jQuery .Post after javascript:submit_contact() - php

Question

I'm trying to submit a little contact form.
Here is my jquery to POST:
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
function submit_contact()
{
$.post("http://www.domain.com/wp-content/themes/toronto/handlers/contact.php", {
contact_text: $("[name='contact_text']").val(),
contact_email: $("[name='contact_email']").val(),
}, function(data){
console.log( data );
});
}
});
</script>
Here is my html that handles the form:
<form method="post" >
<textarea id="contact_me_text" name="contact_text">Ask me anything!</textarea>
<div>
<input type="text" name="contact_email" value="Email"/><br/><br/>
<a id="contact_submit" href="javascript:submit_contact()">Submit</a>
</div>
</form>
Everything seems to look ok but the form is not submitting. I've run the .php file through a regular submit and it works fine.
Any thoughts?

Answer 1

You need to declare your function outside of $(document).ready() and then call it using anything.
Why can't I ?
As Local Variables cannot be accessed from outside, similarly local functions cannot also be accessed.

Answer 2

Try this:
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
function submit_contact()
{
$.post("http://www.domain.com/wp-content/themes/toronto/handlers/contact.php", {
contact_text: $("[name='contact_text']").val(),
contact_email: $("[name='contact_email']").val(),
}, function(data){
console.log( data );
});
}
$('#contact_submit').on('click', function(){
submit_contact();
return false;
});
});
</script>
and then remove the JS inside HREF attribute.

Answer 3

You need to declare the function outside ready function of jQuery. Moreover you can use serializeArray to determine data to send. By using this you will not need to mention every control name. On server side you can receive the input with same names you have mentioned in your form.
function submit_contact()
{
var params = $("#formId").serializeArray();
$.post("http://www.domain.com/wp-content/themes/toronto/handlers/contact.php", params, function(data){
console.log( data );
});
}