$.ajax({ url: "ajax/some_handler.php", cache: false, type: "POST", data: {anyVar: 'specialValue4PHPScriptAndDataBaseFilter'}, dataType: "json", timeout:3000, success : function (data) { //console.log(data); alert(JSON.stringify(data)); Morris.Line({ element: 'TheElementName', data: data, xkey: 'someID', ykeys: ['R1', 'R2', 'R3', 'R4', 'R5', 'R6'], labels: ['n1', 'n2', 'n3', 'n4', 'n5', 'n6'], hideHover: 'auto', resize: true });},error : function (xmlHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) { alert("Error " + errorThrown); if(textStatus==='timeout') alert("request timed out");} /*References: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22746646/ajax-i-cant-get-data-from-php-by-using-json-encode*/});