jQuery Forum

I have the following code:

1. 
   var update_value = show_dialog("Do you want to continue?", "OK!", "Skip");
   alert (update_value);

and something like

1. function show_dialog(text, button1, button2){
      var update = '';
       $('<div></div>').dialog(
            {         
            buttons: [{
            {text: button1,click: function(){update = 'yes'; $(this).dialog("close");}},
            {text: button2,click: function(){update = 'no'; $(this).dialog("close");}}
             }],
            modal: true
            }
            ).html(text);
           return update;
       };

The problem is the alert in main body of the program is effectively called before the dialog box is: it covers the dialog box. All I really want is the value of "update" or "update_value".  I've tried it with the dialog option modal true and false.  I've tried using a global variable and setting it within the dialog call and the show_dialog function.  None of it works. Basically the program is not waiting for a button to be clicked before returning to the flow.  This seems odd.... Am I doing something wrong?  Is the nature of the ui dialog?