Question

I know questions about loading XML into a JS variable have been posted here many times, but I didn’t find a solution that would work. In my script I declare a variable before an ajax request, and then add the result to the variable. This works only if I add alert to the script:

var myDB;
$.ajax({
    type: 'GET',
    url: 'db.xml',
    dataType: 'xml',
    success: function (xml){
        myDB = xml;
    }
});

alert(myDB); //returns: undefined

$(myDB).find('item').each(function (){
    var question = $(this).find('question').text();
    alert(question);
});

The above code works only with the alert. When I delete the alert, the code doesn’t work. How can I make this work without the alert?

Answer 1

An ajax request is asynchronous. That means, the function you gave in the success option is excuted somwhen later.

After you’ve started the request, you’re variable is still empty. Only if you wait long enough to confirm the blocking alert, the variable will have been loaded.

You will need to add the iteration to the success function, where the xml data is certainly available.