passing getFive an action to perform when it completes, we're telling our code how to react when an event completes (like our AJAX call, or in this case the timeout).

Usage would be:

getFive(onComplete);

Which should alert "5" to the screen. (Fiddle).

Possible solutions

There are basically two ways how to solve this:

1. Make the AJAX call synchronous (lets call it SJAX).
2. Restructure your code to work properly with callbacks.

1. Synchronous AJAX - Don't do it!!

As for synchronous AJAX, don't do it! Felix's answer raises some compelling arguments about why it's a bad idea. To sum it up, it'll freeze the user's browser until the server returns the response and create a very bad user experience. Here is another short summary taken from MDN on why:

XMLHttpRequest supports both synchronous and asynchronous communications. In general, however, asynchronous requests should be preferred to synchronous requests for performance reasons.

In short, synchronous requests block the execution of code... ...this can cause serious issues...

If you have to do it, you can pass a flag: Here is how:

var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open('GET', 'yourURL', false);  // `false` makes the request synchronous
request.send(null);

if (request.status === 200) {// That's HTTP for 'ok'
  console.log(request.responseText);
}

2. Restructure code

Let your function accept a callback. In the example code foo can be made to accept a callback. We'll be telling our code how to react when foo completes.

So:

var result = foo();
// code that depends on `result` goes here

Becomes:

foo(function(result) {
    // code that depends on `result`
});

Here we passed an anonymous function, but we could just as easily pass a reference to an existing function, making it look like:

function myHandler(result) {
    // code that depends on `result`
}
foo(myHandler);

For more details on how this sort of callback design is done, check Felix's answer.

Now, let's define foo itself to act accordingly

function foo(callback) {
    var httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
    httpRequest.onload = function(){ // when the request is loaded
       callback(httpRequest.responseText);// we're calling our method
    };
    httpRequest.open('GET', "/echo/json");
    httpRequest.send();
}

(fiddle)

We have now made our foo function accept an action to run when the AJAX completes successfully, we can extend this further by checking if the response status is not 200 and acting accordingly (create a fail handler and such). Effectively solving our issue.

If you're still having a hard time understanding this read the AJAX getting started guide at MDN.

Answer 5

Another solution is to execute code via sequential executor nsynjs.

If underlying function is promisified

nsynjs will evaluate all promises sequentially, and put promise result into data property:

function synchronousCode() {

    var getURL = function(url) {
        return window.fetch(url).data.text().data;
    };
    
    var url = 'https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.0/jquery.min.js';
    console.log('received bytes:',getURL(url).length);
    
};

nsynjs.run(synchronousCode,{},function(){
    console.log('synchronousCode done');
});

<script src="https://rawgit.com/amaksr/nsynjs/master/nsynjs.js"></script>

If underlying function is not promisified

Step 1. Wrap function with callback into nsynjs-aware wrapper (if it has promisified version, you can skip this step):

var ajaxGet = function (ctx,url) {
    var res = {};
    var ex;
    $.ajax(url)
    .done(function (data) {
        res.data = data;
    })
    .fail(function(e) {
        ex = e;
    })
    .always(function() {
        ctx.resume(ex);
    });
    return res;
};
ajaxGet.nsynjsHasCallback = true;

Step 2. Put synchronous logic into function:

function process() {
    console.log('got data:', ajaxGet(nsynjsCtx, "data/file1.json").data);
}

Step 3. Run function in synchronous manner via nsynjs:

nsynjs.run(process,this,function () {
    console.log("synchronous function finished");
});

Nsynjs will evaluate all operators and expressions step-by-step, pausing execution in case if result of some slow function is not ready.

More examples here: https://github.com/amaksr/nsynjs/tree/master/examples

Answer 6

Here are some approaches to work with asynchronous requests:

1. Browser Promise object
2. Q - A promise library for JavaScript
3. A+ Promises.js
4. jQuery deferred
5. XMLHttpRequest API
6. Using callback concept - As implementation in first answer

Example: jQuery deferred implementation to work with multiple requests

var App = App || {};

App = {
    getDataFromServer: function(){

      var self = this,
                 deferred = $.Deferred(),
                 requests = [];

      requests.push($.getJSON('request/ajax/url/1'));
      requests.push($.getJSON('request/ajax/url/2'));

      $.when.apply(jQuery, requests).done(function(xhrResponse) {
        return deferred.resolve(xhrResponse.result);
      });
      return deferred;
    },

    init: function(){

        this.getDataFromServer().done(_.bind(function(resp1, resp2) {

           // Do the operations which you wanted to do when you
           // get a response from Ajax, for example, log response.
        }, this));
    }
};
App.init();