Differences in AJAX syntax: $.ajax vs $.post

Question

So Ive seen AJAX syntax done two different ways. Seems like on the boards here everyone uses the format like this:

$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: 'mm.php',
data: { color: color},
success: function (res) {

},
error: function (jqXHR) {

}

But my text uses

$.post('mm.php', data, processResponse);

Is there a difference and what is preffered?

Visit api.jquery.com - enjoy. Personally, I use deferred objects for jQUery AJAX request event handling. I find it works better across single-purpose functions and allows composition via then. — user166390
– user166390, Commented Mar 4, 2013 at 23:31

Atep · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04 23:31:00Z

1

This is a shorthand Ajax function, which is equivalent to:

$.ajax({
  type: "POST",
  url: url,
  data: data,
  success: success,
  dataType: dataType
});

[http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.post/]

answered Mar 4, 2013 at 23:31

Atep

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4 Comments

Robert Mailloux Over a year ago

Ah. I guess what I dont recognize is why there is a data AND a datatype

Atep Over a year ago

it depends on datatype of data (You have to omit it, if you dont know what kind data are you sending, but it is better to choose one - as a string), from original documentation: The type of data expected from the server. Default: Intelligent Guess (xml, json, script, text, html). api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax

Robert Mailloux Over a year ago

oh. So you would do something like dataType: text if you were expecting an array output from a PHP page?

Atep Over a year ago

dataType: The type of data that you're expecting back from the server. Please, use quotes - it is a string: "text": A plain text string. dataType: "text"

Mark Schultheiss · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04 23:59:47Z

1

Would it help to understand with this form:

$.ajax({
    type: 'POST',
    url: 'mm.php',
    data: { color: color},
    success: processResponse,
    error: function (jqXHR) {
    }
});

basically the .post is a shorthand for the long version of .ajax

EDIT PER COMMENT:

var color = "red";
var mydata = {color: color};

$.ajax({
    type: 'POST',
    url: 'mm.php',
    data: mydata,
    success: processResponse,
    error: function (jqXHR) {
    }
});

edited Mar 4, 2013 at 23:59

answered Mar 4, 2013 at 23:41

Mark Schultheiss

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