how do I push variables onto web client for ajax?

Question

Hey guys How do I use the PHP variable $contact['id'] in my ajax call? I'm trying to create a page that retrieves all notifications associated with a user. When the page load I already know the id of the user, how do I use this parameter in my ajax calls from the beginning? At the moment I am using the php preprocessor by splitting up the php string and inserting the variables but I know this isnt a particularly good solution and doesnt for example allow me to refactor the javascript out into its own file. I am using the Zend PHP Framework by the way. Anyone know how best to achieve what I am trying to do?

<?php $this->headScript()->appendScript('
dojo.require("dijit.form.Textarea");

function getNotes(){
    dojo.xhrGet({
        url: "/manager/contacts/get-notes-html",
        content: {
            "contactId" : '.$this->contact['id'].',
        },
        load: function(response) {
                console.log("Form successfully submitted");
                dojo.byId("notesDiv").innerHTML = response;
        },
        error: function() {
                console.error("Error on submission");
                alert("error error errrrror");
        }
    });


}
dojo.addOnLoad(getNotes);
');
?>

<div id="notesDiv">

</div>

Answer 1

just put your contact_id in a variable in javascript, so you can keep the same code no matter what and it's a bit more clean.

if you don't want to pollute the global namespace just create your own like data.

i.e.

<?php $this->headScript()->appendScript('
 contact_id = ' . $this->contact['id'] .';
');

PS: also Zend Framework provide some captureStart() and captureEnd() so you can do that job in the controller

$this->view->headScript()->captureStart();
echo "foobar = {$foobar};\n";
$this->view->headScript()->captureEnd();