XML Post with PHP form works, jQuery .ajax does not

Question

I have a very simple PHP form which posts XML data to a URL, which then responds with more XML. Here it is:

form action="[...]" method="POST">

        <textarea name="xml" rows="30" cols="100">
            <RRequest version = '2.13'>
                <Request>
                    <Command>update</Command>
                    <Pd>
                        <RID>1</RID>
                        <ExtID>111111111</ExtID>
                    </Pd>
                </Request>
            </RRequest>

        </textarea>
        <br>
        <input value="Submit Request" type="submit">

    </form>

This works beautifully. I am attempting to implement the same thing, but using jQuery. Here is that code:

        <script>

        $(document).ready(function() {

            $("#submit").click(function(){

                var xml_data = $("#xml").val();

                $.ajax({
                    type: "POST", 
                    url: "[...]", 
                    data: xml_data,
                    contentType: "text/xml",
                    dataType: "text",
                    cache: false,
                    success: function(data){
                        $("#xml").val("");
                        $("#xml").val(data);
                    },
                    error: function(xhr, textStatus, errorThrown){
                        alert("it no works");
                    }
                });

            });

        });

    </script>

</head>

<body>

        <textarea id="xml" rows="30" cols="100">
            <RRequest version = '2.13'>
                <Request>
                    <Command>update</Command>
                    <Pd>
                        <RID>1</RID>
                        <ExtID>111111111</ExtID>
                    </Pd>
                </Request>
            </RRequest>

        </textarea>
        <br>
        <input type="button" id="submit" />

This, however, does not work. It does contact the server, but the server returns a bad request message, which makes me think the data being sent is not correct. The two textareas containing the XML are identical. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am using jQuery 2.1.3.

@Jon Yes it is. The files I'm working on are kept on my local machine, but they are posting to an absolute url (https). — user1647550, Apr 09 '15 at 20:50
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2722750/ajax-datatype . I think dataType should be XML.. — Hozikimaru, Apr 09 '15 at 20:59
I don't believe you can post from AJAX to a different server. XSS I believe is the name to look for regarding that. — Jon, Apr 09 '15 at 21:34

Andriy B. · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-09T21:11:04.203

1

replace this line

  var xml_data = $("#xml").val();

with

  var xml_data = {xml: $("#xml").val() };

UPD: these parameters should be removed from your .ajax() request:

  contentType: "text/xml",
  dataType: "text",

edited Apr 09 '15 at 21:11

answered Apr 09 '15 at 20:56

Andriy B.

421
3
14

Thank the old gods and the new. Well done, friend. Thank you. – user1647550 Apr 09 '15 at 21:00
Just curious, do you see any reason this would work in Safari, but not Firefox? – user1647550 Apr 09 '15 at 21:01
@user1647550, yes, this code will work in any browser – Andriy B. Apr 09 '15 at 21:03
That's what I thought too. It works flawlessly in Safari, but hits the error handler immediately in Firefox and Chrome. – user1647550 Apr 09 '15 at 21:04
show us the error, please. probably, you need to put xml param into quotes, i.e. { "xml": ... } – Andriy B. Apr 09 '15 at 21:04
When I attempt it, It hits this part of my code: error: function(xhr, textStatus, errorThrown){alert("it no works");} so I receive that alert. I tried putting the xml parameter in quotes, but that did not work either. – user1647550 Apr 09 '15 at 21:06
check textStatus and errorThrown values to get more error details – Andriy B. Apr 09 '15 at 21:08
also... remove these params from your code: contentType: "text/xml", dataType: "text", – Andriy B. Apr 09 '15 at 21:09
The textStatus type was error, and the errorThrown was empty. – user1647550 Apr 09 '15 at 21:10
Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/74883/discussion-between-user1647550-and-softwarrior). – user1647550 Apr 09 '15 at 21:12

XML Post with PHP form works, jQuery .ajax does not

1 Answers1