Ajax in codeigniter always returns false - php

Question

I need to compare two datetime objects but the ajax ain't working.
javascript
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
$('.datepicker').change(function(){
var date=$(this).data('datepicker').getFormattedDate('yyyy-mm-dd');
$(this).attr('value',date);
});
$('#collectDate').change(function(){
var collectDate=$('#collectDate').val();
var expiryDate=$('#expiryDate').val();
$.post("index.php?ajaxController/fine",{collectDate:collectDate,expiryDate:expiryDate},
function(data){
if(data){
$('#fine').hide();
$('#collectFine').removeAttr('required');
}
else if(!data){
$('#fine').show();
$('#collectFine').attr('required');
}
});
});
$('#fine').hide();
});
</script>
Controller
<?php
class ajaxController extends CI_Controller{
public function fine() {
$data['collectDate']= $this->input->post('collectDate');
$data['expiryDate']= $this->input->post('expiryDate');
$this->load->view("backend/admin/fine",$data);
}
}
View
<?php
$collectDate=$collectDate;
$date= explode('/',$expiryDate);
$expiryDate1=new DateTime($date[2]."-".$date[0]."-".$date[1]);
$diff=$collectDate->diff($expiryDate);
if($diff>=0){
echo true;
}
else {
echo false;
}
I've also tried simple comparison operators but all in vain. It always executes the else part in success function.

Answer 1

It always returns false because you cannot really catch true/false in php code with ajax. What that code in your view does, is make some calculations, return true or false AND THEN RENDER AN HTML PAGE, an empty one in your case.
Calling that page with ajax, means you read the HTML, which if an empty page, means no data returned, so FALSE.
What you need to do is something like this:
In your view:
if($diff>=0){
echo 'true';
}
else {
echo 'false';
}
And in your jQuery:
$('#collectDate').change(function(){
var collectDate=$('#collectDate').val();
var expiryDate=$('#expiryDate').val();
$.post("index.php?ajaxController/fine",{collectDate:collectDate,expiryDate:expiryDate},
function(data){
if(data.indexOf('true') > -1){
$('#fine').hide();
$('#collectFine').removeAttr('required');
}
else if(data.indexOf('false') > -1){
$('#fine').show();
$('#collectFine').attr('required');
}
});
});
This should be fine.