title: global variable won't update from function within AJAX success
body: <blockquote>
    <p>OK, so I cannot seem to be able to change the global variable of systemPath after it goes through the ajax.It will work inside of ajax, but I need that updated variable outside of ajax. basically I'm trying to create an array of paths from xml and use them to locate other xml files that I can generate a table from.</p>
    
    <p>Does anyone know what's going on here? Does ajax run before the variable is set and that is why I get an array length of 0 after the ajax?</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <pre><code>    var systemPath = new Array();
  var techDigestArr = new Array();
  var addToArray = function(thisarray, toPush){
      thisarray.push(toPush);
  }
  
  $.ajax({
      url: fullPath+"technical/systems/systems.xml",
      dataType: ($.browser.msie) ? "text" : "xml",
      success: function(data){
                              var xml;    
                              if (typeof data == "string") {
                                 xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
                                 xml.async = false;
                                 xml.loadXML(data);
                              } else {
                                 xml = data;
                              }
                              $(xml).find("system").each(function(){
                                  var urlString = fullPath + "technical/system_" + $(this).attr("id") + "/" + $(this).attr("id") + "tech-digest.xml &lt;br /&gt;";
                                  //alert(urlString);
                              $("#td-articles").append(systemPath.length + urlString);
                                  addToArray(systemPath,urlString);
                                  //systemPath.push(urlString);
                              });
                          $("#msg-output").append("total - " +systemPath.length);//Returns 48
  
                      },//END SUCCSESS
      error: function(){
          alert("Sorry - ");
          history.go(-1);
      }
  });//END AJAX CALL
      $(document).ready(function(){
          //$("#msg-output").append("total - " + systemPath.length); Returns 0
      });
  </code></pre>