PHP Ajax form store dropdown selection as variable - php

Question

I have a php form where the user will select from a dropdown to see a data set. The data refreshes on the screen with the use of an ajax call. I am using the 'html' datatype so I can refresh the output into the appropriate div section.
The page refreshes with the correct data as expected, but I need to have the dropdown selection stored as a variable in php. I am not sure how to do this and spent the better part of a day doing research without success.
Here is the form:
<form action="" id="postForm" method="POST">
<select name="name" id="name">
<option value="1">1</option>
<option value="2">2</option>
</select>
<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Go">
</form>
Here is the ajax:
$(document).ready(function(){
$('#submit').click(function() {
$('#waiting').show(500);
$('#Form').hide(0);
$('#message').hide(0);
$.ajax({
type : 'POST',
dataType : 'html',
url : '/?tmpl=component',
data: $('#postForm').serialize(),
success : function(data){
$('#waiting').hide(500);
$('#div-section-to-be-updated').html(data);
$('#message').text('Your data has been updated').show(500);
$('#message').hide(4000);
}
,
error : function(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {
$('#waiting').hide(500);
$('#message').removeClass().addClass('error')
.text('There was an error.').show(500);
$('#Form').show(500);
}
});
return false;
});
});
I want to store "name" as $name when the user clicks submit.

Answer 1

create session variable and store data in it.
session_start();
$_SESSION]['name'] = $_POST['name'];
Now you can simply access Session as a PHP variable.