Return Multiple Values From Ajax Using MooTools and PHP

i use something like this

$result['result'] = TRUE;
$result['id'] = 12;
$result['avatar'] = ‘bla.jpg’;
$result['name'] = ‘bla’;
$result['time'] = 121212121212;
$result['text'] = ‘text’;
$result['type'] = 2;
die(json_encode($result));

options = {
url: ‘/ajax/file.php’,
data: somedata,
onSuccess: function(result) {
if(result['result']) dosuccess
else if(result['errors']) do errors
}
};
new Request.JSON(options).send();

Normally I use JSON to send data between client and server.
With JSON you can encode a whole array and send it to the client or server and there you decode it.

So your example could look like this:

The PHP:

/* bunch of processing up here */

if($success) {
$status = array(‘code’ => ‘1′, ‘message’ => ‘You have successfully submitted your email address.’);
} else {
$status = array(‘code’ => ‘0′, ‘message’ =>’Your email address is not valid. Please try again.’);
}
//json_encode() requires PHP5
return json_encode($status);

The Mootools 1.2 Javascript

/* inside the ajax object….*/
onComplete: function(response) {
//get vars
var status = JSON.decode(response);

//actions
if(status.code) { //success!
alert(status.message);
// do success stuff

} else { //no good

// do error stuff, show detailed message
alert(status.message);
}
}

or even better using Request.JSON:

/* inside the ajax object….*/
onComplete: function(status) {
//actions
if(status.code) { //success!
alert(status.message);
// do success stuff

} else { //no good

// do error stuff, show detailed message
alert(status.message);
}
}

Did I say that I love Mootools? :)

i always use JSON :

PHP

$response["message"] = “You have successfully submitted your email address.”;
$response["code"] = 1;
echo json_encode($response);

JS MOOTOOLS

new Request.JSON ({url: ‘…’,

onComplete: function(response) {

var code = response.code;
var message = response.message;

if(code) { //success!
// do success stuff
} else { //no good
// do error stuff, show detailed message
}

}
});

really easy !

wouldn’t it be easier to have php return a json object? or perhaps a serialized Response class from PHP. I guess it depends on the complexity of the response and the information you need to retrieve from it.

Like Bryan said, I’d make an array or stdClass object and json_encode it. That way you get something like this.

obj = { “code”: “1″, “message”: “You’re amazing!” }

Also, I don’t recall how well it worked, but I believe to get errors, I’ve thrown exceptions in PHP, and assigned it a proper error code, and handled it in the AJAX by checking for the response code.

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.json-encode.php

Use JSON encode function for PHP. The decode with Mootools to use as a javascript object. No need for extra unnecessary code.

David,

I used to do something very similar. For example, I’d send back a response that was pipe delimited to separate different sets of data. Then, each set of data was tilde delimited to separate functions to execute, variables, etc.

Then, I discovered JSON. It’s SO much easier. Now, I’m doing something very different. In my PHP, I write the JavaScript code that I want execute, return it to the calling page, and it gets executed.

I’m not sure this is smart or not, but it works VERY well. Since I’m primarily a PHP programmer, I prefer dealing with all the logic in PHP instead of trying to parse it out in JS.

Indeed I use JSON most of the time – simply encode it into a string (if I really need to), and decode on the other side. But for optimization sake – if we want to return a small amount of data – we might as well stick with a simple split().

what about returning xml data, you can wrap any kind of data in to <![CDATA[$data]]>

david says:

@Alan: Good idea for servers that
serve the specified PHP5, but in my
shop, you can’t assume the hosting
server will have PHP5.

I had the same problem and solved it with this sweet little class:

http://mike.teczno.com/JSON.tar.gz

The usage is as easy as:

require_once(‘JSON.php’);
$json = new Services_JSON();

//encoding an array or object
echo $json->decode(array(‘code’ => ‘0′, ‘message’ =>’Your email address is not valid. Please try again.’));

//same for decoding a string
$obj = $json->decode($json_string);

and if you not sure or don’t mind if your environment is php4 or php5 you can do something like this:

if(!function_exists(‘json_encode’)){
function json_encode($obj){
require_once(‘JSON.php’);
$json = new Services_JSON();
return $json->encode($obj);
}
}

if(!function_exists(‘json_decode’)){
function json_decode($str){
require_once(‘JSON.php’);
$json = new Services_JSON();
return $json->decode($str);
}
}

and you never need to worry about it again!

Is this the same thing if I use JSON? Because if yes, it makes it way easier.

Hi all, the solution is to use json_encode function in php, if you have a old version installed you may use the class json from http://www.boutell.com/scripts/jsonwrapper.html, it is a direct way to work. Some times i am having problem with the coding so may be you need to use utf8_encode() function for non standar characters.
I hope this help…
Regards , Enrique