Is it possible to perform a legitimate POST request using AJAX XMLHttpRequest, rather than the traditional var=val URL type post?

Question

Is it possible to perform a legitimate POST request using AJAX XMLHttpRequest, rather than the traditional var=val URL type post?

Apologies for the unclear question, but here is my query...

I recently began using Ajax and encountered an issue with sending XMLHttpRequest in the background. I am facing problems with certain html special characters in the form data, especially the & sign which terminates the variable prematurely.

For example, a value like "You & I" gets transformed into "You" after submission.

To clarify, when submitting my regular form using the GET method, the same issue arises as the variables are URL-Encoded. However, switching to the POST method preserves everything as needed.

I suspect the problem lies in this code snippet:

hr.open("POST", link, true);
hr.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

Specifically, in the 'form-urlencoded' part. Is there an alternative solution to overcome this?

I would prefer not having to clean up each variable passed through Ajax individually. :(

javascript ajax post

Answer 1

Answer №1

The use of the ampersand sign prematurely ends the variable

The ampersand symbol is meant to terminate values in x-www-form-urlencoded data. It is important to remember to encode your data when constructing URLs.

If I submit my regular form using the GET method, the same issue arises since the variables are URL-Encoded

Not quite. When you submit a regular form using GET, the inputted data will be URL Encoded and any ampersand characters within the data will be represented as %26 instead of being raw & characters, so the problem won't occur in the same way.

Is there an alternative to application/x-www-form-urlencoded?

You have the flexibility to use any data format of your choice. Some formats may be easier to generate compared to others (for example, JSON can be easily generated from a browser). However, you may face challenges decoding these formats on the server side, as traditional form handling libraries may not support JSON and require manual decoding of raw POST data.

Given that encoding your data resolves the actual issue at hand, opting for an alternative format is unnecessary.

Answer 2

The use of the ampersand sign prematurely ends the variable

The ampersand symbol is meant to terminate values in x-www-form-urlencoded data. It is important to remember to encode your data when constructing URLs.

If I submit my regular form using the GET method, the same issue arises since the variables are URL-Encoded

Not quite. When you submit a regular form using GET, the inputted data will be URL Encoded and any ampersand characters within the data will be represented as %26 instead of being raw & characters, so the problem won't occur in the same way.

Is there an alternative to application/x-www-form-urlencoded?

You have the flexibility to use any data format of your choice. Some formats may be easier to generate compared to others (for example, JSON can be easily generated from a browser). However, you may face challenges decoding these formats on the server side, as traditional form handling libraries may not support JSON and require manual decoding of raw POST data.

Given that encoding your data resolves the actual issue at hand, opting for an alternative format is unnecessary.

Is it possible to perform a legitimate POST request using AJAX XMLHttpRequest, rather than the traditional var=val URL type post?

Answer №1

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