Pass values into an external js file - php

Question

Hey I hope someone can help me out,
I have an external js file that resides in the webroot/js folder that I insert into my view using:
echo $this->Html->script('script');
In the js file I have an ajax request to insert data into my database:
var assetData = {
"project_id": $("#projectId").val(),
"asset_id":"??",
"content": "content":$(this).html()
};
$.ajax({
url:'/assets/add',
type:"POST",
data:assetData
});
In my view I created a hidden form field with the project_id so that I can get it in the js file, however the asset items are created dynamically, the are created and saved into the assets table, and now I want to update that asset with the content.
What would be the best way to get the asset? I can't get the id and save it, for example, in the div's id because it was created in the js file.
I would really appreciate any suggestions!

Answer 1

/assets/add should return the ID of the asset it created.
If you're inserting into a mysql database, then one option is to use mysql_insert_id (there are mysqli and pdo equivilents on the manual).
var assetData = {
"project_id": $("#projectId").val(),
"content": "content":$(this).html()
};
$.ajax({
url:'/assets/add',
type:"POST",
data:assetData,
dataType:'text',
success:function (data)
{
assetData['asset_id'] = (int)data;
}
});
And then your /assets/add should echo out the ID after it is created
echo $asset_id; // some INT id

Answer 2

So you may want to consider HTML partials. These are little bits of HTML representing anything from a single tag, to a popup. The important thing is that it does not have the or tag.
$.post('/assets/add', data, function (html) {
$('#assets').append(html);
}, 'html');
After you POST data, your call returns a snippet of HTML. You can then append that HTML to a DIV on the page.
<div id="assets">
<div class="asset" id="asset-1">
<p>Asset content</p>
</div>
</div>
In your controller (I assume it's CakePHP), you have:
if ($this->Asset->save($this->data)) {
$this->autoLayout = false;
$this->render('asset_partial.html');
}

Answer 3

Using the suggestions I received this is how I managed to solve the problem:
javascript file:
$.ajax({
url:'/assets/create',
type:"POST",
data:assetData,
dataType:'text',
success: function (response) {
if (response.success) {
alert("response: "+response);
} else {
//console.log(response.data, response.code);
alert("response: "+response);
}
}
});
Controller:
public function create($id = null) {
if ($this->data != null) {
$this->Asset->save($this->data);
$this->autoRender = false;
echo $this->Asset->id;
}
}