Question

i noticed that when i provide an invalid URL to get() i get no errors

$.get(nextHref, function(data, status, xhr) {
  alert(status);
  if (status == "error") {
    alert("an error has occured: " + xhr.status + " " + xhr.statusText);
  }

alert(status); nv even runs when i provide an invalid URL

Answer 1

The $.get() callback is a success function, so this will never run on error, you can either use $.ajax() for the full version, or rig up a global error event handler, whichever is more appropriate.

If you want to use $.ajax(), use the error callback, like this:

$.ajax({
  url: nextHref,
  success: function(data) {
    //do something with good data, what comes after your if statement currently
  },
  error: function(xhr, status, error) {
    alert("an error has occured: " + xhr.status + " " + xhr.statusText);
  }
});

Or use the global event handler $().ajaxError() like this:

$(document).ajaxError(function(e, xhr) {
    alert("an error has occured: " + xhr.status + " " + xhr.statusText);   
});

Or, use $.ajaxSetup() to add an error handler for all requests, like this:

$.ajaxSetup({
  error: function(xhr, status, error) {
    alert("an error has occured: " + xhr.status + " " + xhr.statusText);
  }
});