Ajax div can't access address bar variable

Question

Can someone please advise me on how my Ajax div can get an address bar variable. The usual way just doesn't work.

My address bar currently looks like this:

http://localhost/social3/browse/?locationName=Cambridge

Obviously, the word I'm trying to access here is 'Cambridge'. Usually, I would use a little php and do this:

$searchResult = $_POST['locationName'];
echo $searchResult;

But because I'm in an Ajax div, I can't seem to get to the variable.

Do I need to add some JavaScript wizardry to my Ajax coding? (I have little knowledge of this)

My Ajax:

<script>    
window.onload = function () {
    var everyone = document.getElementById('everyone'),
        searching = document.getElementById('searching'),
        searchingSubmit = document.getElementById('searchingSubmit');

    everyone.onclick = function() {
        loadXMLDoc('indexEveryone');
        everyone.className = 'filterOptionActive';
        searching.className = 'filterOption';
    }

    searching.onclick = function() {
        loadXMLDoc('indexSearching');        
        searching.className = 'filterOptionActive';
        everyone.className = 'filterOption';
    }

     searchingSubmit.onclick = function() {
        loadXMLDoc('indexSearchingSubmit');  
    }

    function loadXMLDoc(pageName)
    {
        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("leftCont").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
            }
          }

        function get_query(){
          var url = location.href;
          var qs = url.substring(url.indexOf('?') + 1).split('&');
          for(var i = 0, result = {}; i < qs.length; i++){
            qs[i] = qs[i].split('=');
            result[qs[i][0]] = decodeURIComponent(qs[i][1]);
          }
          return result;
        }

        xmlhttp.open("GET","../browse/" + pageName + ".php?user=" + get_query()['user'],true);
        xmlhttp.send();
        }
}
</script>
<!-- ends ajax script -->

Answer 1

If your url contains the variable, you should use $_GET["key"] instead of $_POST

alternatively, you can use $_REQUEST["key"] to handle both cases.