Searching an API using AJAX

Question

I am trying to make an application that allows the user to search through the College Scorecard API. I am very new to ajax so I am not sure what I have done incorrectly here. I have the textAjax() function hooked to a button on my HTML form, but when I run my code, the request fails. Here is my code.

function testAjax(){
$.ajax({
    type : 'POST',
    url : 'https://api.data.gov/ed/collegescorecard/v1/schools?school.name=University%20of%20Cincinnati&api_key=<API-KEY>',
    dataType : 'json',
    success : function(data) {
        //if the request is successful do something with the data
        alert(data);
    },
    error : function(request){
        //if the request fails, log what happened
        alert(JSON.stringify("Error: " + request));
    }
});

}

function buttonClick() {
    var url = testAjax();
}

Answer 1

There is a data attribute for queries to be added to your url so you don't have to do it yourself. Check this out:

function testAjax(){
$.ajax({
    type : 'POST',
    url : 'https://api.data.gov/ed/collegescorecard/v1/schools',
    data: {
       'name': 'University of Cincinnati',
       'api_key': 'whatever'
    },
    dataType : 'json',
    success : function(data) {
        //if the request is successful do something with the data
        alert(data);
    },
    error : function(request){
        //if the request fails, log what happened
        alert(JSON.stringify("Error: " + request));
    }
});

I'm not sure if this is your only problem, but it might help.