Problem with jQuery ajax parameters

Question

I'm sending a date to my webservice in this format: 12/14/2010 but the "/" character is causing the posted value to be something like 0.0323483238432834. How do I literally send the date in that format? Heres the ajax code I use:

function createNewPromo() {
            var a = $("#txtDateStart").val();
            var b = $("#txtDateEnd").val();
            $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "/WebService_VehicleDisplay.asmx/createNewPromo",
                data: "{startDate:" + a + "," + "endDate:" + b + "}",
                contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
                dataType: "json",
                success: function (msg) {
                    var response = msg.d;

                },
                failure: function (msg) {
                    alert('failure');
                }
            });
        }

Edit: here is what firebug says. endDate/startDate are my parameters.(this is what is being posted to my web service.).

    JSON

endDate
    0.00021321961620469082

startDate
    0.00028429282160625445
Source
{startDate:12/21/2010,endDate:12/28/2010}

Are you sure it is posted that way rather than interpreted like that on the webservice? Can you post your webservice code? Can you show a dump of the request? — Oded
– Oded, Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 22:14
I am using firebug, it shows the source(dates in textboxes) but then shows that json sends the date as a bunch of numbers. — The Muffin Man
– The Muffin Man, Commented Dec 12, 2010 at 22:27
@Oded, it has nothing to do with my webservice, the date is being taken from my textbox correctly,but then for some reason it is treating the date like an integer and giving me the answer for 12 divided by 21 and that answer divided by 2010... — The Muffin Man
– The Muffin Man, Commented Dec 13, 2010 at 23:28

The Muffin Man · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-16 08:18:50Z

3

I figured it out, there needs to be a single quote on each side of the parameter value like so:

data: "{startDate:'"+ a +"',endDate:'"+ b +"'}"

I included a great article in my comment below about this issue. Here is a snippet from it:

"Again, remember that a Content-Type of application/json is a requirement when working with ASMX ScriptServices. By setting that Content-Type on the request, you’ve committed to sending JSON serialized parameters, and a URL encoded string is far from valid JSON."

edited Dec 16, 2010 at 8:18

answered Dec 14, 2010 at 0:02

The Muffin Man

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2 Comments

matthewpavkov Over a year ago

Hmm...interesting. I don't see any mention of a need for ' on the jQuery docs.

The Muffin Man Over a year ago

@metthewpavkov, there is a few stipulations about this. You don't need it for regular strings, but if there is arithmatic operators in the string it will try to evaluate it. The following URL goes into depth about this issue and actually brings up how the jQuery documentation is subtle about the syntax: encosia.com/2010/05/31/…

matthewpavkov · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-14 00:02:25Z

0

Use encodeURIComponent() on the string.

http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_escape.asp

data: "{startDate:" + encodeURIComponent(a) + "," + "endDate:" + encodeURIComponent(b) + "}",

edited Dec 14, 2010 at 0:02

answered Dec 12, 2010 at 22:16

matthewpavkov

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2 Comments

The Muffin Man Over a year ago

If you read the link you gave me it says "This function encodes special characters, with the exception of: * @ - _ + . /".

matthewpavkov Over a year ago

@nick Oops. You could try encodeURIComponent(). Also, if you do an alert(a + b) before your ajax, do you get the correct dates?

m0sa · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-14 08:19:09Z

0

The jQuery docs says:

By default, data passed in to the data option as an object (technically, anything other than a string) will be processed and transformed into a query string, fitting to the default content-type "application/x-www-form-urlencoded".

So, you have to manually serialize the data as JSON if you want to send it as JSON (using json.org or similar)

var data = {param1: 'value1', param2: 'value2', paramArray: ['a','b','c']}; 
$.ajax({ 
    ...
    data: JSON.stringify(data), // using json.org
    ... 
});

edited Dec 14, 2010 at 8:19

answered Dec 12, 2010 at 22:55

m0sa

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2 Comments

The Muffin Man Over a year ago

i'm confused, this is how i'm handling the paramters. Except your syntax is wrong, their has to be quotes after data like how I have it.

m0sa Over a year ago

@nick sorry, I misunderstood your question, fixed my answer.

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