How to send JSON instead of a query string with $.ajax?

javascript jquery json query-string
Redsandro picture Redsandro · Oct 2, 2012 · Viewed 269.6k times · Source

Can someone explain in an easy way how to make jQuery send actual JSON instead of a query string?

$.ajax({
    url      : url,
    dataType : 'json', // I was pretty sure this would do the trick
    data     : data,
    type     : 'POST',
    complete : callback // etc
});

This will in fact convert your carefully prepared JSON to a query string. One of the annoying things is that any array: [] in your object will be converted to array[]: [], probably because of limitations of the query sting.

Answer

mekwall picture mekwall · Oct 2, 2012

You need to use JSON.stringify to first serialize your object to JSON, and then specify the contentType so your server understands it's JSON. This should do the trick:

$.ajax({
    url: url,
    type: "POST",
    data: JSON.stringify(data),
    contentType: "application/json",
    complete: callback
});

Note that the JSON object is natively available in browsers that support JavaScript 1.7 / ECMAScript 5 or later. If you need legacy support you can use json2.

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