How do I FORMAT a Get Url for Ajax WHERE x=post

"http://mysite.com/myphps/getdata.php?name="&textbox1.text [/code:3lsg8pe6]

the result i am looking to compute is 
$name=post_['name']
Data from base WHERE name =$name.

All the videos i have seen so far don't have the a variable to play with and I am running out of ideas.
thanks.

<?php
header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *');

$host="mysite.com/ect"; // Host name 
$username="username1"; // Mysql username 
$password="passwordtest"; // Mysql password 
$db_name="dbname1"; // Database name 
$tbl_name="table1"; // Table name

$name = mysqli_real_escape_string($con, $_POST['name']); 

// Connect to server and select database.
mysql_connect("$host", "$username", "$password")or die("cannot connect"); 
mysql_select_db("$db_name")or die("cannot select DB");

// Retrieve data from database 
$sql="SELECT * FROM pits WHERE name='$name' ";
$result=mysql_query($sql);

// Start looping rows in mysql database.
while($rows=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
echo $rows['name'] . "|" . $rows['info1'] . "|". $rows['info2'] . "|";

// close while loop 
}

// close MySQL connection 
mysql_close();
?>[/code:2t4wk5eg]
When I change this
[code:2t4wk5eg]$sql="SELECT * FROM pits WHERE name='$name' ";[/code:2t4wk5eg]
to this
[code:2t4wk5eg] $sql="SELECT * FROM pits ";[/code
I get all the data from the base back 

and when i change to 
[code]$sql="SELECT * FROM pits WHERE name='bob' ";[/code:2t4wk5eg]
I get bob's data back ,

this leads me to believe that I have screwed up the Construct2 line.

$name = $_GET['name'];
$sql = "SELECT * FROM pits WHERE name=$name "; [/code:15gvjrye]

this duz not compute to wanted output. just keep getting a blank page.

However if i change  it to select from a different column like id , 
[code:15gvjrye]$id = $_GET['id'];
$sql = "SELECT * FROM pits WHERE id=$id ";[/code:15gvjrye] 
and use a URL like " mysite.com/myphps/get.php?id=1"

I get all the data from line 1 or 2 or 3 what ever line i put at "?id= "  {it also works with other columns that hold numbers for data } but not any of the text columns,

is there a setting to stop the php reading and searching text columns ?

$name = $_GET['name'];
$sql = "SELECT * FROM pits WHERE name='$name'";
[/code:e6xf06by]