Transfer data to javascript array with mysql data request via php and $.ajax

Question

I have the following code for requesting data from a mysql database:

jquery/javascript:

ajaxGet = function (url) {
    var result = $.ajax({
        url:url,
        type:"POST",
        data:{action:'call_this'},
        dataType: 'json',
        success:function(data) {
      }
    });
    return  result;
}

php:

<?php 
if($_POST['action'] == 'call_this') {  
// call waypoint search
include ('link.php');

$sql="SELECT * FROM Waypoints"; //data in table Waypoints
$result = mysqli_query($link,$sql);

$wptdata=array();

while($line = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)){
    $wptdata[] = $line;
};

mysqli_close($link);
echo json_encode($wptdata);
};
?>

To get the data as a javascript array, I would like to be able to say something like this:

wpdata=ajaxGet('datacall.php');

Suggestions on how to get this to work? If I put alert(data[0].name) within the success function, it comes up with the right result, so the call to the database table is definitely working. But I can't seem to figure out how to get the array out of the $.ajax call.

Thanks for any help- have been searching through other questions, and just came seem to find a solution. I would like to keep the ajaxGet function if at all possible- once I get it working, I will be able to update it so that it is flexible as to what kind of data are called from the table.

Answer 1

The answer is no. You cannot do this is any way that is sane. Use callbacks/promises - that's the way to go!

function ajaxGet(url) {
    return $.ajax({
        url: url,
        type: "POST",
        data: {
            action: 'call_this'
        },
        dataType: 'json'
    });
}

ajaxGet().done(function(wpdata) {
    // use wpdata here
});