If you have a simple form like:
<div id="status"></div>
<form action="">
<input id="foo"/>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
You can do:
$("form").submit(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
$.ajax({
url: "lookup.php",
type: "POST", // Can change this to get if required
data: { foo: $("#foo").val(); },
success: function(data) {
$("#status").html(data);
},
error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
$("#status").text(textStatus);
}
});
});