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())
}

@Freelancer2020
Fetch needs no special server support.
Your server would need to support whatever data format you're sending. Whether that's JSON, URL encoded form data, or files.
To send fields in a way that a default PHP server might expect, use something like this: body: new URLSearchParams(data),

Dude, thanks for doing this! It has helped me a lot.

❤️ @mexcelus - i really appreciate the kind words.

How would I extract the Location header e.g. after a POST? Can you help here?

Thank you very much
I have tried fetch post lots of hours until

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())
}

perfect <3

Thanks. Works perfect.