[jquery] How do I make jQuery wait for an Ajax call to finish before it returns?

I have a server side function that requires login. If the user is logged in the function will return 1 on success. If not, the function will return the login-page.

I want to call the function using Ajax and jQuery. What I do is submit the request with an ordinary link, with a click-function applied on it. If the user is not logged in or the function fails, I want the Ajax-call to return true, so that the href triggers.

However, when I use the following code, the function exits before the Ajax call is done.

How can I redirect the user gracefully to the loginpage?

$(".my_link").click(
    function(){
    $.ajax({
        url: $(this).attr('href'),
        type: 'GET',
        cache: false,
        timeout: 30000,
        error: function(){
            return true;
        },
        success: function(msg){ 
            if (parseFloat(msg)){
                return false;
            } else {
                return true;
            }
        }
    });
});

It should wait until get request completed. After that I'll return get request body from where function is called.

function foo() {
    var jqXHR = $.ajax({
        url: url,
        type: 'GET',
        async: false,
    });
    return JSON.parse(jqXHR.responseText);  
}

In modern JS you can simply use async/await, like:

  async function upload() {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        $.ajax({
            url: $(this).attr('href'),
            type: 'GET',
            timeout: 30000,
            success: (response) => {
                resolve(response);
            },
            error: (response) => {
                reject(response);
            }
        })
    })
}

Then call it in an async function like:

let response = await upload();

I am not using $.ajax but the $.post and $.get functions, so if I need to wait for the response, I use this:

$.ajaxSetup({async: false});
$.get("...");

since async ajax is deprecated try using nested async functions with a Promise. There may be syntax errors.

async function fetch_my_data(_url, _dat) {

   async function promised_fetch(_url, _dat) {

      return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
         $.ajax({
            url:  _url,
            data: _dat,
            type: 'POST',
            success: (response) => {
               resolve(JSON.parse(response));
            },
            error: (response) => {
               reject(response);
            }
         });
      });
   }

   var _data = await promised_fetch(_url, _dat);
   
   return _data;
}

var _my_data = fetch_my_data('server.php', 'get_my_data=1');

Instead of setting async to false which is usually bad design, you may want to consider blocking the UI while the operation is pending.

This can be nicely achieved with jQuery promises as follows:

// same as $.ajax but settings can have a maskUI property
// if settings.maskUI==true, the UI will be blocked while ajax in progress
// if settings.maskUI is other than true, it's value will be used as the color value while bloking (i.e settings.maskUI='rgba(176,176,176,0.7)'
// in addition an hourglass is displayed while ajax in progress
function ajaxMaskUI(settings) {
    function maskPageOn(color) { // color can be ie. 'rgba(176,176,176,0.7)' or 'transparent'
        var div = $('#maskPageDiv');
        if (div.length === 0) {
            $(document.body).append('<div id="maskPageDiv" style="position:fixed;width:100%;height:100%;left:0;top:0;display:none"></div>'); // create it
            div = $('#maskPageDiv');
        }
        if (div.length !== 0) {
            div[0].style.zIndex = 2147483647;
            div[0].style.backgroundColor=color;
            div[0].style.display = 'inline';
        }
    }
    function maskPageOff() {
        var div = $('#maskPageDiv');
        if (div.length !== 0) {
            div[0].style.display = 'none';
            div[0].style.zIndex = 'auto';
        }
    }
    function hourglassOn() {
        if ($('style:contains("html.hourGlass")').length < 1) $('<style>').text('html.hourGlass, html.hourGlass * { cursor: wait !important; }').appendTo('head');
        $('html').addClass('hourGlass');
    }
    function hourglassOff() {
        $('html').removeClass('hourGlass');
    }

    if (settings.maskUI===true) settings.maskUI='transparent';

    if (!!settings.maskUI) {
        maskPageOn(settings.maskUI);
        hourglassOn();
    }

    var dfd = new $.Deferred();
    $.ajax(settings)
        .fail(function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
            if (!!settings.maskUI) {
                maskPageOff();
                hourglassOff();
            }
            dfd.reject(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown);
        }).done(function(data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
            if (!!settings.maskUI) {
                maskPageOff();
                hourglassOff();
            }
            dfd.resolve(data, textStatus, jqXHR);
        });

    return dfd.promise();
}

with this you can now do:

ajaxMaskUI({
    url: url,
    maskUI: true // or try for example 'rgba(176,176,176,0.7)'
}).fail(function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
    console.log('error ' + textStatus);
}).done(function (data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
    console.log('success ' + JSON.stringify(data));
});

And the UI will block until the ajax command returns

see jsfiddle

I think things would be easier if you code your success function to load the appropriate page instead of returning true or false.

For example instead of returning true you could do:

window.location="appropriate page";

That way when the success function is called the page gets redirected.

Since I don't see it mentioned here I thought I'd also point out that the jQuery when statement can be very useful for this purpose.

Their example looks like this:

$.when( $.ajax( "test.aspx" ) ).then(function( data, textStatus, jqXHR ) {
  alert( jqXHR.status ); // Alerts 200
});

The "then" part won't execute until the "when" part finishes.

The underlying XMLHttpRequest object (used by jQuery to make the request) supports the asynchronous property. Set it to false. Like

async: false