how to differentiate ajax call and browser request in php (or codeigniter)?

Question

is there a way to differentiate ajax call and normal browser request in php (or codeigniter to be specific)?

this is my jquery ajax call:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('#container').load('http://localhost/index.php/customer/'); 
});

this is the index method of customer controller in codeigniter:

public function index() {
    //if (call == 'ajax request') 
    //  do this if it's an ajax request;
    //else
    //  do that if user directly type the link in the address bar;
    $this->load->view('customer/listview');
}

any help would be appreciated. thanks.

Answer 1

CodeIgniter way..

$this->input->is_ajax_request()

Answer 2

function getIsAjaxRequest()
{
    return isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH']) && $_SERVER['HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH']==='XMLHttpRequest';
}

Define this function somewhere then of course use it like this:

if (getIsAjaxRequest())
// do this
else
// do that

But there might be such thing already in CodeIgniter implemented, just global search for HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH

Answer 3

if (strtolower($_SERVER['HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH']) == 'xmlhttprequest') {}

Should do what you need. Though it can obviously be faked like any other HTTP Header, so don't rely on it for anything major.