this jquery works with coldfusion but not php, help please

[zimminy]

I worked with PHP for several years, then have worked for the last 2 with Coldfusion.

I do the following in coldfusion and tried the same type of thing in PHP, but PHP does not return proper results.
Does anyone know how I can make this work in PHP? Any tips/help VERY much appreciated, I an my daughter have a lot of coding work waiting for this answer!
Neither one of us can figure this out.



Coldfusion example:

//in the javascript/jquery section of the page:
function getOrders(customerid){
    $.get('scripts/orderrequests.cfc?method=getOrders&custid='+customerid,
        function(data){
            document.getElementById('orderdiv').innerHTML = data;
        }
    );
}



then further down on the page

<a href="javascript:getOrders(#customerid#)">Click here to list all of your orders.</a><br>
<div id="orderdiv"></div>

---------
then, briefly... in scripts/orderrequests.cfc  is the coldfusion function that gets the orders out of the database, and returns an entire html table of the orders
<cfunction name="getOrders" ...>
    <cfargument name="custid" required="yes"/>
    <cfquery.... gets the order info out of db just like any mysql query basically...>
    
    <cfsavecontent variable="tableinfox">
        <table>
            <tr><tr><td>#orderid#</td><td>#orderdate#</td></tr></table>
        </table>
    </cfsavecontent>

    <cfreturn tableinfox/>
</cfunction>
-------------------

The scenario beautifully loads the order data into the div "<div id="orderdiv"></div>" above.
Been using this for two years in coldfusion, and I would LOVE to figure out how to do the same scenario in PHP, so I tried..

function getOrders(customerid){
    $.get('includes/gettheorders.php?custid='+customerid,
        function(data){
            document.getElementById('orderdiv').innerHTML = data;
        }
    );
}
<?php
echo '<a href="javascript:getOrders('.$customerid.');">Click here to list all of your orders.</a><br /><div id="orderdiv"></div>';
?>
Then, "includes/gettheorders.php" is just a simple php query that loads the orders into a table...outputs it to it's own page, which then should be returned as that "data" in function(data)... and loaded into the div.. "document.getElementById('orderdiv').innerHTML = data;"

When I tried this with various code on "gettheorders.php", the best I can do is that, "gettheorders.php" can return ONE number "3" but not "content" like an HTML table full of content..
What do I need to do to make this kind of scenario work in PHP? I obviously want to return more content than just a number.

 

I am so hungry for this answer, you  don't even know.. but then you are programmers who have also banged your head against your desk, so I guess you do!

 

[mac_gyver]

if php is outputting the expected html, this will work.

 

it would take seeing your actual php code (less any database credentials) in order to help you with what your php code is doing or not doing.