global variable value is lost when exiting function that defines it

Question

I've written a piece of javascript/jquery that reads a textfile.
I'm having trouble with the variable "fieldname". I declared it in the outer function(), and I assign a value to it in the inner function() that actually reads the file. But right after I leave the inner function, the content of the variable is lost. The code:

<script>
    $(document).ready(function(){

        var usedlanguage = $("#usedlanguage").html();
        var fieldname = new Array();

        $.get('Language.txt', function(data)
        {
            var lines = data.split('\n');

            var res="";

            for(var i = 0; i<lines.length;i++)
            {
                var splitup = lines[i].split('\t');

                fieldname[i] = splitup[0];
                res = res + fieldname[i] + '\n';
            }

            alert("fieldname length = " + fieldname.length); // here everything is OK
            alert("" + res);                                //this is good.

        });

        alert("fieldname length = " + fieldname.length);    // here it suddenly returns 0.

 }); 
</script>

Is there something wrong with my understanding of scopes? Or is it a problem that there are two function() defined? Or something else?

Thanks, I didn't know it had anything to do with Ajax stuff. Diving into it right know. — blubbiedevis, Sep 03 '14 at 13:44

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '14 at 13:35

0

You need to declare the variable outside DOM ready event to make it global. currently its context remains only in ready event and not beyond that. Use it in this way::

var fieldname = new Array();
$(document).ready(function(){
  //rest code
});

answered Sep 03 '14 at 13:35

Milind Anantwar

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This does not fix it. – blubbiedevis Sep 03 '14 at 13:41
@blubbiedevis: have you removed the declaration from inside of dom ready. – Milind Anantwar Sep 03 '14 at 13:44
yes, it's certainly removed from inside the ready event. I'm reading into the "duplicate" thread right know, it seems a complicated situation. – blubbiedevis Sep 03 '14 at 13:47

global variable value is lost when exiting function that defines it

1 Answers1