Question

I am having a problem with the following Jquery code:

function isAuthorised() {
  $.post("Action/Controller")', function (data) {
    return data;
  });
}

I have tested the return value from my MVC controller and that is fine. But when I check the authorisation with the following:

function onLoad() {
  var result = isAuthorised();
  alert(result); // undefined
  if (!result) 
    // redirect
}

the returned value is undefined. I have seen a similar post here and think this may be a problem with encapsulation, but the difference being that I need to return the value that is retrieved from JQuery.post().

Edit: Ok, I don’t want to do the redirect inside the callback, so I am now attempting to return the value by using .Ajax and setting Async to false. I am now returning [Object object] with the code below. Could someone explain the difference now I am setting async to false and help me return the value?

var request = $.ajax({
        url: 'Action/Controller',
        type: 'post',
        async: false
      });

      var result = request.done(function (data) {
        return data;
      });
      alert(result); // [Object object]

Answer 1

You should check the dataType parameter for the jQuery ajax call. Depending on the return value you want to have, it might be a good practice to explicitly set the dataType (xml, json, text, …)

If you are giving back a json, it will be converted into a JavaScript object. From your alert I’m assuming that to be the case.

Try this mod for getting a string back:

var request = $.ajax({
    url: 'Action/Controller',
    type: 'post',
    dataType: 'text',
    async: false
});

alert(request.responseText); // [now it will be outputted as text]

In a sync ajax call request will be filled to be an object, so you have to use one of it’s properties to extract the data.