Ajax GET requests: use parameters or put data in URL?

javascript ajax prototypejs
Diodeus - James MacFarlane picture Diodeus - James MacFarlane · Oct 20, 2008 · Viewed 49.4k times · Source

What's the advantage of passing data as parameters vs part of the URL in an Ajax GET request?

Using parameters:

var ajax = new Ajax.Request('server.php',{
    parameters: 'store=11200&product=Meat',
    onSuccess: function(myData){whatever}
});

Using URL:

var ajax = new Ajax.Request('server.php?store=11200&product=Meat',{
    onSuccess: function(myData){whatever}
});

Answer

Evan DiBiase picture Evan DiBiase · Oct 20, 2008

One advantage to using the parameters argument is that you can pass it a Hash-like object instead of as a string. (If you do this, though, make sure so set the method parameter to "GET", as the default method for Prototype Ajax requests is POST; see the Prototype Introduction to Ajax for more details.)

Another advantage, which is more in-line with the example that you gave, is that you can separate the request URL from the options that are sent to it. This might be useful if, for example, you need to send a bunch of similar requests to several different URLs. (In that case, having a common parameters Hash that you modify for each request might be more useful, than using a parameter string, as well.)

For more information, see the Prototype documentation of Ajax options.

Related questions

How to return AJAX response Text?

I use prototype to do my AJAX development, and I use the code like this: somefunction: function(){ var result = ""; myAjax = new Ajax.Request(postUrl, { method: 'post', postBody: postData, contentType: 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded', onComplete: function(transport){ if (200 == transport.status) { result = transport.responseText; } } }); …

Read More
submit a form via Ajax using prototype and update a result div

I'm wondering how can I submit a form via Ajax (using prototype framework) and display the server response in a "result" div. The html looks like this : <form id="myForm" action="/getResults"> [...] <input type="submit" value="submit" /&…

Read More
using reCAPTCHA with ajax....javascript loading problem

I trying to implement reCAPTCHA in one of my forms,...but i am using ajax as the submission. (More specifically the prototype ajax.updater) Once I submit and error check my form I try to load the reCAPCHTA widget thingy (…

Read More