jQuery.ajax handling continue responses: "success:" vs ".done"?

I have been working with jQuery and AJAX for a few weeks now and I saw two different ways to 'continue' the script once the call has been made: success: and .done.

From the synopsis from the jQuery documentation we get:

> .done(): Description: Add handlers to be called when the Deferred object is resolved. > > success: (.ajax() option): A function to be called if the request succeeds.

So, both do something after the AJAX call has been completed/resolved. Can I use one or the other randomly? What is the difference and when one is used instead of the other?

success has been the traditional name of the success callback in jQuery, defined as an option in the ajax call. However, since the implementation of $.Deferreds and more sophisticated callbacks, done is the preferred way to implement success callbacks, as it can be called on any deferred.

For example, success:

$.ajax({
  url: '/',
  success: function(data) {}
});

For example, done:

$.ajax({url: '/'}).done(function(data) {});

The nice thing about done is that the return value of $.ajax is now a deferred promise that can be bound to anywhere else in your application. So let's say you want to make this ajax call from a few different places. Rather than passing in your success function as an option to the function that makes this ajax call, you can just have the function return $.ajax itself and bind your callbacks with done, fail, then, or whatever. Note that always is a callback that will run whether the request succeeds or fails. done will only be triggered on success.

For example:

function xhr_get(url) {

  return $.ajax({
    url: url,
    type: 'get',
    dataType: 'json',
    beforeSend: showLoadingImgFn
  })
  .always(function() {
    // remove loading image maybe
  })
  .fail(function() {
    // handle request failures
  });

}

xhr_get('/index').done(function(data) {
  // do stuff with index data
});

xhr_get('/id').done(function(data) {
  // do stuff with id data
});

An important benefit of this in terms of maintainability is that you've wrapped your ajax mechanism in an application-specific function. If you decide you need your $.ajax call to operate differently in the future, or you use a different ajax method, or you move away from jQuery, you only have to change the xhr_get definition (being sure to return a promise or at least a done method, in the case of the example above). All the other references throughout the app can remain the same.

There are many more (much cooler) things you can do with $.Deferred, one of which is to use pipe to trigger a failure on an error reported by the server, even when the $.ajax request itself succeeds. For example:

function xhr_get(url) {

  return $.ajax({
    url: url,
    type: 'get',
    dataType: 'json'
  })
  .pipe(function(data) {
    return data.responseCode != 200 ?
      $.Deferred().reject( data ) :
      data;
  })
  .fail(function(data) {
    if ( data.responseCode )
      console.log( data.responseCode );
  });
}

xhr_get('/index').done(function(data) {
  // will not run if json returned from ajax has responseCode other than 200
});

Read more about $.Deferred here: http://api.jquery.com/category/deferred-object/

NOTE: As of jQuery 1.8, pipe has been deprecated in favor of using then in exactly the same way.

If you need async: false in your ajax, you should use success instead of .done. Else you better to use .done. This is from jQuery official site:

> As of jQuery 1.8, the use of async: false with jqXHR ($.Deferred) is deprecated; you must use the success/error/complete callback options instead of the corresponding methods of the jqXHR object such as jqXHR.done().

> From JQuery Documentation

The jqXHR objects returned by $.ajax() as of jQuery 1.5 implement the Promise interface, giving them all the properties, methods, and behavior of a Promise (see Deferred object for more information). These methods take one or more function arguments that are called when the $.ajax() request terminates. This allows you to assign multiple callbacks on a single request, and even to assign callbacks after the request may have completed. (If the request is already complete, the callback is fired immediately.) Available Promise methods of the jqXHR object include:

jqXHR.done(function( data, textStatus, jqXHR ) {});

An alternative construct to the success callback option, refer to deferred.done() for implementation details.

jqXHR.fail(function( jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown ) {});

An alternative construct to the error callback option, the .fail() method replaces the deprecated .error() method. Refer to deferred.fail() for implementation details.

jqXHR.always(function( data|jqXHR, textStatus, jqXHR|errorThrown ) { }); 

(added in jQuery 1.6) An alternative construct to the complete callback option, the .always() method replaces the deprecated .complete() method.

In response to a successful request, the function's arguments are the same as those of .done(): data, textStatus, and the jqXHR object. For failed requests the arguments are the same as those of .fail(): the jqXHR object, textStatus, and errorThrown. Refer to deferred.always() for implementation details.

jqXHR.then(function( data, textStatus, jqXHR ) {}, function( jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown ) {});

Incorporates the functionality of the .done() and .fail() methods, allowing (as of jQuery 1.8) the underlying Promise to be manipulated. Refer to deferred.then() for implementation details.

> Deprecation Notice: The jqXHR.success(), jqXHR.error(), and jqXHR.complete() callbacks are removed as of jQuery 3.0. You can use > jqXHR.done(), jqXHR.fail(), and jqXHR.always() instead.