I am running into some issues with the AJAX portion of a Wordpress site feature that takes a zip code entered on a form uses a PHP function to find if the zip code refers to a specific location and returns a permalink to that location.
My first question was about the form I built. Right now I have the form-action blank because I don't want the form to really go anywhere, just make the AJAX call. Is there anything extra I need to do in the form to indicate the data entered should go to an AJAX function?
<form id="zipcode" action="" method="post"><input class="form-control search-input" autocomplete="off" name="zipcode" type="text" value="" placeholder="Enter Zip Code" />
The next question I have is about the filter function in my functions.php file. I'm not sure exactly how to go about getting the form data passed inot the filter data, this is what I have tried below, I also included the zip_search function which returns the permalink.
/**
* LOCATION SEARCH FILTER AJAX
*
* call location search filter ajax
*
* @return ajax json data via function.
*/
add_action( 'wp_ajax_locations_search', 'prefix_ajax_locations_search' );
add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_locations_search', 'prefix_ajax_locations_search' ); //used for handling AJAX requests from unauthenticated users
function prefix_ajax_zip_search_filter() {
// Handle request then generate response using WP_Ajax_Response
$zipcode = $_POST[ 'zipcode' ];
//return our filtered location data
echo zip_search($zipcode);
wp_die(); // this is required to terminate immediately and return a proper response
}
//Function that contains zip code search functionality
function zip_search($userZip){
$args = array(
'posts_per_page' => -1,
'post_type' => 'Locations'
);
$wp_query = new WP_Query($args);
if( $wp_query->have_posts() ): while( $wp_query->have_posts() ) : $wp_query->the_post();
$zipField=get_field('zip_codes_services');
$zipString = $zipField . ', ';
$array = explode(', ' , $zipString); //split string into array seperated by ', '
foreach($array as $value) //loop over values
{
if($value==$userZip){
$post_id = get_the_ID();
$permalink=get_permalink($post_id);
return ($permalink); //print
}
}
endwhile;
wp_reset_postdata();
endif;
}
Lastly I created a separate js folder containing the below scripts.js seen below, for now I just wanted it to redirect to an example site if my form is not blank. Right now the only thing that happens when I submit a zipcode into the form is the page refreshes.
$("form#zipcode").on("submit", function(event) {
$('form#zipcode .clear-button').addClass('active');
event.preventDefault();
zipcode_search(zip_search_filter());
});
function zipcode_search(zip_search_filter) {
//add ajax loader
$("form#zipcode .ajax-content-loader").addClass("active");
//process the form
$.ajax({
type: "POST", // define the type of HTTP verb we want to use (POST for our form)
url: ajaxcall.ajaxurl,
data: {
action: "locations_search", //calls the function in the functions.php file
zip_search_filter: zip_search_filter
},
success: function(response) {
//redirect to new page
if (response != "") {
alert("You will now be redirected.");
window.location = "http://www.example.com/";
}
//remove the loader
$("#zipcode .ajax-content-loader").removeClass(
"active"
);
}
});
return false; //prevents the form from submitting to a new page.
}
Does anyone have experience with AJAX calls in Wordpress, any advice is appreciated.