Where do I need to store a text file for AJAX to be able to retrieve it?

Question

This question may take more reading than it's really worth, but I'm working with a textbook to learn AJAX, and the introductory exercise to AJAX is to run this code down here below. On line 16 there's a GET request to retrieve a .txt file, but the program fails to do so. Where would I need to put the text file, in a directory, in XAMPP, or a directory within XAMPP, to get the desired result? Any help is really appreciated.

-- badHero - bad examples...

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS badHero;

CREATE TABLE badHero (
  name varchar(50),
  powers varchar(250),
  villain varchar(50),
  plot varchar(50),
  mission varchar(50),
  age int
);

INSERT INTO badHero VALUES(
  'The Plumber',
  'Sewer snake of doom, unclogging, ability to withstand smells',
  'Septic Slime Master',
  'Overcome Chicago with slime',
  'Stop the Septic Slime',
  37
  );

INSERT INTO badHero VALUES (
  'Binary Boy',
  'Hexidecimation beam, obfuscation',
  'Octal',
  'Eliminate the numerals 8 and 9',
  'Make the world safe for binary representation',
  19
);

INSERT INTO badHero VALUES (
  'The Janitor',
  'Mighty Mop',
  'Septic Slim Master',
  'Overcome New York with slime',
  'Stop the Septic Slime',
  41
);


SELECT * FROM badHero;  

-- hero - contains only hero data and a foreign key link to mission
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS hero;
CREATE TABLE hero (
  heroID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
  name VARCHAR(50),
  birthday DATE,
  missionID INTEGER
);

INSERT INTO hero VALUES (
  null, 'The Plumber', '1976-10-16', 1);
INSERT INTO hero VALUES (
  null, 'Binary Boy', '1988-1-27', 2);
INSERT INTO hero VALUES (
  null, 'The Janitor', '1964-8-30', 1);

SELECT * FROM hero;

-- view to see age formatted correctly
DROP VIEW IF EXISTS heroAgeView;
CREATE VIEW heroAgeView AS
  SELECT
    name as 'hero',
    CONCAT(
      YEAR(FROM_DAYS(DATEDIFF(NOW(), birthday))),
      ' years, ',
      MONTH(FROM_DAYS(DATEDIFF(NOW(), birthday))), 
      ' months'
    ) AS 'age'
  FROM
    hero;

-- mission table - contains all data relevant to mission
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS mission;
CREATE TABLE mission (
  missionID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
  description VARCHAR(50),
  villain VARCHAR(30),
  plot VARCHAR(50)
);

INSERT INTO mission VALUES (
  null, 'Stop the septic slime', 
  'Septic Slime Master', 
  'Overcome city with Slime');

INSERT INTO mission VALUES (
  null, 'Make the world safe for Binary representation',
  'Octal', 
  'Eliminate the numerals 8 and 9');

SELECT * FROM mission;

-- standard query for joining hero and mission
SELECT 
  hero.name AS 'hero',
  mission.description AS 'mission'
FROM hero, mission
WHERE
  hero.missionID = mission.missionID;

-- view to store hero / mission query
DROP VIEW IF EXISTS heroMissionView;
CREATE VIEW heroMissionView AS
  SELECT 
    hero.name AS 'hero',
    mission.description AS 'mission',
    mission.villain AS 'villian',
    mission.plot AS 'plot'
  FROM hero, mission
  WHERE
    hero.missionID = mission.missionID;

SELECT * FROM heroMissionView;

-- power - has no foreign keys because it's part of many / many join
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS power;
CREATE TABLE power (
  powerID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
  name VARCHAR(50)
);

INSERT INTO power VALUES(null, 'Sewer snake of doom');
INSERT INTO power VALUES(null, 'unclogging');
INSERT INTO power VALUES(null, 'ability to withstand smells');
INSERT INTO power VALUES(null, 'Hexidecimation Beam');
INSERT INTO power VALUES(null, 'obfuscation');
INSERT INTO power VALUES(null, 'Mighty Mop');

SELECT * FROM power;

-- hero_power is a link table combining hero and power
-- it contains only foreign keys
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS hero_power;
CREATE TABLE hero_power (
  hero_powerID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
  heroID INTEGER,
  powerID INTEGER
);

INSERT INTO hero_power VALUES (null, 1, 1);
INSERT INTO hero_power VALUES (null, 1, 2);
INSERT INTO hero_power VALUES (null, 1, 3);
INSERT INTO hero_power VALUES (null, 2, 4);
INSERT INTO hero_power VALUES (null, 2, 5);

SELECT * FROM hero_power;

-- The user can't read the hero_power table directly. Use a view
-- to replace keys with fields from the relevant table
SELECT
  hero.name AS 'hero',
  power.name AS 'power'
FROM
  hero, power, hero_power
WHERE 
  hero.heroID = hero_power.heroID
AND
  power.powerID = hero_power.powerID;

-- View to encapsulate hero_power query
DROP VIEW IF EXISTS heroPowerView;
CREATE VIEW heroPowerView AS
  SELECT
    hero.name AS 'hero',
    power.name AS 'power'
  FROM
    hero, power, hero_power
  WHERE 
    hero.heroID = hero_power.heroID
  AND
    power.powerID = hero_power.powerID;

SELECT * FROM heroPowerView;

Anywhere in your webroot.. Think of it as a .html file that you want to retrieve with your browser. where would you put it if you wanted to access it from `http://mydomain.com/some/folder/structure/somfile.html`? — Kevin B, Aug 30 '13 at 18:04
All the SQL code doesn't apply to your question. Please only include relevant code. — Phix, Aug 30 '13 at 18:06
Getting a file with AJAX is just like getting it with a browser. The only difference is that the contents of the file goes into a variable in Javascript instead of being displayed in the window. So you put it in the same place on the server as you would if you were getting it with the browser. — Barmar, Aug 30 '13 at 18:08

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

In XAMPP, you would most likely put the document in your htdocs folder...

...unless you created a subfolder under htdocs for your application, then you would put it in there. In most cases, just put it where your index.php file is.

Here is an SO post with some really simple examples for getting started with AJAX.

Also, I don't know how you learn (some learn best reading, others - like me - by watching) but have you heard of phpAcademy? Tons of FREE videos to get you going (only pay for source code if too busy to type it all in while watching video). I recommend the Registration and Login one for what you are doing, but the above SO post on AJAX examples is all you need there.

Where do I need to store a text file for AJAX to be able to retrieve it?

1 Answers1