JQuery ajax php post problem - php

Question

This may sound strange but I have a JQ/AJAX/PHP post problem.
My "code" is all there and works in most situations except 1 - when I try to pass a tag through the process.
I grab the html like this
var ed = $('#fraRTE').contents().find('body #editarea').html();
#fraRTE is an iframe width an editable div #editarea hence .contents().find('body #editarea').html()
So if var ed is just "hello world etc...." there is no problem and the data is processed BUT if var ed is something like "hello world etc.... <img src="image.png">" the data is not processed - stangely if var ed is "hello world etc....<img src="image.png">" - no gap between text and the image the data is actually processed.
If I alert(ed) before the post then I see the "correct" string - whatever it's contents, post like this:
var data = 'content='+ed;
$.ajax({
type: 'post',
url: 'script.php',
data: data,
success: function(msg) {
alert(msg);
}
});
I create the data string before "data:data" as there are a few more items in the string.
my alert(msg) is set by echo $_POST['content']; on script.php
the alert(msg) tells me what has (or has not) been posted to the DB. this is where I see the problem mentioned above. i.e. the inclusion (or not) of <img...>
Suggestions please

Answer 1

jQuery is smart enough to handle turning your request data into a query string for you.
$.ajax({
type: 'post',
url: 'script.php',
data: { content: ed },
success: function(msg) {
alert(msg);
}
});
This issue you are having is the data not being properly escaped.
In order to stringify it yourself, you would have to use encodeURIComponent()
"content=" + encodeURIComponent(ed);
But it's far simpler to just let jQuery do it for you.

Answer 2

Don't use string concatenations when constructing request parameters or they won't be properly url encoded and if the parameter contains some special characters it won't be properly received. Here's the correct way:
var data = { content: ed };
$.ajax({
type: 'post',
url: 'script.php',
data: data,
success: function(msg) {
alert(msg);
}
});