JavaScript Fetch API Examples

fetch-api-examples.md

Fetch API Examples

⚠️ 2019-2020: See more examples and updates on my article here!

https://danlevy.net/you-may-not-need-axios/

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DEPRECATED BELOW

Table of Contents

1. GET Requests

   1. Easy: Get JSON from a URL
   2. Intermediate: Custom headers
   3. Advanced: CORS example

2. POST/PUT Requests

   1. Easy: Posting JSON
   2. Intermediate: Posting an HTML <form>
   3. Intermediate: Form encoded data
   4. Advanced: Uploading Files
   5. Advanced: Uploading Multiple Files

3. Bonus

   1. Dependant Fetch Requests
   2. Concurrent Downloads

GET Requests

Easy: Get JSON from a URL

fetch('https://api.github.com/orgs/nodejs')
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => {
  console.log(data) // Prints result from `response.json()` in getRequest
})
.catch(error => console.error(error))

Intermediate: Custom headers

fetch('https://api.github.com/orgs/nodejs', {
  headers: new Headers({
    'User-agent': 'Mozilla/4.0 Custom User Agent'
  })
})
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => {
  console.log(data)
})
.catch(error => console.error(error))

Advanced: CORS example

CORS is primarily checked at the server - so make sure your configuration is correct on the server-side.

The credentials option controls if your cookies are automatically included.

fetch('https://api.github.com/orgs/nodejs', {
  credentials: 'include', // Useful for including session ID (and, IIRC, authorization headers)
})
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => {
  console.log(data) // Prints result from `response.json()`
})
.catch(error => console.error(error))

POST/PUT Requests

Easy: Posting JSON

postRequest('http://example.com/api/v1/users', {user: 'Dan'})
  .then(data => console.log(data)) // Result from the `response.json()` call
  .catch(error => console.error(error))

function postRequest(url, data) {
  return fetch(url, {
    credentials: 'same-origin', // 'include', default: 'omit'
    method: 'POST', // 'GET', 'PUT', 'DELETE', etc.
    body: JSON.stringify(data), // Coordinate the body type with 'Content-Type'
    headers: new Headers({
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }),
  })
  .then(response => response.json())
}

Intermediate: Posting an HTML <form>

postForm('http://example.com/api/v1/users')
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error(error))

function postForm(url) {
  const formData = new FormData(document.querySelector('form.edit-user'))

  return fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST', // or 'PUT'
    body: formData  // a FormData will automatically set the 'Content-Type'
  })
  .then(response => response.json())
}

Intermediate: Form encoded data

To post data with a Content-Type of application/x-www-form-urlencoded we will use URLSearchParams to encode the data like a query string.

For example, new URLSearchParams({a: 1, b: 2}) yields a=1&b=2.

postFormData('http://example.com/api/v1/users', {user: 'Mary'})
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error(error))

function postFormData(url, data) {
  return fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST', // 'GET', 'PUT', 'DELETE', etc.
    body: new URLSearchParams(data),
    headers: new Headers({
      'Content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8'
    })
  })
  .then(response => response.json())
}

Advanced: Uploading files

postFile('http://example.com/api/v1/users', 'input[type="file"].avatar')
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error(error))

function postFile(url, fileSelector) {
  const formData = new FormData()
  const fileField = document.querySelector(fileSelector)
  
  formData.append('username', 'abc123')
  formData.append('avatar', fileField.files[0])

  return fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST', // 'GET', 'PUT', 'DELETE', etc.
    body: formData  // Coordinate the body type with 'Content-Type'
  })
  .then(response => response.json())
}

Advanced: Uploading multiple files

Setup a file upload element with the multiple attribute:

<input type='file' multiple class='files' name='files' />

Then use with something like:

postFile('http://example.com/api/v1/users', 'input[type="file"].files')
  .then(data => console.log(data))
  .catch(error => console.error(error))

function postFile(url, fileSelector) {
  const formData = new FormData()
  const fileFields = document.querySelectorAll(fileSelector)

  // Add all files to formData
  Array.prototype.forEach.call(fileFields.files, f => formData.append('files', f))
  // Alternatively for PHP peeps, use `files[]` for the name to support arrays
  // Array.prototype.forEach.call(fileFields.files, f => formData.append('files[]', f))
  
  return fetch(url, {
    method: 'POST', // 'GET', 'PUT', 'DELETE', etc.
    body: formData  // Coordinate the body type with 'Content-Type'
  })
  .then(response => response.json())
}