Question

I am doing an ajax call (using JQuery) and the Rails controller needs to return a partial so I can update the page after the ajax call. It seems to me there are 2 ways of doing this. In the controller, you filter for ajax calls (request.xhr?) and return:

1. a .js.erb which gets executed on the client side as part of the Ajax call itself (dataType : script). This .js.erb file manipulates the DOM and injects the partials’ html, something like this:

   $(‘#content’).html(“<%= escape_JavaScript(render :partial => ‘success’) %>”);

2. a partial ((dataType : html). You have a success callback method on the ajax call that then performs the inject, something like this:

   $.post( url, send_data,
   function( data ) {
   $( “#result” ).empty().append( data );
   }

These 2 solutions both work perfectly, I just don’t know which one is considered better coding practice and easier to maintain down the line.

Answer 1

The second option is ideal. The Server should never be concerned with the Client.