Question

I just started making a PHP/AJAX site and I was wondering where I should add the functionality to ‘only include the content’.

Should I have if statements in my header and footer scripts that check for a ‘ContentOnly’ get parameter? And then append that parameter to the query strings in my AJAX calls?

Or should I use a filter on the AJAX side to only grab the main content Div. Like in jquery:

$(this).load('/myPhpPage.php #mainContentDiv') 

The first method would be faster right? But the second method would keep the AJAX functionality on the presentation side, and out og my PHP.

Or is there a third method? I want to keep my PHP scripts intact, so that if oyu go to them directly, the header and footer are there. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Please don’t use AJAX for the sake of using AJAX.

That said, most AJAX libraries pass a X-Requested-With HTTP header indicating that it’s an AJAX request. You can use that header to decide whether to include your header/footer etc.