get city from geocoder results?

Got this working in the end using:

var arrAddress = item.address_components;
var itemRoute='';
var itemLocality='';
var itemCountry='';
var itemPc='';
var itemSnumber='';

// iterate through address_component array
$.each(arrAddress, function (i, address_component) {
    console.log('address_component:'+i);

    if (address_component.types[0] == "route"){
        console.log(i+": route:"+address_component.long_name);
        itemRoute = address_component.long_name;
    }

    if (address_component.types[0] == "locality"){
        console.log("town:"+address_component.long_name);
        itemLocality = address_component.long_name;
    }

    if (address_component.types[0] == "country"){ 
        console.log("country:"+address_component.long_name); 
        itemCountry = address_component.long_name;
    }

    if (address_component.types[0] == "postal_code_prefix"){ 
        console.log("pc:"+address_component.long_name);  
        itemPc = address_component.long_name;
    }

    if (address_component.types[0] == "street_number"){ 
        console.log("street_number:"+address_component.long_name);  
        itemSnumber = address_component.long_name;
    }
    //return false; // break the loop   
});

I had to create a program that would fill in the latitude, longitude, city, county, and state fields in a user form when the user clicks on a location on the map. The page can be found at http://krcproject.groups.et.byu.net and is a user form to allow the public to contribute to a database. I don't claim to be an expert, but it works great.

<script type="text/javascript">
  function initialize() 
  {
    //set initial settings for the map here
    var mapOptions = 
    {
      //set center of map as center for the contiguous US
      center: new google.maps.LatLng(39.828, -98.5795),
      zoom: 4,
      mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.HYBRID
    };

    //load the map
    var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"), mapOptions);

    //This runs when the user clicks on the map
    google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'click', function(event)
    {
      //initialize geocoder
      var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder()

      //load coordinates into the user form
      main_form.latitude.value = event.latLng.lat();
      main_form.longitude.value = event.latLng.lng();

      //prepare latitude and longitude
      var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(event.latLng.lat(), event.latLng.lng());

      //get address info such as city and state from lat and long
      geocoder.geocode({'latLng': latlng}, function(results, status) 
      {
        if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) 
        {
          //break down the three dimensional array into simpler arrays
          for (i = 0 ; i < results.length ; ++i)
          {
            var super_var1 = results[i].address_components;
            for (j = 0 ; j < super_var1.length ; ++j)
            {
              var super_var2 = super_var1[j].types;
              for (k = 0 ; k < super_var2.length ; ++k)
              {
                //find city
                if (super_var2[k] == "locality")
                {
                  //put the city name in the form
                  main_form.city.value = super_var1[j].long_name;
                }
                //find county
                if (super_var2[k] == "administrative_area_level_2")
                {
                  //put the county name in the form
                  main_form.county.value = super_var1[j].long_name;
                }
                //find State
                if (super_var2[k] == "administrative_area_level_1")
                {
                  //put the state abbreviation in the form
                  main_form.state.value = super_var1[j].short_name;
                }
              }
            }
          }
        }
      });
    });
  }
</script>

tried a couple of different requests:

MK107BX

Cleveland Park Crescent, UK

like you say, array size returned is inconsistent but the Town for both results appears to be in the address_component item with type of [ "locality", "political" ]. Perhaps you could use that as an indicator?

EDIT: get the locality object using jQuery, add this to your response function:

var arrAddress = item.results[0].address_components;
// iterate through address_component array
$.each(arrAddress, function (i, address_component) {
    if (address_component.types[0] == "locality") // locality type
        console.log(address_component.long_name); // here's your town name
        return false; // break the loop
    });