Ajax Call to PHP - TypeError - obj is undefined error

Ajax Call to PHP - TypeError - obj is undefined error

Trying to read ASCI color codes in order to see them on the screen. I am reading a file that is a json file to start with.  My code is below.  The response is in the attachment Created by Web Developer tools.

Here is my php code.

  1. <?php

    // Read JSON file
    $json = file_get_contents('./ASCIColors.json');

    echo $json;   

        ?>
Here is my html code.


<!DOCTYPE html>

  1. <!-- Comments about the program -->

    <html>

    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
       
    <title> Pizzi Contacts v2.1 21 Jan 2016 - contactConnect.html</title>
       
    <script src="../../jquery/jquery-2.1.1.js"></script>

    <script type="text/javascript">

        $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        dataType: "json",
        url: "response.php",    //Relative or absolute path to response.php file

        //data: {},  not used - read from file

       success: function(ret) {
      
                        $.each( ret[0], function( key, value ) {
                        alert($(".the-return").append("<style>div{background-color: "+value+"</style>)"));
                        });                     
                          
                    successmessage = 'Data was succesfully captured';
                    $("label#successmessage").text(successmessage);
                },
                error: function(ret) {
                    successmessage = 'Error';
                    $("label#successmessage").text(successmessage);
                },
           
      });


        </script>
       
       
        </head>
       
    <body>   


       
        <div class="the-return">
        [HTML is replaced when successful.-<br>
        -----------------------------------<br>
        -----------------------------------<br>
        -----------------------------------<br>
       -----------------------------------]<br>
        </div>
       
       
    </body>

    </html>