how to access async return externally

Question

im new to javascript and struggling with the concepts, how do i access the return value of the async function outside of it, i have tried a .then method but it only returns undefined... this is my code, i want to assign the result to the contractNumber variable outside of the async function so i can pass it to another function and also console.log the result externally... im coming over from learning python so im super confused

const inquirer = require('inquirer')


async function getContract() {
    await inquirer.prompt({
        type: 'input',
        name: 'retrieveContract',
        message: "Enter contract adress: ",
    })
    .then(answer => {
        console.log(`Targetting: ${answer.retrieveContract}`);
        results = answer.retrieveContract
        return results
    }); 
}

getContract()

contractNumber = results

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 19 '22 at 01:55

2

    const inquirer = require('inquirer')

    async function getContract() {
        const result = await inquirer.prompt({
            type: 'input',
            name: 'retrieveContract',
            message: "Enter contract adress: "
        })

        console.log(`Targetting: ${result.retrieveContract}`);
        return result.retrieveContract;
    }

    contractNumber = await getContract();

answered May 19 '22 at 01:55

Doo9104

43
1
8

SyntaxError: await is only valid in async functions and the top level bodies of modules – Elusive_DODO May 19 '22 at 02:01
To use await, its executing context needs to be async in nature. – Doo9104 May 19 '22 at 02:08

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 19 '22 at 01:54

To understand what's happening, await waits for the promise of inquirer.prompt to resolve into a return value, that you can then work with. There is no need for a .then clause, to work with the returned value.

There are two solutions:

Use await, and simply continue writing your logic. (My preferred solution since its cleaner and more intuitive)

    async function getContract() {
        const answer = await inquirer.prompt({
            type: 'input',
            name: 'retrieveContract',
            message: "Enter contract adress: ",
        })
    
            console.log(`Targetting: ${answer.retrieveContract}`);
            results = answer.retrieveContract
            return results
     
    }

Use .then, and pass in the callback function on .then

    async function getContract() {
        inquirer.prompt({
            type: 'input',
            name: 'retrieveContract',
            message: "Enter contract adress: ",
        }).then(answer => {
            console.log(`Targetting: ${answer.retrieveContract}`);
           results = answer.retrieveContract
           return results
         }); 
    }

but how do i assign the result to a variable outside of the async so that i can use it in another function? — Elusive_DODO, May 19 '22 at 02:03
if you return the value inside the async function, you can call it in another function using await again. For example, const contract = await getContract() — Arky Asmal, May 19 '22 at 02:16

how to access async return externally

2 Answers2