POST data to Python CGI script via jQuery AJAX

I'm trying to setup a simple script where some data is sent using the jQuery .ajax function to a Python CGI script. The Python script would just make the data posted to it uppercase, and then return that data to the HTML file, where a div would be updated with the content.

I have the code shown below. When I run it, the AJAX call executes, but ~~the div is not updated with the content.~~ the div is not updated with the data being sent.

How would I modify this code so that it updates with the data being sent?

I appreciate any help at all.

My HTML Code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8">
    <title>Python-jQuery Example</title>
    <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-2.0.3.js"></script>
    <script>
        $(function()
        {
            $.ajax({
                url: "http://localhost/cgi-bin/post.py",
                type: "post",
                datatype: "html",
                data: "here is data",
                success: function(response){
                        $("#div").html(response);
                        console.log("There is a response"); 
                }
            });
        });

    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id="div">Default Stuff</div>
</body>

My Python Code:

#!/usr/bin/python

import cgi, cgitb 
cgitb.enable() 

data = cgi.FieldStorage()

print "Content-Type: text/html"
print data

EDIT: I have updated my code to what is currently shown, and now the document updates with this string:

FieldStorage(None, None, [])

How would I modify my code so that the div updates with the data being sent?

Asked By: adeora

Source

Answer #1:

I believe that the "data" inside the $.ajax should be like a hash of a key-value pairs. try:

$.ajax(
....
  data: {
    a: "aa",
    b: "bb"
  }
...

If you see in the div something like:

MiniFieldStorage('a', 'aa')

Then you should access it via:

my_param = cgi.getfirst('a')

print "Content-Type: text/html
"
print my_param

If it's still not working, can you test it via GET instead of POST ? In addition, what's the structure of the AJAX file(s) that you're accessing ? ( is the file inside a sub-directory ? etc... )

Answered By: adeora

Answer #2:

I figured out that the data needs to be formatted as key-value pairs, like so:

$.ajax({
            url: "http://localhost/cgi-bin/variousTests/post.py",
            type: "POST",
            data: {foo: 'bar', bar: 'foo'},
            success: function(response){
                    $("#div").html(response);
                }
       });

In the Python script, I used this code to get the data from the POST request (it works the exact same way if a GET request is used):

#!/usr/bin/python

import cgi, cgitb 
cgitb.enable()  # for troubleshooting

#the cgi library gets vars from html
data = cgi.FieldStorage()
#this is the actual output
print "Content-Type: text/html
"
print "The foo data is: " + data["foo"].value
print "<br />"
print "The bar data is: " + data["bar"].value
print "<br />"
print data

Answered By: Ricky Levi

Answer #3:

I think you need to use a newline with the content type printing.

print "Content-Type: text/html "
Also, you need to provide the parameter name with your variable data. Assuming you are posting the value "xyz" with the parameter "param". So it should be: data["param"] at where the xyz resides.

print data["xyz"]
If the error still persist, then browse the url localhost/cgi-bin/post.py from the browser and check what does it return(with a GET parameter for testing of course).

Answered By: adeora

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