title: jQuery to load text file data
body: <p>I'm trying to load data from a text file on my server using the $.get() function in an external script file.  My code is as follows:</p>
  
  <pre><code>  /* 
     * Load sample date
     */
    var stringData;
    $.get("http://localhost/webpath/graphing/sample_data.txt", function(data){
        stringData = data;
        //alert("Data Loaded: " + stringData);
        });
    //Split values of string data
    var stringArray = stringData.split(",");
    alert("Data Loaded: " + stringData);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I'm inside the $.get() function I can see stringData var get peopulated just fine and the call to alert confirms that it contains data from the sample text file.  However, when I get outside the $.get() function, the stringData var no longer shows.  I don't know enough about how the function works to know why it is not doing as I expected.  All I want it to do is load the text data into a variable so I can work with it.  Any help is appreciated.</p>