Ajax get shopping cart on page load - php

Question

I want to load the shopping cart whenever the page is loaded but nothing happens. The console log is not telling me anything either. I have a post to cart system that works fine, so I cant figure out why this doesnt work.
I am using Laravel with a shopping cart plugin.
$(document).ready(function() {
$.ajaxSetup({
headers: {
'X-CSRF-TOKEN': $('meta[name="csrf-token"]').attr('content')
}
});
$.ajax({
type: 'get',
url: '{{route("getCart")}}',
error: function(data) {
var errors = data.responseJSON;
console.log(errors);
},
dataType: 'json',
success: function(data) {
$('#cartResult').html(data.cartCount)
},
});
});
public function cartGet()
{
$cartCount = Cart::content() - > count();
$data = array('cartCount' => $cartCount);
echo json_encode($data);
}

Answer 1

Try return json_encode($data); instead of echo.
You can also avoid json_encode and just use return $data;.

Answer 2

Simply return $data, laravel will place the correct header in response.
if you return json_endode($data) a Content-type: text/plain header will be placed,
if you return $data (which is a structure) laravel will json_encode under the hood and place a Content-type: application/json header.
your code should look like this:
public function cartGet()
{
return ['cartCount' => Cart::content()->count()];
}

Answer 3

It might be because in your $.ajax call you've set dataType: 'json'
From the docs:
As of jQuery 1.5, jQuery can convert a dataType from what it received
in the Content-Type header to what you require. For example, if you
want a text response to be treated as XML, use "text xml" for the
dataType. You can also make a JSONP request, have it received as text,
and interpreted by jQuery as XML: "jsonp text xml". Similarly, a
shorthand string such as "jsonp xml" will first attempt to convert
from jsonp to xml, and, failing that, convert from jsonp to text, and
then from text to xml.
When you echo json_encode(), it sends the data straight to the php output stream buffer and Laravel doesn't know that it needs to add a Content-Type: application/json header to its response. Without it, maybe jQuery needs the dataType to be "text json"?
As others have mentioned, you can return $data from your controller. Laravel will automatically cast your array to json, and it will also set the appropriate Content-Type headers. Maybe try that first?