jQuery/AJAX read html inside div tag

Question

I'm getting HTML from a database via AJAX but when I output that HTML into a div, it only shows the actual HTML text, not the pictures and such as a browser sees it. Anyone know how to do this? I'm outputting the HTML in textarea #html and want to see it rendered in div #preview. Here's the code:

$(document).ready(function(){
    $('#creative').change(function() {
        $.ajax({
            url: '/app/components/MailingsReport.cfc',
            //POST method is used
            type: "POST",
            //pass the data 
            data: {
                method: "getCreativeHTML",
                creativeID: $('#creative').val(),
                datasource: "shopping_cart"
                 },
            dataType: "html",
            //contentType: "application/text; charset=utf-8",
            success: function(response){
                var obj = $.trim(response);
                //alert("response");
                if (obj == '"0 records"') {
                    $('#preview').html("No creative found.");
                }
                else { 
                    $('#html').val( obj );
                    $('#preview').html( obj );
                }
            }
        })
    });
});

Answer 1

I see you answered your own question. You could also consider the jQuery .load() method, which is designed for this sort of thing.