jQuery returning "parsererror" for ajax request

 

jQuery returning "parsererror" for ajax request

Been getting a "parsererror" from jquery for an Ajax request, I have tried changing the POST to a GET, returning the data in a few different ways (creating classes, etc.) but I cant seem to figure out what the problem is.

My project is in MVC3 and I'm using jQuery 1.5 I have a Dropdown and on the onchange event I fire off a call to get some data based on what was selected.

Dropdown: (this loads the "Views" from the list in the Viewbag and firing the event works fine)

@{
    var viewHtmls = new Dictionary<string, object>();
    viewHtmls.Add("data-bind", "value: ViewID");
    viewHtmls.Add("onchange", "javascript:PageModel.LoadViewContentNames()");
}
@Html.DropDownList("view", (List<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.Views, viewHtmls)

Javascript:

this.LoadViewContentNames = function () {
    $.ajax({
        url: '/Admin/Ajax/GetViewContentNames',
        type: 'POST',
        dataType: 'json',
        data: { viewID: $("#view").val() },
        success: function (data) {
            alert(data);
        },
        error: function (data) {
            debugger;
            alert("Error");
        }
    });
};

The above code successfully calls the MVC method and returns:

[{"ViewContentID":1,"Name":"TopContent","Note":"Content on the top"},
 {"ViewContentID":2,"Name":"BottomContent","Note":"Content on the bottom"}]

But jquery fires the error event for the $.ajax() method saying "parsererror".

Anwsers

does it fire a javascript error in the console or does the "error" handler function of the $.ajax() command get executed? 
– arnorhs
 Feb 21, 2011 at 0:59
• sorry, should have been more specific, it fires the $.ajax() error function { alert("Error"); } 

  – dkarzon

   Feb 21, 2011 at 1:08
• Any chance of a live link? Do you see the JSON data you show in Firebug? 

  – Pekka

   Feb 21, 2011 at 1:12
• No I dont have a live link. But yes that is the JSON response shown in Firebug. 

  – dkarzon

   Feb 21, 2011 at 1:17 
• yep, my bad was a typo. Fixed the question 

  – dkarzon

   Feb 21, 2011 at 4:27
• @mu is too short - to be perfectly honest, 'javascript:' shouldn't be in there at all... 

  – JAAulde

   Feb 21, 2011 at 4:34
• Probably not, was just tried a few things. But thats not the issue im having, the event is being fired correctly. 

  – dkarzon

   Feb 21, 2011 at 6:53
• I'm also getting this issue with jQuery 1.7.2. Mine is a bit more complex though, as I'm attempting to use a ajaxPrefilter against a CORS resource. 
• 
  
•   I suspect I'm having the same issue as this guy: bugs.jquery.com/ticket/12783 I'm only posting this here in case someone else is also getting this issue on the latest version of jquery while trying to parse valid JSON. 

  – hendrikswan

   Jan 2, 2013 at 9:47

I recently encountered this problem and stumbled upon this question.

I resolved it with a much easier way.

Method One

You can either remove the dataType: 'json' property from the object literal...

Method Two

Or you can do what @Sagiv was saying by returning your data as Json.

---

The reason why this parsererror message occurs is that when you simply return a string or another value, it is not really Json, so the parser fails when parsing it.

So if you remove the dataType: json property, it will not try to parse it as Json.

With the other method if you make sure to return your data as Json, the parser will know how to handle it properly.

• javascript
• c#
• jquery
• asp.net
• json