How do I execute a PHP query on select option choice using AJAX?

First is, you have to trigger the AJAX request by using Javascript. But I’ll be guiding you by using jQuery (a Javascript library).

Your HTML:

<select name="allbooks" id="allbooks">
  <option value="none" ></option>
  <option value="allbooks" >All Books</option>
</select>
<div id="show">
  <!-- ITEMS TO BE DISPLAYED HERE -->
</div>

After that, download jQuery.

Then lets do the script:

<script src="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32389767/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script> <!-- CHANGE THE JQUERY FILE DEPENDING ON THE VERSION YOU HAVE DOWNLOADED -->
<script type="text/javascript">
  $(document).ready(function(){ /* PREPARE THE SCRIPT */
    $("#allbooks").change(function(){ /* WHEN YOU CHANGE AND SELECT FROM THE SELECT FIELD */
      var allbooks = $(this).val(); /* GET THE VALUE OF THE SELECTED DATA */
      var dataString = "allbooks="+allbooks; /* STORE THAT TO A DATA STRING */

      $.ajax({ /* THEN THE AJAX CALL */
        type: "POST", /* TYPE OF METHOD TO USE TO PASS THE DATA */
        url: "get-data.php", /* PAGE WHERE WE WILL PASS THE DATA */
        data: dataString, /* THE DATA WE WILL BE PASSING */
        success: function(result){ /* GET THE TO BE RETURNED DATA */
          $("#show").html(result); /* THE RETURNED DATA WILL BE SHOWN IN THIS DIV */
        }
      });

    });
  });
</script>

Then lets create the get-data.php which will receive the data sent through AJAX.

if(!empty($_POST["allbooks"])){
  /* DO YOUR QUERY HERE AND GET THE OUTPUT YOU WANT */
  echo $output; /* PRINT THE OUTPUT YOU WANT, IT WILL BE RETURNED TO THE ORIGINAL PAGE */
}

You can check this example – JSfiddle.