What are the differece between these two forms of Ajax calls - php

Question

This code is from tiztag tutorial
function ajaxFunction(){
var ajaxRequest; // The variable that makes Ajax possible!
try{
// Opera 8.0+, Firefox, Safari
ajaxRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (e){
// Internet Explorer Browsers
try{
ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e) {
try{
ajaxRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e){
// Something went wrong
alert("Your browser broke!");
return false;
}
}
}
// Create a function that will receive data sent from the server
ajaxRequest.onreadystatechange = function(){
if(ajaxRequest.readyState == 4){
document.myForm.time.value = ajaxRequest.responseText;
}
}
ajaxRequest.open("GET", "serverTime.php", true);
ajaxRequest.send(null);
}
This is another one I find throughout jQuery website:
$.ajax({
type:"GET" // or "POST"
url: url,
data: data,
success: success,
dataType: dataType,
error: //function
});
I've been trying to use both ways to get some sort of response from PHP file. The first example works but I also want to get the second form to work... could someone give me some guidance? In my php all i have is:
<?php
echo("Response from PHP");
?>

Answer 1

The difference between the two is almost nothing. jQuery just prevents you from doing the extra boiler plate code surrounding the cross browser compatibility.
The jQuery documentation should give you all the information you need.
You will need to have an url variable, and a success variable.
The url variable will be a string to the URL in which you're trying to send this information.
The success variable will be a 'callback' function that will do whatever it is you're trying to do. It will ONLY be called if your call was a success.
Always check your Javascript console to see what your errors are.

Answer 2

Try this
$.ajax({
type:'GET' // or "POST"
url: 'http://www.yoursite.com/yourPhpFile.php',
data: 'some text',//Can be multiple data using object
success: function(data){
alert(data);
},
error: function(){
//Do something if an error is occurred
}
});