title: using values of a javascript array outside of a function
body: <p>I have a forloop that has a call to a function inside of it. Within that function, I'm pushing values to an array called markers.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to access the values of the markers array outside of the forloop?</p>
  
  <p>Here's the code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt; 
      // arrays to hold copies of the markers and html used by the side_bar 
      // because the function closure trick doesnt work there 
      var map = null;
      geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
      var side_bar_html = ""; 
      var icon = '';
      var markers = [];
  
      function codeAddress(this_address,index,callback) {
          geocoder.geocode( { 'address': this_address}, function(results, status) {
              if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
                  callback.call(window,index,results[0].geometry.location)
              } else {
                  alert("Geocode was not successful for the following reason: " + status);
              }
          });
      }
  
  
      function initialize() {
          // create the map
          var myOptions = {
              zoom: 3,
              center: new google.maps.LatLng(46.90, -121.00),
              mapTypeControl: true,
              mapTypeControlOptions: {style: google.maps.MapTypeControlStyle.DROPDOWN_MENU},
              navigationControl: true,
              mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
          }
  
          map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);
  
          google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'click', function() {
              infowindow.close();
          });
  
  
          for (var i = 0; i &lt; businesses.length; i++) {
              codeAddress(businesses[i].address,i,function(i,point){
                  var description = businesses[i].description;
  
                  if(businesses[i].business_type == "Wine"){
                      //http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_letter&amp;chld=A|00CC99|000000
                      icon = 'http://google-maps-icons.googlecode.com/files/wineyard.png';
                  }else if(businesses[i].business_type == "Golf"){
                      icon = 'http://google-maps-icons.googlecode.com/files/golf.png';
                  }else{
                      icon = 'http://google-maps-icons.googlecode.com/files/festival.png';
                  }
  
                  var marker = createMarker(point,businesses[i].name,description,icon);
  
                  // put the assembled side_bar_html contents into the side_bar div
                  document.getElementById("side_bar").innerHTML = side_bar_html;
              });//End codeAddress-function
          }//End for-loop
  
          console.log(markers);
          var markerCluster = new MarkerClusterer(map, markers);               
  
      }
  
      // A function to create the marker and set up the event window function 
      function createMarker(latlng, name, html,icon) {
          var contentString = html;
          var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
              position: latlng,
              map: map,
              icon: icon,
              zIndex: Math.round(latlng.lat()*-100000)&lt;&lt;5
              });
  
          google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'click', function() {
              infowindow.setContent(contentString); 
              infowindow.open(map,marker);
          });
  
          // save the info we need to use later for the side_bar
          markers.push(marker);
  
          // add a line to the side_bar html
          side_bar_html += '&lt;a href="javascript:myclick(' + (markers.length-1) + ')"&gt;' + name + '&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;'+html+'&lt;br /&gt;';
  
      }
  
      var infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow({ 
          size: new google.maps.Size(150,50)
      });
  
      // This function picks up the click and opens the corresponding info window
      function myclick(i) {
          google.maps.event.trigger(markers[i], "click");
      }
  
  &lt;/script&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As you can see, the last line says "var markerCluster = new MarkerClusterer(map, markers);" This is where I want to be able to access the information from.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!       </p>