Question

I’m trying to create an array of objects by reading in a json. This is the relevant code:

//president object consctructor
function president(a_presName, a_presDates, a_presNick, a_presImage) {
    this.presName=a_presName;
    this.presDates=a_presDates;
    this.presNick=a_presNick;
    this.presImage=a_presImage;
}


var myPres = new Array();

$(document).ready(function() {



    $.getJSON('Presidents.json', function(data) {


        $.each(data.presidents, function (i, item) {
            myPres[i]=new president(item.presName, item.presDates, item.presNick, item.PresImage);
        });

    });  //end getJSON
    document.write(myPres[1].presName);
}); //end doc ready

And this is the json:

{ "presidents": [ { "presName":"George Washington", "presDates":"1789-1797", "presNick":"Father of His Country", "presImage":"gwashington.gif" }, { "presName":"John Adams", "presDates":"1797-1801", "presNick":"Atlas of Independence", "presImage":"jadams.gif" }, { "presName":"Thomas Jefferson", "presDates":"1801-1809", "presNick":"Sage of Monticello", "presImage":"tjefferson.gif" }, { "presName":"James Madison", "presDates":"1809-1817", "presNick":"Father of the Constitution", "presImage":"jmadison.gif" }, { "presName":"James Monroe", "presDates":"1817-1825", "presNick":"Era-of-Good-Feeling President", "presImage":"jmonroe.gif" }, { "presName":"John Quincy Adams", "presDates":"1825-1829", "presNick":"Old Man Eloquent", "presImage":"jqadams.gif" }, { "presName":"Andrew Jackson", "presDates":"1829-1837", "presNick":"Old Hickory", "presImage":"ajackson.gif" }, { "presName":"Martin Van Buren", "presDates":"1837-1841", "presNick":"The Little Magician", "presImage":"mvanburen.gif" }, { "presName":"William Henry Harrison", "presDates":"1841", "presNick":"Old Tippecanoe", "presImage":"whharrison.gif" }, { "presName":"John Tyler", "presDates":"1841-1845", "presNick":"Accidental President", "presImage":"jtyler.gif" }, { "presName":"James Knox Polk", "presDates":"1845-1849", "presNick":"Young Hickory", "presImage":"jkpolk.gif" }, { "presName":"Zachary Taylor", "presDates":"1849-1850", "presNick":"Old Rough and Ready", "presImage":"ztaylor.gif" }, { "presName":"Millard Fillmore", "presDates":"1850-1853", "presNick":"The American Louis Philippe", "presImage":"mfillmore.gif" }, { "presName":"Franklin Pierce", "presDates":"1853-1857", "presNick":"Young Hickory of the Granite Hills", "presImage":"fpierce.gif" }, { "presName":"James Buchanan", "presDates":"1857-1861", "presNick":"Old Buck", "presImage":"jbuchanan.gif" }, { "presName":"Abraham Lincoln", "presDates":"1861-1865", "presNick":"Honest Abe", "presImage":"alincoln.gif" }, { "presName":"Andrew Johnson", "presDates":"1865-1869", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"ajohnson.gif" }, { "presName":"Ulysses Simpson Grant", "presDates":"1869-1877", "presNick":"Hero of Appomattox", "presImage":"usgrant.gif" }, { "presName":"Rutherford Birchard Hayes", "presDates":"1877-1881", "presNick":"Dark-Horse President", "presImage":"rbhayes.gif" }, { "presName":"James Abram Garfield", "presDates":"1881", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"jagarfield.gif" }, { "presName":"Chester Alan Arthur", "presDates":"1881-1885", "presNick":"The Gentleman Boss", "presImage":"caarthur.gif" }, { "presName":"Grover Cleveland", "presDates":"1885-1889", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"gcleveland.gif" }, { "presName":"Benjamin Harrison", "presDates":"1889-1893", "presNick":"Kid Gloves Harrison", "presImage":"bharrison.gif" }, { "presName":"Grover Cleveland", "presDates":"1893-1897", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"gcleveland.gif" }, { "presName":"William McKinley", "presDates":"1897-1901", "presNick":"Idol of Ohio", "presImage":"wmckinley.gif" }, { "presName":"Theodore Roosevelt", "presDates":"1901-1909", "presNick":"Trust-Buster", "presImage":"troosevelt.gif" }, { "presName":"William Howard Taft", "presDates":"1909-1913", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"whtaft.gif" }, { "presName":"Woodrow Wilson", "presDates":"1913-1921", "presNick":"Schoolmaster in Politics", "presImage":"wwilson.gif" }, { "presName":"Warren Gamaliel Harding", "presDates":"1921-1923", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"wgharding.gif" }, { "presName":"Calvin Coolidge", "presDates":"1923-1929", "presNick":"Silent Cal", "presImage":"ccoolidge.gif" }, { "presName":"Herbert Clark Hoover", "presDates":"1929-1933", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"hchoover.gif" }, { "presName":"Franklin Delano Roosevelt", "presDates":"1933-1945", "presNick":"FDR", "presImage":"fdroosevelt.gif" }, { "presName":"Harry S. Truman", "presDates":"1945-1953", "presNick":"Give 'Em Hell Harry", "presImage":"hstruman.gif" }, { "presName":"Dwight David Eisenhower", "presDates":"1953-1961", "presNick":"Ike", "presImage":"ddeisenhower.gif" }, { "presName":"John Fitzgerald Kennedy", "presDates":"1961-1963", "presNick":"JFK", "presImage":"jfkennedy.gif" }, { "presName":"Lyndon Baines Johnson", "presDates":"1963-1969", "presNick":"LBJ", "presImage":"lbjohnson.gif" }, { "presName":"Richard Milhous Nixon", "presDates":"1969-1974", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"rmnixon.gif" }, { "presName":"Gerald Rudolph Ford", "presDates":"1974-1977", "presNick":"Jerry", "presImage":"grford.gif" }, { "presName":"James Earl Carter Jr.", "presDates":"1977-1981", "presNick":"Jimmy", "presImage":"jecarter.gif" }, { "presName":"Ronald Wilson Reagan", "presDates":"1981-1989", "presNick":"The Gipper", "presImage":"rwreagan.gif" }, { "presName":"George Herbert Walker Bush", "presDates":"1989-1993", "presNick":"Poppy", "presImage":"ghwbush.gif" }, { "presName":"William Jefferson Clinton", "presDates":"1993-2001", "presNick":"Bill", "presImage":"wjclinton.gif" }, { "presName":"George Walker Bush", "presDates":"2001-2009", "presNick":"W", "presImage":"gwbush.gif" }, { "presName":"Barack Hussein Obama", "presDates":"2009-", "presNick":"None", "presImage":"bhobama.gif" } ] }

When I use the document.write to test it works fine if it’s placed right before }); //end getJSON, but if it’s place immediately after it is null. What am I missing?

Answer 1

Placing the document.write after //end getJSON means it will run before the JSON is retrieved.

The anonymous function you pass to .getJSON is called when the data comes back from the server. If you run the document.write after the //end getJSON it is called before the request comes back.