ajax() function doesn't work properly (returns parent page)

[Dolgion Chuluunbaatar]

Hello,

I am trying to make the echo example work which is in the online book.

It works fine in my index function, but it doesn't work in any other function.

I use the same callback method in both views:

def echo():
    return request.vars.keyword

and the methods (one is index, the other is called storeadmin) have identical code and views as well:

def index(): #as well as def: storeadmin():


    return dict(
                form = FORM (
                      INPUT(
                          _name='keyword',
                          _onkeyup="ajax('echo', ['keyword'], 'target');"
                      )
                  ),
                  target_div=DIV(_id='target'))

the view is:

{{extend 'layout.html'}}


{{=form}}


<br />


{{=target_div}}

In index, the ajax call works as it should, but in storeadmin, I get the entire page pasted into the target div.

I put 2 screenshots of the pages for both methods to make it more clear.

do you have any idea why this could be?

[Anthony]

Try going to http://127.0.0.1:8000/inventoryapp/default/index/ (note the trailing "/"), and you should see the same problem. On the storeadmin page, the problem should go away if you exclude the trailing "/" from the URL.

The problem is, in the call to ajax(), the URL is just 'echo'. Because it doesn't start with a "/", the browser interprets that as being relative to the current URL path, which it assumes ends after the last "/". If the current URL ends in a "/", the browser just adds "echo" to that and makes the Ajax call to the current URL (web2py will just see "echo" as a URL argument rather than a function). If you check the network traffic on the storeadmin example, you should see the Ajax call going to http://127.0.0.1:8000/inventoryapp/default/storeadmin/echo.

The best approach is to use the full URL in the Ajax call, using the URL() function:

_onkeyup="ajax(%s, ['keyword'], 'target');" % URL('default', 'echo')

We should probably change that in the book.

Anthony