Undefined index for get variable

Question

I have a div with the class .excelDL . OnClick of the div I am submitting a form using AJAX, without refreshing the page, which seems to work fine.

The problem I am having is I need to detect if $_GET['excel'] has been set to one after the form is submitted, in my mail.php script and I am getting an undefined index error. I started getting an undefined index error after I added the submit trigger.

I am new to ajax, I was wondering if someone can help me fix this undefined index problem.

The reason I need a trigger for my form is because all the $_POST values from the form are going to be in the excel file that will be created.

Many thanks in advance

mail.php

if($_GET['excel']==1){
    echo '<h1>hello</h1>';
}

AJAX

           $('.excelDL').click(function(){
                $('#myForm').trigger('submit', function(e){
                    $.post('mail.php?excel=1', $(this).serialize(), function (data) {
                    //SUCCESS
                    $('.successORfail').html(data);
                        setTimeout(function(){
                            $(".successORfail").fadeOut("slow", function () {
                                $(".successORfail").empty().show();
                            });
                        }, 4500);
                    }).error(function() {
                        alert("Fatal Error: mail.php not found!");
                    });
                    e.preventDefault();
                });         
            });

Answer 1

Don't issue an HTTP POST but use HTTP GET instead. Also don't put the parameter in the request URL but rather in the arguments.