Question

Thanks, I am passing in the array via json now and setting datatype to json, per your example as:

{"car_make_id":"3","car_engine_type":"Non-Turbo Petrol"}{"car_make_id":"3","car_engine_type":"Non-Turbo Diesel"}

But my script still refuses to append the select options and values?:

$("select#make").change(function(){
    $('#engine').find('option').remove().end(); //clear the engine ddl
    var make = $(this).find("option:selected").val(); //Need the value not the text - .Text()
    //alert(make);
    //do the ajax call
    $.ajax({
        url:'get-engine.php',
        type:'GET',
        data:{engine:make},
        dataType:'json',
        cache:false,
        success:function(data){                    
//var parsedjson = data=JSON.parse(data);  //no need if data:type json

$.each(data, function(index, item) {


    $("<option/>", {
        value: item.car_make_id,
        text: item.car_engine_type
    }).appendTo("#engine");
});


    }

});
});

Can’t seem to find why it will not parse the array?

Answer 1

The JSON structure is horrible so the real problem is to fix your JSON to be logical. Anyways
here’s what you can try with the current one:

$.ajax({
    url: 'grabdata.php',
    type: 'GET',
    data: {
        type: make
    },
    dataType: "json",
    cache: false,
    success: function (data) {

        $.each(data, function (index, item) {

            for( var key in item ) {}

            $("<option/>", {
                value: key,
                text: item[key]
            }).appendTo("#engine");
        });
    },
    error: function (jxhr) {
        alert(jxhr.responseText);
    }
});

jsfiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/DBg2L/1/