why cant I return data from $.post (jquery)

Question

I must be making a silly mistake but I cannot return the data I get from a $.post function and store it in a variable, not only that, I cannot return ANYTHING from within th

Answer 1

You are using the more streamlined .post() method. This is both more finicky to work with (IMHO) and somewhat less powerful than the larger form, $.ajax().

Personally, I have found the .ajax() method to be preferable because the added structure makes it easier to format. Also, you can do more with .ajax (there are more options, such as turning off asynch which is sometimes very useful when you want to delay processing until the data has been returned).

Here is a simple example of using the full $.ajax() method. Note the success function at the bottom -- that is where you can use the data sent back from the other PHP file!