I have a java script file that is referencing another javascript file that contains a class using
const Champion = require("./championgg_webscraper_cheerio.js");
I then try to instantiate an object of the class Champion by
var temp = new Champion("hello");
console.log(temp);
And when I do it prints this to the console indicating and undefined variable:
Champion {}
Also when i try to print out the properties of the class I get undefined, I think it might not have access to the most_frequent_completed_build variable.
console.log(temp.most_frequent_completed_build);
Here is a look at the championgg_webscraper_cheerio.js file
function Champion(champName) {
//CHEERIO webscraping
var cheerio = require('cheerio');
//REQUEST http library
var request = require('request');
//url of the champion
var url = "http://champion.gg/champion/Camille/Top?";
var most_frequent_completed_build;
var highest_win_percentage_completed_build;
request(url,
function(error, response, html) {
if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) {
var $ = cheerio.load(html);
var final_build_items = $(".build-wrapper a");
var mfcb = [];
var hwpcb = [];
for (i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
var temp = final_build_items.get(i);
temp = temp.attribs.href;
//slices <'http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/> off the href
temp = temp.slice(38);
mfcb.push(temp);
}
for (i = 6; i < 12; i++) {
var temp = final_build_items.get(i);
temp = temp.attribs.href;
//slices <'http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/> off the href
temp = temp.slice(38);
hwpcb.push(temp);
}
most_frequent_completed_build = mfcb;
highest_win_percentage_completed_build = hwpcb;
} else {
console.log("Response Error: " + response.statusCode);
}
}
);
};
module.exports = Champion;
I think you want a Function constructor named Champion (a prototype or blue-print like classes in other programming languages like Java).
As an alternative I would suggest you to learn ES6 way of writing classes which is similar to that of Java.
You can achieve that by adding all the variables or methods to the this variable inside the Function Constructor so that you can access them using an object created using the 'new' keyword i.e make them Class members or methods.
In your case,
function Champion(champName) {
//Some code
this.most_frequent_completed_build = NULL;
//Rest of code
}
module.exports = Champion;
Just make sure whenever you try to access Class variables always use this.variable_name like this.most_frequent_completed_build.
So when you create a new object of this Class in main app you will be able to access all Class members and methods.
const Champion = require("./championgg_webscraper_cheerio.js");
var temp = new Champion("hello");
console.log(temp.most_frequent_completed_build);
You are exporting a function
All you have to do is call that function like
var temp = Champion();
You can read more about new keyword here and here
function Champion(champName) {
//CHEERIO webscraping
var cheerio = require('cheerio');
//REQUEST http library
var request = require('request');
//url of the champion
var url = "http://champion.gg/champion/Camille/Top?";
var most_frequent_completed_build;
var highest_win_percentage_completed_build;
request(url,
function(error, response, html) {
if (!error && response.statusCode == 200) {
var $ = cheerio.load(html);
var final_build_items = $(".build-wrapper a");
var mfcb = [];
var hwpcb = [];
for (i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
var temp = final_build_items.get(i);
temp = temp.attribs.href;
//slices <'http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/> off the href
temp = temp.slice(38);
mfcb.push(temp);
}
for (i = 6; i < 12; i++) {
var temp = final_build_items.get(i);
temp = temp.attribs.href;
//slices <'http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/> off the href
temp = temp.slice(38);
hwpcb.push(temp);
}
most_frequent_completed_build = mfcb;
highest_win_percentage_completed_build = hwpcb;
} else {
console.log("Response Error: " + response.statusCode);
}
}
);
return {most_frequent_completed_build:most_frequent_completed_build};
};
module.exports = Champion;
var temp = new Champion("hello");
console.log(temp.most_frequent_completed_build);
I have a script that uses AJAX/PHP/SQL to query data and pushes it into an array with a bunch of IF's statements. The changeData function is called every 6 seconds. The first query I return I have 6 arrays. The second time i send a request, my push array(IsVacant1) is double and went to 12. after a while, I have over 500 arrays going into my .each statement.
How do I 'clear' this every time I make a request so that I am not adding arrays? Any help is most appreciated.
function changeData() {
isPaused = true;
var mydata0 = null;
$.post('php/ProductionChange.php', {
'WC': cc
}, function(data) { // This is Where I use an AJAX call into a php file.
mydata0 = data; // This takes the array from the call and puts it into a variable
var pa = JSON.parse(mydata0); // This parses the data into arrays and elements
var temp = {};
var bayData = '';
if (pa != null) {
for (var i = 0; i <= pa.length - 1; i++) {
var job = pa[i][0];
var shipdate = pa[i][1];
var status = pa[i][2];
var name = pa[i][3];
var EnclLoc = pa[i][13];
var Enclsize = pa[i][14];
var backpan = pa[i][15];
var percentCom = pa[i][16];
var IsVisible = pa[i][17];
var png = pa[i][18];
var WorkC = pa[i][20];
baydata = 'bayData' + i + '';
temp = {
job, shipdate, name, EnclLoc, Enclsize, backpan, percentCom, IsVisible, png, WorkC, status
};
isVacant1.push({
baydata: temp
});
}
} else {
ii = 1;
//alert("There are no more job numbers in this bay location. Thank you. ");
}
$.each(isVacant1, function(key, value) {
var job = value.baydata.job;
var ship = value.baydata.shipdate;
var name = value.baydata.name;
var encl = value.baydata.EnclLoc;
var EnclSize = value.baydata.EnclLoc;
var percentCom = value.baydata.percentCom;
var backpan = value.baydata.backpan;
var PngLogo = value.baydata.png;
var IsVisible = value.baydata.IsVisible;
var WorkC = value.baydata.WorkC;
var status = value.baydata.status;
var p = WorkC;
WorkC = (WorkC < 10) ? ("0" + WorkC) : WorkC;
//// remember if the encl location matches the workcell cell then do stuff based on that....... hint encl image not hiding becase of duplicate 17s
if (((encl == p) || (backpan == p)) && job != 123) {
$('#WC' + p).show();
document.getElementById("bayData" + p).innerHTML = name + ' ' + ship; // Work Cell Name and Ship Date
document.getElementById("bayData" + p + "a").innerHTML = job; // Work cell Job Number
document.getElementById("percentCom" + p).innerHTML = percentCom + '%'; // Work Cell Percent Complete
} else {
$('#WC' + p).hide();
From your question it looks like you want to clear the isVacant1 array.
In your ajax callback just put isVacant1 = []; as the first line. Like this
function(data) { // This is Where I use an AJAX call into a php file.
isVacant1 = [];
mydata0 = data; // This takes the array from the call and puts it into a variable
var pa = JSON.parse(mydata0); // This parses the data into arrays and elements
var temp = {};
var bayData = '';
..................
From your code it's not clear how you are declaring/initializing isVacant1 so i have suggested isVacant1 = [] otherwise you can also use isVacant1.length = 0.
You can also take a look here How do I empty an array in JavaScript?
I am attempting to create a web scraper (in node.js) that will pull down information from a site, and write it to a file. I have it built to correctly work for one page, but when I try to use the function in a for loop, to iterate through multiple games, I get bad data in all of the games.
I understand that this is related to Javascript's asynchronous nature, and I have read about callback functions, but I'm not sure I understand how to apply it to my code. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated:
for(x = 4648; x < 4650; x++){ //iterate over a few gameIDs, used in URL for request
scrapeGame(x);
}
function scrapeGame(gameId){
//request from URL, scrape HTML to arrays as necessary
//write final array to file
}
Essentially, what I am looking to do, is within the for loop, tell it to WAIT to finish the scrapeGame(x) function before incrementing x and running it for the next game -- otherwise, the arrays start to overwrite each other and the data becomes a huge mess.
EDIT: I've now included the full code which I am attempting to run! I'm getting errors when looking in the files after they are written. For example, the first file is 8kb, second is ~16, 3rd is ~32, etc. It seems things aren't getting cleared before running the next game.
Idea of the program is to pull Jeopardy questions/answers from the archive site in order to eventually build a quiz app for myself.
//Iterate over arbitrary number of games, scrape each
for(x = 4648; x < 4650; x++){
scrapeGame(x, function(scrapeResult) {
if(scrapeResult){
console.log('Scrape Successful');
} else {
console.log('Scrape ERROR');
}
});
}
function scrapeGame(gameId, callback){
var request = require('request');
cheerio = require('cheerio');
fs = require('fs');
categories = [];
categorylist = [];
ids = [];
clues = [];
values = ['0','$200','$400','$600','$800','$1000','$400','$800','$1200','$1600','$2000'];
valuelist = [];
answers = [];
array = [];
file = [];
status = false;
var showGameURL = 'http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=' + gameId;
var showAnswerURL = 'http://www.j-archive.com/showgameresponses.php?game_id=' + gameId;
request(showGameURL, function(err, resp, body){
if(!err && resp.statusCode === 200){
var $ = cheerio.load(body);
//add a row to categories to avoid starting at 0
categories.push('Category List');
//pull all categories to use for later
$('td.category_name').each(function(){
var category = $(this).text();
categories.push(category);
});
//pull all clue IDs (coordinates), store to 1d array
//pull any id that has "stuck" in the string, to prevent duplicates
$("[id*='stuck']").each(function(){
var id = $(this).attr('id');
id = id.toString();
id = id.substring(0, id.length - 6);
ids.push(id);
//if single J, pick category 1-6
if (id.indexOf("_J_") !== -1){
var catid = id.charAt(7);
categorylist.push(categories[catid]);
var valId = id.charAt(9);
valuelist.push(values[valId]);
}
//if double J, pick category 7-12
else if (id.indexOf("_DJ_") !== -1){
var catid = parseInt(id.charAt(8)) + 6;
categorylist.push(categories[catid]);
var valId = parseInt(id.charAt(10)) + 5;
valuelist.push(values[valId]);
}
//if final J, pick category 13
else {
categorylist.push(categories[13]);
}
});
//pull all clue texts, store to 1d array
$('td.clue_text').each(function(){
var clue = $(this).text();
clues.push(clue);
});
//push pulled values to big array
array.push(ids);
array.push(categorylist);
array.push(valuelist);
array.push(clues);
//new request to different URL to pull responses
request(showAnswerURL, function(err, resp, body){
if(!err && resp.statusCode === 200){
var $ = cheerio.load(body);
$('.correct_response').each(function(){
var answer = $(this).text();
answers.push(answer);
});
//push answers to big array
array.push(answers);
//combine arrays into 1-d array to prep for writing to file
for(var i = 0; i < array[0].length; i++){
var print = array[0][i] + "|" + array[1][i] + "|" + array[2][i] + "|" + array[3][i] + "|" + array[4][i];
var stringPrint = print.toString();
file.push(stringPrint);
}
//update string, add newlines, etc.
var stringFile = JSON.stringify(file);
stringFile = stringFile.split('\\').join('');
stringFile = stringFile.split('","').join('\n');
//write to file, eventually will append to end of one big file
fs.writeFile('J_GAME_' + gameId +'.txt', stringFile, function(err) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
console.log("Game #" + gameId + " has been scraped.");
status = true;
}
});
}
});
}
});
//clear arrays used
valuelist = [];
answers = [];
categories = [];
categorylist = [];
ids = [];
clues = [];
array = [];
file = [];
//feed callback status
callback(status);
}
// Iterate over a few gameIDs, used in URL for request.
for (x = 4648; x < 4650; x++) {
// Pass in the callback as an anonymous function.
// So below I am passing in the id and the function I want to execute.
// AND, defining the results I am expecting as passed in arguments.
scrapeGame(x, function(scrapeResult, err) {
// This will *NOT* execute *UNTIL* you call it in the function below.
// That means that the for loop's execution is halted.
// This function receives the status that is passed in,
// in this case, a boolean true/false and an error if any.
if (scrapeResult) {
// Scrape was true, nothing to do.
// The for loop will now move on to the next iteration.
console.log('Scrape Successful');
} else {
// Scrape was false, output error to console.log and
// break loop to handle error.
console.log('Scrape ERROR :: ' + err);
// Notice we are calling break while in the
// scope of the callback function
// Remove the break if you want to just move onto
// the next game ID and not stop the loop
break;
}
});
}
// This function now accepts two arguments.
function scrapeGame(gameId, callback) {
// ************************************************
// ** Do Your Work Here **
// Request from URL, scrape HTML to arrays as necessary.
// Write final array to file.
// After file creation, execute the callback and pass bool
// status (true/false).
// ************************************************
var request = require('request'),
cheerio = require('cheerio'),
fs = require('fs'),
categories = [],
categorylist = [],
ids = [],
clues = [],
values = [
'0',
'$200',
'$400',
'$600',
'$800',
'$1000',
'$400',
'$800',
'$1200',
'$1600',
'$2000'
],
valuelist = [],
answers = [],
array = [],
file = [],
showGameURL = 'http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=' + gameId,
showAnswerURL = 'http://www.j-archive.com/showgameresponses.php?game_id=' + gameId;
request(showGameURL, function(err, resp, body) {
if (!err && resp.statusCode === 200) {
var $ = cheerio.load(body);
//add a row to categories to avoid starting at 0
categories.push('Category List');
//pull all categories to use for later
$('td.category_name').each(function() {
var category = $(this).text();
categories.push(category);
});
//pull all clue IDs (coordinates), store to 1d array
//pull any id that has "stuck" in the string, to prevent duplicates
$("[id*='stuck']").each(function() {
var id = $(this).attr('id');
id = id.toString();
id = id.substring(0, id.length - 6);
ids.push(id);
//if single J, pick category 1-6
if (id.indexOf("_J_") !== -1) {
var catid = id.charAt(7);
categorylist.push(categories[catid]);
var valId = id.charAt(9);
valuelist.push(values[valId]);
}
//if double J, pick category 7-12
else if (id.indexOf("_DJ_") !== -1) {
var catid = parseInt(id.charAt(8)) + 6;
categorylist.push(categories[catid]);
var valId = parseInt(id.charAt(10)) + 5;
valuelist.push(values[valId]);
}
//if final J, pick category 13
else {
categorylist.push(categories[13]);
}
});
//pull all clue texts, store to 1d array
$('td.clue_text').each(function() {
var clue = $(this).text();
clues.push(clue);
});
//push pulled values to big array
array.push(ids);
array.push(categorylist);
array.push(valuelist);
array.push(clues);
//new request to different URL to pull responses
request(showAnswerURL, function(err, resp, body) {
if (!err && resp.statusCode === 200) {
var $ = cheerio.load(body);
$('.correct_response').each(function() {
var answer = $(this).text();
answers.push(answer);
});
//push answers to big array
array.push(answers);
//combine arrays into 1-d array to prep for writing to file
for (var i = 0; i < array[0].length; i++) {
var print = array[0][i] + "|" + array[1][i] + "|" + array[2][i] + "|" + array[3][i] + "|" + array[4][i];
var stringPrint = print.toString();
file.push(stringPrint);
}
//update string, add newlines, etc.
var stringFile = JSON.stringify(file);
stringFile = stringFile.split('\\').join('');
stringFile = stringFile.split('","').join('\n');
//write to file, eventually will append to end of one big file
fs.writeFile('J_GAME_' + gameId + '.txt', stringFile, function(err) {
//clear arrays used
valuelist = [];
answers = [];
categories = [];
categorylist = [];
ids = [];
clues = [];
array = [];
file = [];
if (err) {
// ******************************************
// Callback false with error.
callback(false, err);
// ******************************************
} else {
console.log("Game #" + gameId + " has been scraped.");
// ******************************************
// Callback true with no error.
callback(true);
// ******************************************
}
});
}
});
}
});
}
My assumption is that you want them to be scraped one after one, not in parallel. So, for loop won't help. The following approach should do the trick:
var x = 4648;
var myFunc = scrapeGame(x, function cb(){
if(x >= 4650){
return;
}
x++;
return myFunc(x, cb);
});
function scrapeGame(gameId){
//request from URL, scrape HTML to arrays as necessary
//write final array to file
}
For nested async function, where you want them be executed in serial manner, you should just forget about for loop.
An example of correct request handling with http client:
function scrapeGame(gameId, cb){
//your code and set options
http.request(options, function(response){
var result = "";
response.on('data', function (chunk) {
result += chunk;
});
response.on('end',function(){
//write data here;
//do the callback
cb();
});
});
}
I solved the ROOT cause of the issue that I was seeing, though I do believe without the callback assistance from red above, I would have been just as lost.
Turns out the data was processing correctly, but the file write was scrambling. Turns out that there is a different method to call instead of writeFile or appendFile:
fs.appendFileSync();
Calling the Synchronous version processed the writes to the file IN THE ORDER they got appended to the file, instead of just going for it. This, in addition to the callback help above, solved the issue.
Thanks to everyone for the assistance!
For my project I have a server.js that calls a helper function place-search.js as shown below.
var express = require('express');
var server = express.Router();
var placeSearch = require("./helpers/place-search");
var obj = "hello";
server.use(function(req, res, next) {
console.log(req.method, req.url);
next();
});
server.post('/', function(req, res) {
/* get the object passed by the client's post request */
obj = req.body;
//console.log("Obj: " + obj);
/* send the confirmation back to the client */
res.status(200).send("body");
placeSearch.placeSearch(obj);
});
module.exports.server = server;
Here is my place-search.js :
var config = require("./config.js");
var Promise = require('bluebird');
var DistanceMatrix = require("./distance-matrix.js");
var GooglePlaces = Promise.promisifyAll(require("googleplaces"));
var googlePlaces = new GooglePlaces(config.apiKey, config.outputFormat);
var extract = require('./extract.js');
var combination = require('./combination_ver2.js');
var permutation = require('./permutation.js');
function placeSearch(obj) {
console.log("Inside place search!");
/**
* Place search - https://developers.google.com/places/documentation/#PlaceSearchRequests
*/
var arr = [];
var count = 0;
var rad = obj["radius"];
console.log("radius: " + rad);
var loc = obj["location"];
console.log("Location: " + loc);
var mode = obj["mode"];
var params = obj["params"];
/* client's keywords */
var arr;
var ar = [];
for (var i = 0; i < params; i++) {
arr[i] = obj[i];
console.log(arr[i]);
var param = {
location: loc,
radius: rad,
mode: mode,
keyword: arr[i]
};
ar.push(param);
}
console.log("before promises");
var promises = ar.map(function(name) {
return googlePlaces.placeSearch(name, function(response) {
arr.push(response);
console.log(response);
console.log(count++);
//If all responses have been returned
//Find combos and pass to distance-matrix
if (count == ar.length) {
var Matrix = new Array();
var result = new Array();
//to extract only lat and lng from arr.results
//Matrix = extract.extract(arr);
result = combination.combination(arr);
// NOW RESULT IS THE ARRAY OF ALL COMBINATION
// NOW RESULT IS THE ARRAY OF COMBINATIONS OF latlng pairs AND PASS IT TO FRONTEND
/*result.forEach(function(combo, index) {
console.log("combo" + combo)
DistanceMatrix.distanceMatrix(mode, combo, result.length);
});*/
// IF YOU WANT TO SEE PERMUTATION
//permutation.permutation(result);
console.log("combination results: " + result);
}
})
});
}
module.exports.placeSearch = placeSearch;
My problem is I do not know how to pass the result variable back to the server.js so that I can use that result as an input for another helper function. I can not for the life of me figure out how to do this. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I don't see your placeSearch function returning anything at all right now, nor doing any kind of callback. Your placeSearch function should expose a callback parameter, which then gets called once you have the answer you want to send back.
Your server file will then take action on that callback. Abbreviating your code, it'd look something like this:
server.post('/', function(req, res) {
/* get the object passed by the client's post request */
obj = req.body;
//console.log("Obj: " + obj);
placeSearch.placeSearch(obj, function(error, data){
/* send the data back to the client */
res.status(200).send(data);
});
});
To support that, your placeSearch function will have to call its callback when appropriate:
function placeSearch(obj, callback){
/* all the stuff you do to assemble your data */
// if (there_is_some_error):
if(err) return cb(err);
// when you have all your data available, no error has occurred
return cb(null, data);
}
Something else you might notice is that your ar.map won't work as you seem to expect. ar.map is a synchronous function, you're calling async code inside... not gonna work the way you think. It's a bit long for this post, but you should look at the async library from npm to manage an array of asynchronous requests to collect one combined result.
use callback your code looks like this:
function placeSearch(obj,callback) {
console.log("Inside place search!");
/**
* Place search - https://developers.google.com/places/documentation/#PlaceSearchRequests
*/
var arr = [];
var count = 0;
var rad = obj["radius"];
console.log("radius: " + rad);
var loc = obj["location"];
console.log("Location: " + loc);
var mode = obj["mode"];
var params = obj["params"];
/* client's keywords */
var arr;
var ar = [];
for (var i = 0; i < params; i++) {
arr[i] = obj[i];
console.log(arr[i]);
var param = {
location: loc,
radius: rad,
mode: mode,
keyword: arr[i]
};
ar.push(param);
}
console.log("before promises");
var promises = ar.map(function(name) {
return googlePlaces.placeSearch(name, function(response) {
arr.push(response);
console.log(response);
console.log(count++);
//If all responses have been returned
//Find combos and pass to distance-matrix
if (count == ar.length) {
var Matrix = new Array();
var result = new Array();
//to extract only lat and lng from arr.results
//Matrix = extract.extract(arr);
result = combination.combination(arr);
// NOW RESULT IS THE ARRAY OF ALL COMBINATION
// NOW RESULT IS THE ARRAY OF COMBINATIONS OF latlng pairs AND PASS IT TO FRONTEND
/*result.forEach(function(combo, index) {
console.log("combo" + combo)
DistanceMatrix.distanceMatrix(mode, combo, result.length);
});*/
// IF YOU WANT TO SEE PERMUTATION
//permutation.permutation(result);
console.log("combination results: " + result);
callback(null,result);
}
})
});
}
in server.js:
server.post('/', function(req, res) {
/* get the object passed by the client's post request */
obj = req.body;
//console.log("Obj: " + obj);
/* send the confirmation back to the client */
res.status(200).send("body");
placeSearch.placeSearch(obj,function(err,result){
if(!err){
console.log(result);
}
})
});
It seems like you're having trouble with the async operation. You'll want to return the promise from your place-search module. You'll also need to convert the callbacks from placeSearch into a promise.
EDIT: updated since googlePlaces.placeSearch doesn't return a promise
inside placeSearch
function placeSearch(obj) {
//...
var promises = ar.map(function(name) {
var placeDefer = Q.defer();
return googlePlaces.placeSearch(name, function(response) {
placeDefer.resolve(response); // or placeDefer.reject if a failure occurs
});
return placeDefer.promise;
});
return promises;
}
and in your route:
// I'm going to just assume Q promise library here
var Q = require("q");
server.post('/', function(req, res) {
/* get the object passed by the client's post request */
obj = req.body;
//console.log("Obj: " + obj);
/* send the confirmation back to the client */
res.status(200).send("body");
Q.all(placeSearch.placeSearch(obj))
.spread(function() {
var places = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
// possibly call res.status(200).send("body"); here?
// only if you're trying to use the places in your response
});
});
I am building a Windows 8 Store app with HTML/CSS/JavaScript. I am reading in data from a text file through a function, and then putting that data into an array. I am trying to return the array through the function, but it is not working. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've attached my code snippet.
// Load user data
var DefineUserData = function LoadUserData() {
return Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.current.localFolder.getFileAsync(loadfile).done(function (UserFile) {
return Windows.Storage.FileIO.readTextAsync(UserFile).done(function (fileResult) {
var userdata = new Object();
var dataobject = {};
var innercount;
var outercount;
var fileResultByLines = fileResult.split("\n");
for (outercount = 0; outercount <= (fileResultByLines.length - 2) ; outercount++) {
var tempArray = fileResultByLines[outercount].split(",");
dataobject.metrictitle = tempArray[0];
dataobject.numinputs = tempArray[1];
dataobject.inputs = new Array();
for (innercount = 0; innercount <= parseInt(dataobject.numinputs) ; innercount++) {
dataobject.inputs[innercount] = tempArray[innercount + 2];
}
userdata[outercount] = dataobject;
}
return userdata;
});
},
function (errorResult) {
document.getElementById("resbutton1").innerText = errorResult;
})
}
Your DefineUserData function is returning a Promise, not a value. Additionally done functions don't return anything. Instead you'll need to use then functions instead of done functions in DefineUserData and then handle add a done function (or then) to the code that calls this function.
Also, You can make your promises easier to read, and easier to work with by chaining then functions instead of nesting them.
Currently on Win7 at the office so I can't test this, but try something similar to this pseudo-code. Note then functions instead of done. The last then returns your data. Sample snippet afterwards to illustrate calling this and handling the result.
// modified version of yours
var DefineUserData = function LoadUserData() {
return Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.current.localFolder
.getFileAsync(loadfile)
.then(function (UserFile) {
return Windows.Storage.FileIO.readTextAsync(UserFile);
}).then(function (fileResult) {
var userdata = new Object();
var dataobject = {};
var innercount;
var outercount;
var fileResultByLines = fileResult.split("\n");
for (outercount = 0; outercount <= (fileResultByLines.length - 2) ; outercount++) {
var tempArray = fileResultByLines[outercount].split(",");
dataobject.metrictitle = tempArray[0];
dataobject.numinputs = tempArray[1];
dataobject.inputs = new Array();
for (innercount = 0; innercount <= parseInt(dataobject.numinputs) ; innercount++) {
dataobject.inputs[innercount] = tempArray[innercount + 2];
}
userdata[outercount] = dataobject;
}
return userdata;
},
function (errorResult) {
document.getElementById("resbutton1").innerText = errorResult;
});
}
// some other code...
DefineUserData.done(function (userdata) {
// do something
});