JavaScript doesn't seem to wait for return values

Question

I\'ve been struggling with this for a while now. I\'m new to Javascript, and have been under the impression that the code I\'ve been writing has been running asynchronously.

Answer 1

You seem to have a good understanding of the problem, but it sounds like you aren't familiar with the way to solve it. The most common way to address this is by using a callback. This is basically the async way to wait for a return value. Here's how you could use it in your case:

function initialize() {
    //Geocode Address to obtin Lat and Long coordinates for the starting point of our map
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
    geocode(geocoder, function(results) {
        // This function gets called by the geocode function on success
        makeMap(results[0].geometry.location.lat(), results[0].geometry.location.lng());        
    });
}

function geocode(geocoder, callback) {
    //do geocoding here...

    var address = "3630 University Street, Montreal, QC, Canada";
    geocoder.geocode({ 'address': address }, function (results, status) {
        if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
            // Call the callback function instead of returning
            callback(results);
        } else {
            alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
        }
   });

}

...