We Keep Coding

How to run getJSON synchronously? [duplicate]

GOAL: What I'm after is to get data from database and refresh main.php (more evident through draw_polygon) every time something is added in database (after $.ajax to submit_to_db.php).
So basically I have a main.php that will ajax call another php to receive an array that will be saved to database, and a json call another php to return an array will be used by main.php.
$(document).ready(function() {
get_from_db();
$('#button_cancel').click(function(){
$.ajax({
url: 'submit_to_db.php',
type: 'POST',
data: {list_item: selected_from_list},
success: function(result){
...
get_from_db();
}
});
});
function get_from_db(){
$.getJSON('get_from_db.php', function(data) {
...
draw_polygon(data);
});
}
});
In my case, what I did was a get_from_db function call for getJSON to actually get data from database, with the data to be used to draw_polygon. But is that how it should be done? I'm a complete newbie and this is my first time to try getJSON and ajax too to be honest. So my question: How does asynchronous work actually? Is there another workaround for this instead of having to call function get_from_db with getJSON (it isn't synchronous, is it? is that why it doesn't update the page when it isn't within a function?) All the time - like $.ajax with async: false (I couldn't get it to work by the way). My approach is working, but I thought maybe there are other better ways to do it. I'd love to learn how.
To make it more clearer, here's what I want to achieve:
#start of page, get data from database (currently through getJSON)
Paint or draw in canvas using the data
When I click the done button it will update the database
I want to AUTOMATICALLY get the data again to repaint the changes in canvas.

Since $.getJSON() uses ajax configurations, just set the global ajax configs:
// Set the global configs to synchronous
$.ajaxSetup({
async: false
});
// Your $.getJSON() request is now synchronous...
// Set the global configs back to asynchronous
$.ajaxSetup({
async: true
});

Asynchronusly does mean the Request is running in the background, and calls your function back when it got a response. This method is best if you want to have a result but allow to use your app within the request. If you want to have a direct response, take a look at a synchron request. this request will pause script execution until it got a response, and the user can not do anything until the response was recieved. You can toggle it via:
async: false,
So for example:
$.ajax({
url: "myurl",
async: false,
...
})

$.getJSON(), doesn't accept a configuration, as it says in the docs it's a shorthand version of:
$.ajax({
dataType: "json",
url: url,
data: data,
success: success
});
So just rewrite your request in terms of that and async:false will work just as you expect.

$.getJSON() is a shorthand notation for $.ajax() which can be configured to be synchronous (see jQuery.getJSON and JQuery.ajax):
$.ajax({
dataType: "json",
url: url,
data: data,
async: false,
success: function(data) {
...
draw_polygon(data);
}
});
Try to avoid synchronous calls though. Quote from jQuery doc (see async prop):
Cross-domain requests and dataType: "jsonp" requests do not support
synchronous operation. Note that synchronous requests may temporarily
lock the browser, disabling any actions while the request is active.
You might want to try jQuery Deferreds like this:
var jqxhr = $.getJSON(url);
jqxhr.done(function(data) {
...
draw_polygon(data);
});

jQuery AJAX: Posting serialized form data with $.post() does not achieve the same result as $.ajax()

I was trying post data into a source by sending form's data using the jQuery's shorthand method jQuery.post() but I am not capable to achieve the same result as using the full blue-print for posting with jQuery.ajax().
Please find below the scripts that I've used for my findings:
Using $.post():
jQuery.post(
"/full-path-to-service",
{ cache: false,
data: jQuery(submittingForm).serialize(),
_: jQuery.now() },
null,
"json"
).done(function(data) {
// Response handling
});
Using $.ajax():
jQuery.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/full-path-to-service",
data: jQuery(submittingForm).serialize(),
dataType: "json",
_: jQuery.now()
}).done(function(data) {
// Response handling
});
While I was able to receive a successful response from the server, the service seemed to be not being fired for not receiving the information previously sent serialized in the POST request.
Sniffing the information being sent to the service I was able to confirm that the information is parsed incorrectly while using jQuery.post.
Please find the differences below:
Is there any reasing for jQuery.post() not sending the information in the same way as using a blue-print for posting with jQuery.ajax()?

The second argument for post() is the data object (or string) you wish to pass. You are attempting to pass it the configuration object for ajax().
post() is not ajax() and doesn't support the same level of customisation. It is designed to be much simpler. Use ajax() if you want to set all the options.
Is there any reasing for jQuery.post() not sending the information in the same way as using a blue-print for posting with jQuery.ajax()?
Yes. It is a simple shorthand for common use cases.

Difference between ajax and getJSON calls?

I have a page being served from a Web.API app located at http://server/application. On the client side, I am doing a GET to pull some data from the servers. The problem is what I thought should work does not.
This code works:
$.ajax( {
url: "api/slideid/getdirectories/",
dataType: 'json',
success: function ( data ) {
setPaths( data );
}
} );
But this does not:
$.getJSON( "api/slideid/getdirectories/",
function ( data ) {
setPaths( data );
} );
In the first example I see in fiddler that the url it is trying to retrieve the data from is http://server/application/api/slideid/getdirectories, which is correct.
In the second, it is http://server/api/slideid/getdirectories, which is not right. I was thinking that these two methods of json GET were the same.... but it seems they are not?
Interestingly, BOTH these methods work on my local dev box- it is only on my staging server that one works and the other does not. IIS settings are identical as far as I can tell- and I dug in pretty good to check.
So I'm wondering why getJSON does not work, when the jQuery docs state that getJSON is just shorthand for the .ajax call?
EDIT: I had put in an explicit version of getJSON hoping to show that they were very similar calls, but the 'real' getJSON call is now there.

You have a wrong implementation of $.getJSON() This should be:
$.getJSON(url, {data:data}, function(data){
alert(data);
});
where {data:data} is optional.
From the docs:
This is a shorthand Ajax function, which is equivalent to:
$.ajax({
dataType: "json",
url: url,
data: data,
success: success
});

$.getJSON(url, {data:data}, ....
wrong syntax

Return String from Cross-domain AJAX Request

I'm looking for a way to return a single JSON/JSONP string from a cross-domain "AJAX" request. Rather than request the string and have JQuery return it as a generic object automatically, I want to get a hold of the string BEFORE that conversion happens. The goal here is to parse it myself so I can turn it straight into new objects of a certain type (e.g. a Person object).
So, just to make this clear, I don't want any string-to-generic-object conversion going on behind the scenes and this must work using a different domain.
Here's a non-working example of what I would like to do:
$.ajax({
type: 'GET',
url: 'http://www.someOtherDomain.com/GetPerson',
dataType: 'text',
success: parseToPerson
});
function parseToPerson( textToParse ) {
// I think I can do this part, I just want to get it working up to this point
}
I'm perfectly happy if JQuery isn't involved in the solution, as long as it works. I would prefer to use JQuery, though. From what I've read, the javascript techniques used to get JSONP data (dynamically creating a script element) would probably work, but I can't seem to get that to work for me. I control the domain that I am requesting data from and I can get the data if I change the dataType in the AJAX call to 'JSONP', so I know that is working.

If your data is being retrieved from another domain, you will need to use JSONP (there are other options, but JSONP is by far the easiest if you control the service). The jQuery call will look like this:
$.ajax({
// type: 'GET', --> this is the default, you don't need this line
url: 'http://www.someOtherDomain.com/GetPerson',
dataType: 'jsonp',
success: parseToPerson
});
The actual request that goes to your service will be http://www.someOtherDomain.com/GetPerson?callback=arbitrary_function_name. On the service side, you will need to return data like this:
arbitrary_function_name("the string (or JSON data) that I want to return");
So you'll need to inspect the querystring parameters, get the value of the callback parameter, and echo it out as if you're calling a Javascript function with that name (which you are), passing in the value you want to provide through the service. Your success function will then get called with the data your service provided.
If you're deserializing the returned data into a Javascript object, you might be better off returning JSON data than a string, so the data your service returns might look like this:
arbitrary_function_name({
"name":"Bob Person",
"age":27,
"etc":"More data"
});
That way you don't have to worry about parsing the string - it'll already be in a Javascript object that's easy to use to initialize your object.

Not sure how this will work in conjuction with jsonp, but maybe converters is what you're looking for?
$.ajax(url, {
dataType: "person",
converters: {
"text person": function(textValue) {
return parseToPerson(textValue);
}
}
});

Having problems with jQuery, ajax and jsonp

I am using jsonp and ajax to query a web-service written in java on another server. I am using the following jquery command:
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: wsUrl,
data: {},
dataType: "jsonp",
complete: sites_return,
crossDomain: true,
jsonpCallback: "sites_return"
});
function jsonp_callback(data) {
console.log(data);
}
function sites_return(data) {
console.log(data);
}
So my problem is that after the query finishes a function called jsonp_callback is called. Where I can clearly see the json formatted string:
{"listEntries":["ELEM1", "ELEM2", "ELEM3", etc...]}
But after the function sites_return is called when the complete event fires, I get the the following:
Object { readyState=4, status=200, statusText="parsererror"}
Also for reference the jsonp_callback function is called before the sites_return function. Also if i take the jsonp_callback function out of the code, I get a complaint it firebug that the function is not implemented.
My question three fold:
1) What am i doing wrong on the jquery side?
2) Why does the json get parsed correctly in jsonp_callback but not sites_return?
3) What can i do to fix these issues?
EDIT
Some new development. Per the comments here is some additional information.
The following is what comes out of the http response
jsonp_callback({"listEntries":["ELEM1", "ELEM2", "ELEM3"]})
I assume this is the reason jsonp_callback is being called. I guess my question now becomes, is there any way to control this (assuming i don't have access to the back end web-service).

Hope this helps~
var url = "http://maps.google.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway,+Mountain+View,+CA&sensor=false";
var address = "1600+Amphitheatre+Parkway";
var apiKey = "+Mountain+View,+CA";
$.getJSON("http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q="+ address+"&key="+apiKey+"&sensor=false&output=json&callback=?",
function(data, textStatus){
console.log(data);
});

I believe that the first argument to the sites_return function would be the jqXHR Object. Instead of complete try using success.
But still this may not work as it seems that there is a parsing error (mentioned in the return value of sites_return function called from oncomplete). Therefore, you would first need to check your json string.
To Validate JSON, you can use http://jsonlint.com/

I think that the problem is that your server is not behaving the way jQuery expects it to. The JSONP "protocol" is not very stable, but generally what's supposed to happen is that the site should look for the "callback" parameter and use that as the function name when it builds the JSONP response. It looks as if your server always uses the function name "jsonp_callback".
It might work to tell jQuery that your callback is "jsonp_callback" directly:
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: wsUrl,
data: {},
dataType: "jsonp",
complete: sites_return,
crossDomain: true,
jsonpCallback: "jsonp_callback"
});
Not 100% sure however.

If you don't have the ability to change the JSONP function wrapper that the remote server returns, jQuery's $.ajax() may be overkill here. Ultimately, all you're doing is injecting a script reference to wsUrl, which makes a call to jsonp_callback with a JavaScript object literal as its input parameter.
You could just as easily do something like this and avoid the confusion around the callback naming/syntax:
$.getScript(wsUrl);
function jsonp_callback(response) {
// Access the array here via response.listEntries
}