How to return the callback of .fail() if the return dataType is not a html?

Question

How can I return the callback of .fail() if the return dataType is not a html?

$.ajax({
  type:       "GET",
  dataType:   "html",
  url:        "server.php",
  async:      true,

  beforeSend: function() {
  },

  success: function (returndata) {

    console.log(returndata); // I will get {"message":"something"}

  }

}).fail(function(jqXHR) { // this callback does not work

    alert("error"); 

});

For instance, in server.php,

header('Content-Type: application/json');
echo '{"message":"something"}';

I will get {"message":"something"} instead of error;

any ideas?

edit:

    $.ajax({
        type:       "GET",
        dataType:   "xml",
        url:        "server.php",
        async:      true,

    beforeSend: function() {
    },

    success: function (returndata) {

        console.log(returndata); // I will get {"message":"something"}

    }

    }).fail(function(jqXHR) { // this callback does not work

        alert("error"); 

    });

if I change the dataType: to "xml", it will return the error (which is what I want) when it is expected xml - why does it not work in the same way for "html"?

Answer 1

Check whether your server responds JSON as plain text encoding or application/JSON. If it is JSON, use error() method instead fail(). It will go to error method if content type mismatches. Here is an example.

$.ajax({
    type: "GET",
    dataType: "JSON",
    url: "google.com",
    async: true,
    success: function(data) {

    },
    error: function(err) {
        console.log("Err", err)
    }
});

Above code will work fine with error method and go to error if content type is html. Try this in your scenario.