How to send ajax response to Jquery from CakePhp?

Question

I have this script in a view:

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#addbrand").click(function() {
        $.ajax({
            url : '../brands/add',
            data : {
                name : "test",
                shortname : "tst"
            },
            dataType : 'json',
            success : function(html, textStatus) {
                alert('Success ' + textStatus + html);
            },
            error : function(xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {
                alert('An error occurred! ' + errorThrown);
            }
        });
    });
});</script>

And in add controller I have these lines:

... else if($this->request->is('ajax')){
        if ($this->Brand->save($this->request->query)) {
            // How to send feedback!?
        }else{
            // How to send feedback!?
        }
        $this->autoRender = false;
        exit();
    }

When I click addbrand, Ajax operation runs successfully and a I can see the added row in database, but I don't know how to send an error or success message to the user. I've read several tutorials but none of them were about cakephp2.0 while Everything is changed in 2.x. I've also read JSON and XML views but unfortunately I didn't understand anything!!! I need to send a status code. If the status was OK then I ought to to send an array of Strings (brand names actually) and if status is not OK I should send a string that explains why the operation is not completed successfully. I'd be most grateful if anybody can help me. Thanks

---

Update:

I changed the code. I used CakeResponse() and now my action is like this:

if($this->RequestHandler->isAjax()){
        if ($this->Brand->save($this->request->query)) {
            return new CakeResponse(array('body'=> json_encode(array('val'=>'test ok')),'status'=>200));
        }else{
            return new CakeResponse(array('body'=> json_encode(array('val'=>'test not ok')),'status'=>500));
        }
    }

Using CakeResponse I can handle the possible responses in Jquery well.

$("#addbrand").click(function() {
        $.ajax({
            url : '../brands/add',
            data : {
                name : "test",
                shortname : "tst"
            },
            dataType : 'json',
            success : function(data) {
              alert("The brand has been saved");
            },
            error : function(data) {
              alert("Eorror occured");
            },
            complete : function(data) {
                alert($.parseJSON(data.responseText).val);
            }
        });
    });

Although it seems to me that everything is working now and I can send several variables through the Ajax between client and server in JSON format, I need to know if it's a standard way of sending Ajax responses in CakePHP or not? Is there any other simpler way for doing this?

Answer 1

The following lines of code do exactly whatever return new CakeResponse(array('body'=> json_encode(array('val'=>'test ok')),'status'=>200)); does in my question:

$this->set('val','test ok');
$this->set('_serialize',array('val'));
$this->response->statusCode(200);

Remember that you need to do two important things:

1. Add Router::parseExtensions('json'); to App/Config/routs.php.
2. Add var $components = array("RequestHandler"); to your controller.

I think this way is better because you don't need to return anything. In previous solution we had to return cakeresponse object and this, sits uneasy with the nature of actions.

Answer 2

You should use the JSON views with route extensions: Firstly you need to set up route extensions. This is generally done with:

Router::parseExtensions('json'); // In App/Config/routes.php

This will enable Router to handle the 'json' extension and to know how to handle a request like: www.example.com/people/index.json

if($this->RequestHandler->isAjax()){
    if ($this->Brand->save($this->request->query)) {
        //Logic for success
    } else {
       //Logic for save failure
    }
}

At this point you have the ability to choose between using the data views with the serialize key or using a data view with view files (copyed from the CakeBook):

<?php
// Controller code
class PostsController extends AppController {
    public function index() {
        $this->set(compact('posts', 'comments'));
    }
}

// View code - app/View/Posts/json/index.ctp
foreach ($posts as &$post) {
    unset($post['Post']['generated_html']);
}
echo json_encode(compact('posts', 'comments'));

Notice that the view is located under .../Views/Posts/json/... You can have multiple extensions in the router so you can return and handle all kinds of contents - after all it is all just data representation.

Cheers!