CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpjqueryajaxtypesboolean
wiltomap
wiltomap

Reputation: 4223

Ajax call : sent boolean interpreted as string in php

I've noticed that a variable sent in an AJAX call (jQuery) as a type:boolean was interpreted as a type:string on the server side (PHP). Here is an extract of my code, to illustrate that:

Ajax call:

$.ajax({
    url : 'model/script.php',
    type : 'POST',
    data : ref,
    success : function (data){
       ...
    }
});

If I test the ref variable type in my JS script:

var ref_type = jQuery.type(ref);
alert(ref_type);
// Result : boolean

If I test the $_POST['ref'] type in my PHP script:

if(isset($_POST['ref'])){
    echo gettype($_POST['ref']);
}
// Result : string

Is there a way to send / recept a boolean variable? Or do I have to cast the variable in the PHP script? I might have missed something...

Upvotes: 0

Views: 88

Answers (2)

Álvaro González
Álvaro González

Reputation: 146410

A regular post request body (technically speaking, a x-www-form-urlencoded message) is nothing but text. Even numbers are text. Everything is text, because in the end this is what the browser sends and the server receives:

Name=John%20Smith&Age=35&Subscribed=true

Just pick a convention for true/false and make an explicit conversion in your server-side code:

switch ($_POST['ref']) {
    case 'yeah':
        $ref = true;
        break;
    case 'nope':
        $ref = false;
        break;
    default:
        $ref = null;
}

If you pick a value set that PHP will recognise correctly when casting from string to boolean the code can get simpler:

$ref = (bool)$_POST['ref'];

Or you can just let PHP do all the hard work:

$ref = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'ref', FILTER_VALIDATE_BOOLEAN);

Alternatively, you can use plain text to transmit a serialised complex data structure that supports complex data types and has encoder/decoder both in client and server platforms. A typical choice is JSON.

Upvotes: 1

jovan
jovan

Reputation: 339

You need to cast the variable in your PHP code because the data is converted into (one) string and gets sent as it.

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions