is it possible to "catch" a php-varibale ?

is it possible to "catch" a php-varibale ?

Sorry if the title scared you, don't know how i'm suppose to phrase it.

Ok so i'm looking into the $.ajax() function. Very interesting stuff.
i'm just practicing to learn and to do that i have this form, just name and email, i want to send it to a DB. so i do the following:
$(function() {
  $(".button").click(function() {
      
   var name = $("input#name").val();
   var email = $("input#email").val();
   var phone = $("input#phone").val();
      
   var dataString = 'name='+ name + '&email=' + email + '&phone=' + phone;
   //alert (dataString);return false;
      
   $.ajax({
      type: "POST",
      url: "bin/process.php",
      data: dataString,
      success: function() {
        $('#contact_form').html("<div id='message'></div>");
        $('#message').html("<h2>eureka!</h2>")
        .hide()
        .fadeIn(1500, function() {
          $('#message').append("<img id='checkmark' src='images/check.png' />");
        });
      }
     });
    return false;
   });
});[/quote]


ok so that i get, BUT if there is a problem with the insert-query it would still show the "success-box". That's not what i was aiming for so, i am looking for a way to get a php-variable into my js-script
what i would like to do is to add a variable in my php script named $ok.
i would than like to check with Jquery if $ok == 1 if so show the successbox, otherwise show an other box with e.g. the mysql-error. Is this possible or not and if so, how please ?