Question

Need some help understanding the difference between the success and ajaxSuccess events documented here.

success is a local event, while ajaxSuccess is a global event. I understand the difference between a local and global variable, but am having some trouble understanding the concept of event scope.

What are some sample scenarios where one would be preferred over the other?

Answer 1

you can use global events as such:

$.ajaxSuccess(function(){
//do my global thing here
});

as the global event will fire for every ajax call success, not just the one.

but the

success: function(){/* do local here */});

ONLY fires within the local ajax call function as a private object of that.

Note the

$.ajaxComplete(function(){ });

might be what you are after as it fires on the complete – with or without an error.

EDIT: Special note of the local success: in ajaxSetup global: (this is NOT recommended and you should use the $.ajaxSuccess)

$.ajaxSetup({
    success: function() {
       // local within the ajaxSetup
    }
});

Now, why would we use one over the other? Perhaps you need special filtering of the object returned:

$(selector1).ajax({
    success: function(data){
        processMySelector1JSON(data);
    }
});
$(selectorOther).ajax({
    success: function(data){
        processMySelectorOtherJSON(data);
    }
});
$.ajaxSuccess(function(){
  $('#message').text('Ajax Done!').fadeIn(function(){$(this).fadeOut();});
});