When to use jQuery.ajax and when to use jQuery.post ?

Question

It seems, at the first glass, that we can use either of those. I'm wondering, however, when should we use one or the other, assuming a scenario where we can do the same thing with any of those two.

Thanks in advance, MEM

Answer 1

jQuery.post is a shorthand method which calls jQuery.ajax.

If you don't need any functionality not supported by the shorthand, you might as well use it.

It's defined like this:

post: function( url, data, callback, type ) {
    // shift arguments if data argument was omited
    if ( jQuery.isFunction( data ) ) {
        type = type || callback;
        callback = data;
        data = {};
    }

    return jQuery.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: url,
        data: data,
        success: callback,
        dataType: type
    });
},

Answer 2

The $.post is actually derived from $.ajax. You can use $.post when you want want to set the POST method in your request. $.ajax allows you to set both GET and POST request methods.

Answer 3

Using $.ajax allows you to set callbacks for failure, and completion, while $.post has callback only for success. Also, $.ajax allows to set a callback to be invoked before the sending of the request and set other useful parameters as timeout time , username or password if the target script needs authentication.

In short, $.post is a useful shortcut to use in the simpler situation, while $.ajax offers full control on the request.