Question

In above ajax call the object jData returns null .. but returns the object successfully if displayed with success:

var jData = null;

function x() {

$.ajax({
url : 'http://...",
success : function(data) {
    jData = data;
    alert(jData);   // displays the object
}


});
 return jData;  //returns null ??
};

Answer 1

$.ajax() is asynchronous. You have to work with jData directly in success callback

var jData = null;

function x() {
    $.ajax({
       url : "http://...",
       success : function(data) {
          jData = data;
          alert(jData);   // displays the object
          //do stuff here
       }    
    });
}