The jQuery function below returns this string:
'#prayer_date'.html("03/19/1968");
But it doesn't get executed because the function below doesn't act on the data variable.
What would you need to do to have the result above executed as-is in the function below?
$('.showprayer').click( function(event)
{
$.post('/show_prayer', { 'name' : $(this).text() }, function(data)
{
// how to execute the `data` server response as-is?
});
});
Your response would need to be valid script first, like this:
$('#prayer_date').html("03/19/1968");
Then in your function you can call eval(), like this:
$('.showprayer').click( function(event) {
$.post('/show_prayer', { 'name' : $(this).text() }, function(data) {
eval(data);
});
});
....but this is almost never a good solution, there's probably a better/more direct route to do what you're after. A slightly better/safer solution is to use the expanded $.ajax() form for a global eval, like this:
$('.showprayer').click( function(event) {
$.ajax({
url: '/show_prayer',
type: 'POST',
data { 'name' : $(this).text() },
dataType: 'script'
});
});
The difference is that this uses jQuery.globalEval() which sticks the script in the <head> as if it were a normal GET requested <script>, instead of actually calling eval() on it.