Post Ajax Request To Plugin Function

Question

OK so I have a function as an extension to the firecheckout module to check if the email entered exists as a customer account...

I've basically followed the steps found on this url (Solution 1).. http://www.helpsforcoder.com/magento/31953-check-for-customer-email-address-exists-in-checkout.html

I've added that function to the file at...

/app/code/local/TM/FireCheckout/controllers/IndexController.php

Within class TM_FireCheckout_IndexController extends Mage_Checkout_OnepageController

But when I try to call the function over ajax I get the html for a 404 page in the alert... here's my JavaScript function...

jQuery('input[title="Email Address"]').blur(function(){
    var email = jQuery(this).val();
    new Ajax.Request("<?php echo $this->getUrl('firecheckout/index/checkEmailexists');?>", {
           method: 'Post',
           parameters: {'billing[email]':email},
           onComplete: function(transport) {
               alert(transport.responseText);
           }
       });
});

here's the IndexController.php SE wouldnt let me post the whole file... too big so I've removed other functions...

  <?php

require_once 'Mage/Checkout/controllers/OnepageController.php';

class TM_FireCheckout_IndexController extends Mage_Checkout_OnepageController
{
    protected $_updateCheckoutLayout           = null;
    protected $_shippingMethodDependsOnAddress = null;
    protected $_totalDependsOnShippingAddress  = null;


//other native functions go here...

        public function checkEmailexistsAction()
    {       

    if ($this->_expireAjax()) {
        echo 'Ajax Expired'; 
        return;
    }
    if (!$this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
        echo '!isPost'; 
        return;
    }

    $websiteId = Mage::app()->getWebsite()->getId();
    $data = $this->getRequest()->getPost('billing', array());
    $email = $data['email'];

    $customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer');

    if ($websiteId) {
        $customer->setWebsiteId($websiteId);
        }

    $customer->loadByEmail($email);

    if ($customer->getId()) {
        // This is the part of the code that runs when a customer exists ... 
        return true;
        }
    else {
        // This is the part of the code that runs when a customer does not yet exist ...
        return false; 
    }
    }
}

Answer 1

the controller function name must be name like abcAction().so your function must be public and

checkEmailexistsAction()