wait for a jquery ajax callback from calling function

Question

I have reviewed a lot of answers to this type of question and now I am confused as to the best way. Given the latest jquery, I am wanting to

1. Call an ajax function
2. do ajax processing (success or error) // works fine
3. on success or error return the status to the calling function for further processing

in the calling function (doAjax), how do I wait for a callback then complete the processing for success or error (in this case its on success clear a form, on error keep it as is)

Thx for any advice,

Art [EDIT] There was a typo as you guys spotted, call should have been doAnAjax not doAjax

$(function () {
    doAnAjax(Url, data, function (myRtn) {
        if (myRtn == "success") {
            resetForm($('#myForm'));
            resetForm($('form[name=addChlGrp]'));
        } else {
            $('.rtnMsg').html("Opps! Ajax Error");
        }
    });
});

function doAnAjax(newUrl, data) {
    $.ajax({
        url: newUrl,
        async: true,
        dataType: 'html',
        beforeSend: function () {
            $('.rtnMsg').html("<img src=_cssStyleImg_-A-loading.gif>");
        },
        type: "GET",
        data: data,
        cache: false,
        success: function (data, textStatus, xhr) {
            $('.rtnMsg').html(data);
            myRtnA = "Success"
            return myRtnA;
        },
        error: function (xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {
            $('.rtnMsg').html("opps: " + textStatus + " : " + errorThrown);
            myRtnA = "Error"
            return myRtnA;
        }
    });
}

Answer 1

You've got to use a callback function. Try this below:

$(function() {

   // I think doAjax should doAnAjax()
   // here you're passing callback
   // but you're not using it doAnAjax()

    doAnAjax(Url, data, function(myRtn) {
        if (myRtnV == "success") {
            resetForm($('#myForm'));
            resetForm($('form[name=addChlGrp]'));
        } else {
            $('.rtnMsg').html("Opps! Ajax Error");
        }
    });
});

// pass callback as third parameter to doAnAjax()

function doAnAjax(newUrl, data, callBack) {
    $.ajax({
        url: newUrl,
        async: true,
        dataType: 'html',
        beforeSend: function() {
            $('.rtnMsg').html("<img src=_cssStyleImg_-A-loading.gif>");
        },
        type: "GET",
        data: data,
        cache: false,
        success: function(data, textStatus, xhr) {
            $('.rtnMsg').html(data);
            myRtnA = "Success"
            return callBack( myRtnA );  // return callBack() with myRtna
        },
        error: function(xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {
            $('.rtnMsg').html("opps: " + textStatus + " : " + errorThrown);
            myRtnA = "Error"
            return callBack ( myRtnA ); // return callBack() with myRtna
        }
    });

Answer 2

As previously mentioned, using Callbacks.

function process(url, params, successCallback, errorCallback) {
    $.ajax({
        success : successCallback,
        error : errorCallback,
        data : params,
        url : url,
        type : 'POST',
        dataType : 'json'
    });
}

process(
    'http://www.google.co.uk', 
    { 
        param1 : 'a' 
    }, 
    function(resp) { 
        alert('Success');
    },
    function() {
        alert('Uh oh');
    }
);

You can then pass any function to process and it will be called on success/error.