jQuery .load Method causing page refresh AJAX

Question

I have a functional JSP page that accepts URL parameters and updates a table on the page with info based on those parameters.

I have a set of different tabs which pass said URL paraneters to the page they are on so it then re-loads and displays this new data.

I have been trying to use jQuery .load and .ajax methods so that i can pass these URL parameters to the page on the server and then only serve up the table via AJAX rather than doing a whole page refresh.

The problem i am having is that sometimes the page does refresh and i cannot work out why this is happening.

Here is the jQuery:

$('ul#coverTabs > li').live('click', function() {       

    // Removes default class applied in HTML and onClick adds 'currentTab' class
    $(".currentTab").removeClass("currentTab");
    $(this).addClass("currentTab"); 

    // Find href of current tab
    var $tabValue = $('ul#coverTabs > li.currentTab > a').attr('href');

    // Load new table based on href URL variables   
    $('#benefit').load($tabValue + ' #' + 'benefit');

    /*$.ajax({ 
      cache: false,
      dataType: "html",
      url: $tabValue, 
      success: function(data) { 
         //var $tableWrap = $('#benefit'); 

         //$('.benefitWrap').append($('.benefitWrap'));

         //alert($tableWrap);
      },
    });*/


    return false;       

});

Here is the HTML for the tabs:

<ul id="coverTabs">
    <li class="currentTab"><a href="quoteAction.do?getBenefitLevelDetails=getBenefitLevelDetails&amp;productPolicyId=748#a1">Individual</a></li>
    <li><a href="quoteAction.do?getBenefitLevelDetails=getBenefitLevelDetails&amp;productPolicyId=749#a1">Couple</a></li>
    <li><a href="quoteAction.do?getBenefitLevelDetails=getBenefitLevelDetails&amp;productPolicyId=750#a1">Family</a></li>
    <li><a href="quoteAction.do?getBenefitLevelDetails=getBenefitLevelDetails&amp;productPolicyId=751#a1">Single Parent Family</a></li>
</ul>

Chris Van Opstal · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-23T14:30:36.937

7

You are returning false when the user clicks on the li element, which doesn't do anything to prevent the a element within the li element from firing. You need to override their default action to prevent them from firing:

$('ul#coverTabs > li > a').click(function(event) {   
    event.preventDefault(); 
}

edited Feb 23 '10 at 14:30

answered Feb 23 '10 at 14:22

Chris Van Opstal

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Returning false within an event handler on an element does prevent navigation, just the same as preventDefault(). I agree that preventDefault() is preferable, but I don't think its his problem. – Dave Ward Feb 24 '10 at 01:15
I had the same though initially but `return false` wouldn't work in this case as it would also fire `stopPropogation()` which would prevent the event from bubbling up to the `li`. – Chris Van Opstal Feb 24 '10 at 03:49

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 23 '10 at 14:28

You should prevent the default action (navigation to link url) in click handler:

<script>
$("a").click(function(event) {
  event.preventDefault();
  // your actions
});
</script>

In your code the default action is not prevented, so when the user clicks the link, browser starts navigating to the HREF URL.

jQuery .load Method causing page refresh AJAX

2 Answers2

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