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POJavascript/jQuery - is it possible to encapsulate and return the result of an asynchronously executed function?
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copied!<p>I know this question has been asked many times in many different ways, but I am still having trouble identifying a good solution to the following problem. </p> <p>How can I wait for the callback of this asynchronously-executed inner function to complete prior to returning from the outer function? </p> <pre><code>function outer() { var result = false; var innerAsynch = function() { result = true; } setTimeout(innerAsynch, 1000); waitForInnerAsynch(); //blocking return result; //true } </code></pre> <p>1) I am well aware that this is bad practice for 99.999% of use cases, so please don't tell me that it shouldn't be done! </p> <p>2) Please feel free to completely restructure this code... my only requirement is that outer() returns something which blocks the browser until innerAsynch() is done and passes the following test:</p> <pre><code> if(outer()) { //1 second later.... yippee! } </code></pre> <p>Also I am using jQuery, but I would prefer not to use a plugin unless it really makes sense to do so. Thanks!</p> <p><strong>Update</strong></p> <p>I want to reiterate that my goal is to fully encapsulate the asynchronous execution within the synchronous call to outer() without arguments. </p> <p>In other words, this should work:</p> <pre><code><a href="something" onclick="return outer()">A very slow link</a> </code></pre> <p>Perhaps this is not actually possible, in which case I am fine using callbacks, but I want to develop a better understanding of why that is the case.</p>

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