NodeBB Plugin - Changing a variable inside a function

JJSagan

Hi,

Started working on a plugin - but hit a bump

I am trying to change the value of a variable, as follows:

var user_data = { email: "N/A" };
User.getUserField(uid, 'email', function(err, email) {
    user_data.email=email;
    console.log(user_data.email);
}); 
console.log(user_data.email);

The first printout shows the correct email, but the second one reverts back to "N/A".
I did pass user_data "by reference", that is I did not change user_data itself but its content (email field).

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Thank you!
JJ.

PitaJ

@jjsagan the function User.getUserField is asynchronous, meaning that it doesn't execute in order with the rest of the code. It takes a callback function for that reason. What is really happening here is this:

User.getUserField gets called
Second console.log(user_data.email); gets executed
The callback function including the first console.log(user_data.email); gets executed

So you need to add anything that depends on changes you make inside the User.getUserField callback inside the callback.

JJSagan

Thank you, I always liked Christmas tree styling