Javascript and Actionscript 3 [Setting a variable woes]

Question

Okay, so I'm trying to set a variable via a javascript method call. However this is not working. I googled and ended ip going back and trying swLiveConnect, but that's outdated and it turns out my way is now the way to do it. So here's my javascript function and actionscript. I have no idea what's going on, I bow before the more skilled actionscripters.

Actionscript

//==========================================================
function decide_proposal(e:Event):void {
//==========================================================
    var address1:String = form1.project_address.text + ", " + form1.project_city.text + ", " + form1.project_state.text + ", " + form1.project_zip.text;
    var distance:Number = ExternalInterface.call("showLocation(" + address1 + ")");

    var commit:String = e.currentTarget.name;
    if (form1.stories.value >= 2.5 || form1.wood_no.selected || form1.framed_sqft.value >= 5000 || form1.roof_slope.value < 3 || form1.civil.selected || form1.cmt.selected || form1.commercial.selected || form1.c.selected || distance >= 180 || form1.bore_holes1.value >= 4) {
      send_proposal(e);
    } else if (commit == "quote") {
      perform_calculations(distance);
    } else {
      send_proposal(e);
    }
}

Javascript

var geocoder;
var location1;


function initialize() {
    geocoder = new GClientGeocoder();
}
function showLocation(address) {
    var locations = 0;
    geocoder.getLocations(address, function (response) {
     if (!response || response.Status.code != 200)
     {
      alert("There was an error");
     }
     else
     {
      location1 = {lat: response.Placemark[0].Point.coordinates[1], lon: response.Placemark[0].Point.coordinates[0]};
     }
    });
    var glatlng1 = new GLatLng(location1.lat, location1.lon);
    var brenham = new GLatLng(30.152289,-96.384881);
    var college_station = new GLatLng(30.610584,-96.306002);
    var miledistance1 = glatlng1.distanceFrom(brenham);
    var miledistance2 = glatlng1.distanceFrom(college_station);

    if (miledistance1 <= miledistance2) {
     locations = (miledistance1 * .000621371192);
    } else {
     locations = (miledistance2 * .000621371192);
    }
    return locations;
}
window.onload=function() {initialize();}

I'm fairly certain it has something to do with return, but am not sure. At this point I have tried tracing what address is getting passed to the function, it is correct. I have traced what the distance is set to before and after the call. Before, NaN; after, 0. From Firebug I get the correct number. I just don't know.

Answer 1

Make sure you have allowScriptAccess="always" in the HTML object/embed code.

Answer 2

I'm not really sure about that but... give it a try:

function showLocation(address) {
    var locations = geocoder.getLocations(address, function (response) {
        if (!response || response.Status.code != 200)
        {
                alert("There was an error");
        }
        else
        {
                location1 = {lat: response.Placemark[0].Point.coordinates[1], lon: response.Placemark[0].Point.coordinates[0]};
                var glatlng1 = new GLatLng(location1.lat, location1.lon);
                var brenham = new GLatLng(30.152289,-96.384881);
                var college_station = new GLatLng(30.610584,-96.306002);
                var miledistance1 = glatlng1.distanceFrom(brenham);
                var miledistance2 = glatlng1.distanceFrom(college_station);

                if (miledistance1 <= miledistance2) {
                        return (miledistance1 * .000621371192);
                } else {
                        return (miledistance2 * .000621371192);
                }
        }
    });
    return locations;
}

Answer 3

The issue appears to be that geocoder.getLocations is not returning the return value of the function you passed to it. You could try using a closure:

function showLocation(address) {
    var retval
    geocoder.getLocations(address, function (response) {
                                       ... // don't use another 'var retval' here
                                       reval = ...
                                   }
    return retval
}

Answer 4

Okay the problem was simple. I was passing the parameters to the function incorrectly. Here's how you do it:

    var distance:Number = ExternalInterface.call("showLocation", address1);

Annnnd Bob's your uncle.