Question

I have the following script

if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
    xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else { // code for IE6, IE5
    xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}

xmlhttp.open("GET", "/getSelectedProductData?offerCollectionRef=" + offerCollectionRef + "&brandRef=" + brandRef + "&priceRef=" + priceRef + "&defaultSmallImage=" + defaultSmallImage + "&offerCode=" + offerCode + "&index=" + index, false);    

xmlhttp.send();
xmlDoc = xmlhttp.responseXML;

I know how to write a $.ajax in jQuery. But I am stuck at how to send data.

My questions are

1. The return is XML and so the dataType: xml. am I correct?
2. How should I pass the data to the url?

Please elaborate on these things.
Disclaimer: The thing is that I couldn’t test it myself and so this question.

Answer 1

1 The return is XML and so the dataType: xml. am I correct?

You actually don;t need to specify it if the server sets proper Content-Type header to text/xml. jQuery will automatically consider the result as XML

2 How should I pass the data to the url?

You could use the data hash:

$.ajax({
    url: '/getSelectedProductData',
    type: 'GET',
    dataType: 'xml', // not necessary if the server sets the Content-Type: text/xml response header
    data: { 
        offerCollectionRef: offerCollectionRef,  
        brandRef: brandRef,
        priceRef: priceRef,
        defaultSmallImage: defaultSmallImage,
        offerCode: offerCode,
        index: index
    },
    success: function(xml) {
        // ...
    }
});

Also you seem to be sending a synchronous request by setting the async parameter to false. To emulate the same with jQuery you could add the async: false option. This being said, you probably shouldn’t be doing it. SJAX (sync javascript) will block the browser during the request and ruin the user experience.