Using AJAX to access file without extension

Question

I want to fetch the content of a file in server without extension using AJAX. Simple demonstration of code is as follows:

<html>
<head>
<script>

function read_my_file(){

var xmlhttp;
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
   {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
   xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
   }
else
   {// code for IE6, IE5
   xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
   }

xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function()
   {
   if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200)
     {
   document.getElementById ("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
     }
}

xmlhttp.open("GET","MYFILE",true);// MYFILE HAS NO EXTENSION
xmlhttp.send();

}
</script>

</head>

<body>

<h2>THIS FETCHES DATA FROM SERVER IF WORKS!!!!!!</h2>
<button type="button" onclick="read_my_file()">Request data</button>
<div id="myDiv"></div>

</body>

</html>

As the file MYFILE has no extension, I think it is interpreted as folder name and I get 404 error. How can I fix this?

Give this a shot: './MYFILE'. Where is MYFILE located in relation to your page; same directory? — Chris Forrence
– Chris Forrence, Commented May 8, 2014 at 19:02
Well, that'll be why it can't load it; xmlhttp doesn't know where to find it! Where is it located in relation to your page? — Chris Forrence
– Chris Forrence, Commented May 8, 2014 at 19:07
No, "MYFILE" has just there for illustration. Actually in real, I used the full path, "/abs/gdf/MYFILE". — Jack_of_All_Trades
– Jack_of_All_Trades, Commented May 8, 2014 at 19:20
And those are the magic words. Basically, you have to run an AJAX call to a file that's accessible to the web browser. Check here: stackoverflow.com/questions/1275262/… — Chris Forrence
– Chris Forrence, Commented May 8, 2014 at 19:22

StackUMan · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08 19:07:48Z

1

If chris's answer does not work you could also try and specify what mime-type your page should have using:

xmlHttp.overrideMimeType("application/xml");

or

xmlHttp.setRequestHeader("Accept", "text/html");

and simply replace "application/xml" or "text/html" with the type you need.

answered May 8, 2014 at 19:07

StackUMan

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2 Comments

StackUMan Over a year ago

Hmmm... try setting the mimetype to application/octet-stream, i think that is suppose to be raw data...

StackUMan Over a year ago

Although it seems as chris has given you the reason why above, instead of using absolute path try using relative. That is you use ../../basefolder/theOtherFolder/yourFile.

Chris Forrence · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08 19:45:09Z

0

If you want to load a file directly, it must be located within the web server's document root. That is, if the document root is /var/www/example.com/public, then you can access files like this:

/var/www/example.com/public/json/myfile.json
- xmlhttp.open("GET","json/myfile.json",true);
- xmlhttp.open("GET","http://www.example.com/json/myfile.json",true);

It can't, however, be accessed if the file is located at /var/files/json/myfile.json, since that lies outside the document root! You'd have to use a server-side language (such as PHP) to read the file.

answered May 8, 2014 at 19:45

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