Use action from controller to return data to AJAX or load views with content?

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
Hi all, I'm creating a web app, sometimes I need to load a "view" to view client details, sometimes I need JSON data only.

How can I do it?

Need I create two actions? (One to return JSON data and one to load the "view").

Tks :-)

[eluser]Fationably Late[/eluser]
You could do something like this:

Code:

public function delete_image($imageID = NULL,$ajax = NULL)
  {
    $result = Media::removeImage($imageID);
    if($ajax){
      echo json_encode($result);
      exit; // <- note the exit here!
    }
    return $result;
  
  }

and append a segment to the end of your url in the ajax call.
OR
You could pass an 'unknown' variable in the $_POST array of your ajax call and check for it there.

Code:

public function delete_image($imageID = NULL)
  {
    $result = Media::removeImage($imageID);
    if( array_key_exists($this->input->post('ajax')) ){ // or however you want to check for it
      echo json_encode($result);
      exit; // <- note the exit here!
    }
    return $result;
  
  }

[eluser]Aken[/eluser]
Or you could use $this->input->is_ajax_request().

[eluser]Fationably Late[/eluser]
[quote author="Aken" date="1357772881"]Or you could use $this->input->is_ajax_request().[/quote]

That's true, I forgot about that. Good call... I was thinking though, if they're using jQuery for their ajax methods, it doesn't automatically set the header to detect such a thing (HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH), as far I'm aware. Please correct me I'm wrong here.

Plus I think there may be some added 'security' by including variables or segments (especially if they are hashed) in the request. But I'm getting off topic.

[eluser]Aken[/eluser]
Most Javascript frameworks implement that header as a psuedo-standard. It should be fairly reliable, but obviously testing and verification are important for developers. You could even use your own custom header name/value pair to "validate" the request (this is not enough for actual validation, but it works the same as is_ajax_request()).