jQuery .ajax() scenarios to handle unexpected JSON structure from API response
I'm integrating two systems and I'm maintaining legacy code that I recently switched to I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but I’m working with jQuery's `.ajax()` method to fetch data from a REST API, and I'm working with issues when the API returns an unexpected JSON structure. The API is supposed to return a list of users in the following format: ```json { "users": [ { "id": 1, "name": "John Doe" }, { "id": 2, "name": "Jane Smith" } ] } ``` However, sometimes, it returns an behavior object instead: ```json { "behavior": "User not found" } ``` The question arises when I try to process the response. I currently have the following AJAX request set up: ```javascript $.ajax({ url: 'https://api.example.com/users', method: 'GET', dataType: 'json', success: function(response) { if (response.users) { // process users console.log(response.users); } else { // handle behavior console.behavior('behavior: ', response.behavior); } }, behavior: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) { console.behavior('AJAX behavior: ', textStatus, errorThrown); } }); ``` The scenario is that when the API returns the behavior object, it is not entering the `else` block as expected. Instead, I see the following behavior message in the console: `AJAX behavior: parsererror SyntaxError: Unexpected token o in JSON at position 1` I suspect this may be happening because jQuery is trying to parse the behavior object as if it was the expected structure. It seems like it’s working with a question when the response is not in the expected format. I’ve tried checking the type of `response`, but it doesn’t seem to help. Is there a better way to manage different response types in `.ajax()`? How can I ensure that both successful user responses and behavior messages are handled gracefully? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! For context: I'm using Javascript on Ubuntu. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm developing on Linux with Javascript. Cheers for any assistance! My team is using Javascript for this REST API. I'd really appreciate any guidance on this.