how use ajax to custom page template

Question

i'm completely new to WordPress ajax . i'm working on new custom template . there is a custom form which stores data on custom database . for search section i need to use Ajax . then i found one way , that is create new template page which called json.php for example . it echoing the data in json formating .

is that way correct way for using ajax ? what's the better way ? anyone can help me please ?

Answer 1

then i found one way , that is create new template page which called json.php for example . it echoing the data in json formating .

No. You should never make direct requests to php files inside a theme or plugin, and you don't need to create page templates to handle AJAX requests.

If you need to handle a form, make the request to the same page that served the form and inspect the POST/GET variables.

If you need to make an AJAX request using javascript, do it to the REST API. You can register an endpoint URL with a pretty url that will respond with JSON that can be easily processed in javascript.

When registering the endpoint, you tell it the name you want for the URL, e.g. /wp-json/hossein/v1/searchdatabase, and you tell it a function to call when it's used. That function is where you do the searching of your database, and you return the data you want to send to the browser.