Get response from PHP file using AJAX

Question

So here's my issue, I am using AJAX (jQuery) to post a form to process.php but the page actually needs to echo out a response such as apple or plum. I'm not sure how to take the response from process.php and have it stored as a variable...

Here's the code I have so far:

<script type="text/javascript">
        function returnwasset(){
            alert('return sent');
            $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "process.php",
                data: somedata;
                success function(){
                    //echo what the server sent back...
                }
            });
        }
    </script>

Also will I need to echo the response in process.php in json? or will plain text be fine?

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, this is my first time doing something as such in Ajax.

PS: How do I name the POST request in the above code?

Answer 1

<?php echo 'apple'; ?> is pretty much literally all you need on the server.

as for the JS side, the output of the server-side script is passed as a parameter to the success handler function, so you'd have

success: function(data) {
   alert(data); // apple
}

Answer 2

The good practice is to use like this:

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "/ajax/request.html",
    data: {action: 'test'},
    dataType:'JSON', 
    success: function(response){
        console.log(response.blablabla);
        // put on console what server sent back...
    }
});

and the php part is:

<?php
    if(isset($_POST['action']) && !empty($_POST['action'])) {
        echo json_encode(array("blablabla"=>$variable));
    }
?>

Answer 3

in your PHP file, when you echo your data use json_encode (http://php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php)

e.g.

<?php
//plum or data...
$output = array("data","plum");

echo json_encode($output);

?>

in your javascript code, when your ajax completes the json encoded response data can be turned into an js array like this:

 $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "process.php",
                data: somedata;
                success function(json_data){
                    var data_array = $.parseJSON(json_data);

                    //access your data like this:
                    var plum_or_whatever = data_array['output'];.
                    //continue from here...
                }
            });

Answer 4

<script type="text/javascript">
        function returnwasset(){
            alert('return sent');
            $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "process.php",
                data: somedata;
                dataType:'text'; //or HTML, JSON, etc.
                success: function(response){
                    alert(response);
                    //echo what the server sent back...
                }
            });
        }
    </script>