ajax post but can't prevent refresh - php

Question

I have a problem with my page refreshing after ajax posts, I've tried like 6 differing variations and at one point I was getting the proper result but couldn't stop the page from refreshing and after searching the net and around on this site now none of it is working and it's still refreshing...
current code is:
$('#submit_btn').click(function() {
/*event.preventDefault();*/
var curPassword = $("input#curPassword").val();
var newPassword = $("input#newPassword").val();
var new2Password = $("input#new2Password").val();
/*var params = 'curPassword='+ curPassword + '&newPassword=' + newPassword + '&new2Password=' + new2Password; */
var params = {
curPassword: curPassword,
newPassword: newPassword,
new2Password:new2Password
};
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "testAjax.php",
data: params,
success: function(msg){
alert(msg);
}
});
return false;
});
the form is:
<form method="post" action="" name="confirmChange" class="confirmChange">
<label for="curPassword">Current Password:</label>
<input type="password" name="curPassword" id="curPassword" value="" />
<label for="newPassword">New Password:</label>
<input type="password" name="newPassword" id="newPassword" value="" />
<label for="new2Password">Confirm New Password:</label>
<input type="password" name="new2Password" id="new2Password" value="" />
<br />
<input type="button" name="confirmChange" class="confirmChange" id="submit_btn" value="Change" />
Appreciate any help in getting this to work =/
Update:
Took out the other non-directly-related code as it kinda cluttered the question. Also updated code to refelect latest revision.
I changed the ajax url to a simple textAjax.php with a simple echo hello world nothing else, where I'm still getting nothing.
Update 2
Tried changing javascript code to:
$('#submit_btn').click(function() {
alert('Button Clicked');
});
And I'm getting nothing... If that is the form below how is it possible the click function isn't working at all?

Answer 1

You don't need to use the type="submit" for your input. Just use type="button" and call the ajax function on the button's click event.
<input type="button" name="confirmChange" class="confirmChange" id="submit_btn" value="Change">
$('#submit_btn').click(function() {
(ajax code here)
});
preventDefault() would also work, but, in my opinion, why prevent an event from naturally occurring when you can just avoid using the submit button altogether?
Update: I just realised that using the submit would allow users to hit enter to trigger your actions, so perhaps there's also some merit in that. In any case, here's a similar question that contains elaborations into preventDefault().
Update 2: You need to fix your parameters in the ajax function. Use an array instead of trying to build a query string:
var params = {
curPassword: curPassword,
newPassword: newPassword,
new2Password:new2Password
};

Answer 2

Encapsulate your AJAX call within the following code block
$('form.confirmChange').submit(function(event) {
event.preventDefault();
#Rest of your code goes in here
});
preventDefault() will prevent the default action of an event from triggering.

Answer 3

Try this
<script>
function refreshpage(){
(ajax code here)
return false;
}
</script>
<form onsubmit="return refreshpage();">
<input type = "submit" value="submit_btn">
</form>

Answer 4

I think I fixed it by using:
$('#submit_btn').live('click', (function() {
I at least started getting a response when clicking, but I'm not updating or getting any echo's back from the php file but hopefully that'll be easier to debug. :)

Answer 5

I had the same problem. Just like you, I had wrapped my <input> tags inside a <form> tag pair. Even though there was no <submit>, I found that when I clicked my button to trigger the Ajax call, it was refreshing the page - and actually submitting the form to the page.
I ended up removing the <form> tags and this behaviour stopped, but the Ajax still works as expected. I hope this helps anyone else that is experiencing this.

Answer 6

Use a loop to run the ajax call only once.
var i;
for(i=0;i<1;i++){
//ajax code here
}
So, then it will not call again and again..