Wait for observable to get array-data

I know there have been several questions regarding this, but I havent found a way that works for me properly. If you find one gladly send it to me.

So I am getting my data from an API and I convert this data into an array of my required datatype:

getData(): Observable<Type[]> {
    return this.http.get<Type[]>("URL)
      .pipe(
        retry(2),
        catchError(this.handleError)
      );
  }

I want to use the data, after I got it.

Some ways i tried to solve this were with while(empty){...} which seems to be unefficient and not correct if the array is empty, Promises where I didn’t really find a way to connect properly with observables and await/async which seems to be impossible with observables.

My code of implementing this:

array: Type[] = [];
useJSON(searchString: string) {
    this.configService.getData().subscribe(results => { this.array = results});
    // --operations--
  }

array: Type[] = [];
useJSON(searchString: string) {
  this.configService.getData().subscribe(results => { 
    this.array = results;
    // --further operations--
  });
}

youdMethod() async{
let res=null;

do{
 res=await this.configService.getData().toPromise();
}while(resBasedCondition)
 
}