Question

I need to load in some prices from a file (the server doesn’t have a database set up):

PriceChicken:2.16
PriceRibs:1.84
PriceBrisket:14.00
PricePulledPork:12.00
PriceSides:5.00

The javascript block like this:

var price = {
    "PriceChicken": "1",
    "PriceRibs": "1",
    "PriceBrisket": "1",
    "PricePulledPork": "1",
    "PriceSides": "1"
};

function loadVars(){
    console.log(price["PriceChicken"]);
    $.get("price.txt", function(data){
        dataarray = data.split("\n");
        for(i = 0;i < dataarray.length; i++){
            var line = dataarray[i].split(":");
            console.log(price[line[0]]);
            price[line[0]] = line[1];
            console.log(price[line[0]]);
        }
    });
    console.log(price["PriceChicken"]);
}
loadVars();

Unfortunately the function inside of the $.get part can’t seem to see the global price variable.
So for the first item it shows: 1, undeclared, 2.16, and then 1 again when it leaves the $.get function.
Is there a better way to get the global variable to work, or a better way to pull this information in?

Edit: I was stupid and didn’t check all my vars. As my penance I’m going to do it the right way and learn to use JSON.

Answer 1

The $.get call is asynchronous. You are treating it as a synchronous call.

The line console.log(price["PriceChicken"]); is called before the file is processed.

Better to use JSON format.

prices.json

{
    "PriceChicken" : 2.16,
    "PriceRibs" : 1.84,
    "PriceBrisket" : 14.00,
    "PricePulledPork" : 12.00,
    "PriceSides" : 5.00
}

JavaScript

var price = {};

$.getJSON("prices.json", function(data){ 
    $.extend(price,data); 
});