function ajaxFunction(user, func){ var ajaxRequest; // The variable that makes Ajax possible! try{ // Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari ajaxRequest = new XMLHttpRequest(); } catch (e){ // Internet Explorer Browsers try{ ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP"); } catch (e) { try{ ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); } catch (e){ // Something went wrong alert("Your browser broke!"); return false; } } } // Create a function that will receive data sent from the server ajaxRequest.onreadystatechange = function(){ if(ajaxRequest.readyState == 4){ var string = ajaxRequest.responseText; return string; } } querystring = "?user="+user+"&func="+func; ajaxRequest.open("GET", "ajax_voice_server.php"+querystring, true); ajaxRequest.send(null); } retval = ajaxFunction(user, func) //retval always gets set to undefined