PHP access name of javascript function that fired in AJAX onclick event - php

Question

I have several buttons that the user may press to see results from a MySQL database. The onclick event on the button fires an AJAX call that goes out and retrieves the data that coincides with which button was pressed.
One of the following functions is called, depending on which button is pressed.
<script language="JavaScript">
function ChangeText1() {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php #zone_code1");}
function ChangeText2() {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php #zone_code2");}
function ChangeText3() {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php #zone_code3");}
</script>
Following are the buttons on zones.php:
<button type="button" class="active zone" name="z1" onclick="ChangeText1()">Zone 1</button>
<button type="button" class="active_zone" name="z2" onclick="ChangeText2()">Zone 2</button>
<button type="button" class="active_zone" name="z3" onclick="ChangeText3()">Zone 3</button>
Here is the php code that is retrieved from zone_code.php when a button is pressed:
<div id="zone_code1">
<?php echo '<p>' . $all_results[0]['zone_desc'] . '</p>'; ?>
</div>
<div id="zone_code2">
<?php echo '<p>' . $all_results[1]['zone_desc'] . '</p>'; ?>
</div>
<div id="zone_code3">
<?php echo '<p>' . $all_results[2]['zone_desc'] . '</p>'; ?>
</div>
And here is the div on zones.php that is populated by the ajax call:
<div id="ajax_content">
<p>Choose a zone</p>
</div>
Right now, the code works beautifully to call in the zone description for whichever button was pressed, either zone 1, zone 2, or zone 3. But I would also like to know which of the buttons was pressed, whether it was number 1, 2, or 3. There are more operations I would like to do with PHP, based on which of the buttons they pressed.
For various reasons, I cannot make the button into a submit button, or put it between form tags. Nor can I embed a link in the button. The reasons are too complicated to go into here. So I would like to be able to access either the name of the function that fired, or the name of the button that was clicked.
It may seem like a simple thing, but I am a javascript newbie, and am much more comfortable with php. I have tried various if statements in PHP, which of course didn't work, because javascript is client side and PHP is server side. I have been Googling this for a couple of hours, but haven't been able to find anything close enough to my situation to solve this. I'm not including those failed attempts here, for the sake of keeping this as short as I can. Suffice it to say I tried... I really tried.
I would very much appreciate help with this. Thank you, in advance, for your kindness and consideration.

Answer 1

<script language="JavaScript">
function ChangeText1() {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php?zone=1 #zone_code1");}
function ChangeText2() {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php?zone=2 #zone_code2");}
function ChangeText3() {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php?zone=3 #zone_code3");}
</script>
then it should be in zone_code.php's $_GET['zone'] , "1" or "2" or "3" ^^

Answer 2

You can simplify your code like this -
<script language="JavaScript">
function ChangeText(code) {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php?zoneCode="+code+" #zone_code"+code);
}
</script>
In the HTML now -
<button type="button" class="active zone" name="z1" onclick="ChangeText(1)">Zone 1</button>
<button type="button" class="active_zone" name="z2" onclick="ChangeText(2)">Zone 2</button>
<button type="button" class="active_zone" name="z3" onclick="ChangeText(3)">Zone 3</button>
In your PHP code, you can get the zoneCode as follows -
$zoneCode = $_GET["zoneCode"]

Answer 3

as we said before (see comment) i will do something like that, buttonName is then with post process:
<script language="JavaScript">
function ChangeText(value) {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php #zone_code"+value, {buttonName:"z"+value});
}
</script>
or like that, buttonName is then send with get process
<script language="JavaScript">
function ChangeText(value) {
$("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php #zone_code"+value, "buttonName=z"+value);
}
</script>
in both of the upper code you can use $("#zone_code"+value).load("zone_code.php") instead of $("#ajax_content").load("zone_code.php #zone_code"+value)
there is another post about this here
and in your html
<button type="button" class="active zone" name="z1" onclick="ChangeText(1)">Zone 1</button>
<button type="button" class="active_zone" name="z2" onclick="ChangeText(2)">Zone 2</button>
<button type="button" class="active_zone" name="z3" onclick="ChangeText(3)">Zone 3</button>