Function returning undefined Node JS - node.js

Question

I am currently trying to iterate through an array of JSON elements, parse and add the data I need into a specially formatted string, and once conditions are met, initiate the uploading of this data.
The problem that I am running into, however, is my variable 'deviceOutString' is being returned as undefined, leaving me with a string of 'undefined' written as many time as there are JSON elements in the array. I know that the return from the 'checkDuplicates' function is correct because before returning the value, the logs show that the value is correct.
I have attached my code below, please let me know if you have any ideas.
Thanks!
Old Code (updated below)
var i=0;
var parsedJson = JSON.parse(storedData) ;
var storedDataSize = parsedJson.length;
console.log('Stored Data Size: '+storedDataSize);
var async = require('async');
async.each(parsedJson, function( subElemJson, callback1) {
async.series([
function(callback){
console.log('dstring: ' + deviceOutString);
console.log('i : ' + i);
var subElemJsonPretty = JSON.stringify(subElemJson,null,0) ;
var date = subElemJson['date'];
deviceOutString += checkDuplicates(subElemJson, deviceOutString);
console.log('theLoop*DString: ' + deviceOutString);
callback(null, 'one');
},
function(callback){
if((i == storedDataSize - 1 || count == 225) && storedDataSize > 0) {
writeDCC(deviceOutString);
count = 0;
makeList();
}
i++;
callback(null, 'two');
setTimeout(function () { callback1(); }, 500);
}
]);
}); }
Updated New Code
function theLoop(storedData) {
var deviceOutString = '<list>';
var temp;
try {
var i=0;
var parsedJson = JSON.parse(storedData) ;
var storedDataSize = parsedJson.length;
console.log('Stored Data Size: '+storedDataSize);
var async = require('async');
var delayed = require('delayed');
async.each(parsedJson, function( subElemJson, callback1) {
async.series([
function(callback){
var subElemJsonPretty = JSON.stringify(subElemJson,null,0) ;
var date = subElemJson.date;
console.log('THIS IS THE DATE: '+date);
temp = checkDuplicates(subElemJson, deviceOutString);
console.log('This is the temp: ' + temp);
callback(null, temp);
}
], function(results){
console.log('*****Results are In*****: ' + results);
deviceOutString =+ temp;
if((i == storedDataSize - 1 || count == 225) && storedDataSize > 0) {
writeDCC(deviceOutString);
count = 0;
deviceOutString = '<list>';
}
i++;
callback1(results);
});
},
function(err){
if( err ) {
console.log('A file failed to process');
} else {
console.log('All files have been processed successfully');
}
});
} catch (error) {
console.info('Exception parsing ' + '\n\n' + error);
return;
}
}

Answer 1

So a few things
1: var date = subElemJson['date']; accessing object properties via array syntax is a bad practice. Nit picky but hey :P try var data = subElemJson.date; instead.
2: deviceOutString isn't defined anywhere in the code you provided.
3: Both async.series and async.each are going to want a callback function for when each is finished. that's the whole point of calling callback(null, 'one'); -- that you pass a value to the "results" array in the final async.series callback. You are calling setTimeout(function() { callback1(); }, 500); in the wrong place (also arbitrarily putting it behind a timeout?).
The proper async.series formatting is thus:
async.series([
function(callback) {
// do stuff
callback(null, someValue);
},
function(callback) {
// do other stuff
callback(null, someOtherValue);
}
], function(results) {
// all the stuffs are done
console.log(results); <-- results is an array containing "someValue" and "someOtherValue" from the iterations above
callback1(results);
});
Also, async.each is in the same boat -- it expects you to pass a "every thing I'm looping through has completed now!" function at the end.
Async docs on .each() (scroll down for docs on .series()): https://github.com/caolan/async#each