Question

I have the code:

  country: (origin) ->
    @geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder
    @geocoder.geocode(
        'latLng': origin,
        (results, status) => 
            if status is google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK
              return results[6]
            else alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
    )

I am calling it in backbone.js as:

test = @country(origin)
console.log(test)

As a test I am using the console.log. However I am getting an:

undefined

response, as the country function is not returning anything. I know that results[6] has data in it, as I can do a conolse.log there and it returns.

How can I make the country function return result[6] when called?

Answer 1

I don’t know that API, per se, but it looks like it’s asynchronous, which means you cannot get the function to return the value. Instead, you’ll have to pass in a continuation function that deals with the result when it becomes available.

country: (origin, handleResult) ->
    @geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder
    @geocoder.geocode(
        'latLng': origin,
        (results, status) => 
            if status is google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK
              handleResult(results[6])
            else alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
    )

To use this, simply craft a function that knows what to do with the result and pass it to the country function:

obj.country origin, (result) ->
    alert 'Got #{result} from Google'