Receive .ajax in PHP without form - php

Question

I've got this script:
<script>
var request;
$("#foo").click(function(event){
request = $.ajax({
url: "/votesHandler.php",
type: "post",
data: "true"
});
request.done(function (response, textStatus, jqXHR){
alert("Voted!");
});
request.fail(function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown){
alert(
"Oops, something went wrong"
);
});
request.always(function () {
alert("Done.");
});
</script>
And what I'm trying to do is send "true" to the server when the #foo element is clicked. I've used AJAX only a few times before and each time it was with forms. The problem is that I need to receive this POST request in PHP (with $_POST['foo']) but this time the input is not the name of a text input. How do I send data into $_POST without a form?

Answer 1

You can specify the key of data when you send to your url.
$.ajax({
data: {foo: 'true'}
});
To retrieve it use
$_POST['foo']

Answer 2

Send it as:
data: 'foo_clicked=1',
or
data: 'foo_clicked=' + somevarname,
On the PHP side:
$recd = $_POST['foo_clicked'];
if ($recd == 1) {
//do what you need to do
}

Answer 3

try this:
$("#form").submit(function (e) {
var postData = $(this).serializeArray();
var formURL = $(this).attr("action");
console.log(formURL); //your form action
$.ajax({
url: formURL,
type: "POST",
data: postData,
beforeSend: function () {
//do
},
success: function (data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
console.log('success data');
//whatever
},
error: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
//if fails
console.log('fail');
}
});
e.preventDefault(); //STOP default action
});