在PHP中使用AJAX POST值

Question

I'm trying to evaluate what PHP information to display depending on when a user selects that item from a list. After help and some research, I've heard a lot about AJAX and have looked into it, however, I'm a bit confused on the use of it.

I have an AJAX function to return to me a variable value from an external PHP file and it's working as anticipated. However, I would really like to capture that and set it to a PHP variable to continue my script execution. How does one accomplish this? I want to stay within the same file as the one that called the AJAX function. I don't think I fully comprehend how it all works and I'm still unsure of the exact method to get that value as a variable in my current PHP file.

My AJAX:

function captureName(item){
        $.ajax({
            type: 'POST',
            url: 'externalFile.php',
            data: { item: item },
            success: function(data) {
            alert(data);
            }
        });
    }                           

My PHP External File:

  $item = $_POST['item'];
   echo $item;

Stuff I want to set on my current PHP File determined by what is returned by AJAX:

    switch ($item){
                 case "item1":
                     $itemName = "item1";
                     $location = "location";
                     $HWType = "HW Type";
                 break;
                 case "item2":
                     $vmName = "item2";
                     $location = "location2";
                     $HWType = "HW Type2";                       
                     break; 

}

Answer 1

You can do it in 1 shot.

your javascript :

function captureName(item){
    console.log(item);
    $.post('externalFile.php', {item:item}, function(jsonTabInfo){
        console.log(jsonTabInfo);
    }, 'json');        
}

your PHP :

$item = $_POST['item'];

$tabInfo = array();
switch ($item){
     case "item1":
         $tabInfo['itemName'] = "item1";
         $tabInfo['location'] = "location";
         $tabInfo['HWType'] = "HW Type";
     break;
     case "item2":
         $tabInfo['vmName'] = "item2";
         $tabInfo['location'] = "location2";
         $tabInfo['HWType'] = "HW Type2";
         break; 
     default:
         $tabInfo['vmName'] = "Unknown";
         $tabInfo['location'] = "Unknown";
         $tabInfo['HWType'] = "Unknown";
}

echo json_encode($tabInfo);

In PHP you use JSON to send all your info to your client (javascript). Those informations are new stored in jsonTabInfo