calling ajax from within a php function having a switch ($this->method) - php

Question

when creating an XMLrequest in a php file having a code which goes something like this... I am using a MVC ( model-view-controller structure ) and this is a controller php file..
Controller_Institute extends Controller_Default{
function register(){
try {
$this->requireLogin();
switch($this->method){
case 'GET':
$content = $this->render('institute_registration_confirm');
break;
case 'POST':
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM password WHERE pass='".mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['pass'])."'");
$num=mysql_num_rows($result);
if($num==2)
{
$content = $this->render('institute_registration');
}
else
{
$content = $this- >render("message",array('msg'=>'Your password is incorrect'));
}
break;
}
$institute = R::dispense('institute');
$institute- >import($_POST,'name,latitude,state,longitude,address,phone,year,url');
$id = R::store($institute);
}
catch(exception $e){
//If there was an error anywhere, go to the error page.
$content = $this->render('error',array('exception'=>$e));
}
$page = $this->render('default',array('content'=>$content));
return $page;
}
i am sending the ajax request from within the function ... so when the ajax sends back the request , it gets caught in the switch case... and then the response text becomes the function return value replacing the actual text... any idea how to prevent the xml response from getting into the switch case...? the institute_registration is the view file and i am including that file in my framework and then triggering the ajax function from within that file to check whether the password ( to enable registration form ) is correct or not...

Answer 1

Given the limited information and pseudo-code, I recommend setting up a stand-alone page called say... "ajax.php" that is stand alone and doesn't base it's return value on the request method. The pages that use AJAX will need to either POST or GET from this page depending.
If you determine whether or not regular output vs AJAX output is returned via request method, then you are limiting yourself in 2 ways. The first is you will not be able to do 1 or the other on your web pages (GET vs POST) instead of both. Also, the second, when it comes to the AJAX, you will not be able to run GET & POST AJAX requests, and yes, you can do both with AJAX: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/5-ways-to-make-ajax-calls-with-jquery/