Refreshing div contents

Refreshing div contents

I am trying to refresh the contents of a division without refreshing the entire page when a button is clicked.

I have tried

$("#close_add_event").click(function(html){
$("#add_event_div").fadeOut(600);
$("#contents_inner").html(html);
});


I have also tried

$("#close_add_event").click(function(html){
$("#add_event_div").fadeOut(600);
$("#contents_inner").replaceWith($('#contents_inner', $(html)));
});


But all this does is clear the contents of the div. Can anyone show me where I am going wrong. Most of the tutorials I have found are refreshing a div with external contents.