Table of Contents

About

The XMLHttpRequest is a web api function that performs an resource fetch with an Aysnchronous HTTP request

The XMLHttpRequest is the base API in AJAX programming as the fetch API was implemented above this function.

Status

The status of an XHR request.

Value Constant Field State Description
0 UNSENT Client has been created. open() not called yet.
1 OPENED open() has been called.
2 HEADERS_RECEIVED send() has been called, and headers and status are available.
3 LOADING Downloading; responseText holds partial data.
4 DONE The operation is complete.

Example

Get

With a get request

function onLoaded() {
  var data = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
  data.items.map(item => (
      console.log(item.name+" "+item.price)
  ));
}
  • A function to handle any error
function error(err) {
  console.log('Fetch Error', err);
}
  • The several steps needed to send a XMLHttpRequest.
var xhRequest= new XMLHttpRequest();
xhRequest.onload = onLoaded;
xhRequest.onerror = error;
xhRequest.open('get', '/doc/json/items.json', true);
xhRequest.send();

Post

  • An utility function to shows the description of the state and not the constant number
function toStateDescription(state) {
	switch(state) {
	  case XMLHttpRequest.DONE:
		return 'DONE'
		break;
	  case XMLHttpRequest.UNSENT:
		return 'UNSET';
		break;
	  case XMLHttpRequest.OPENED:
		return 'OPENED';
		break;
	  case XMLHttpRequest.HEADERS_RECEIVED:
		return 'HEADERS_RECEIVED';
		break;
	  case XMLHttpRequest.LOADING:
		return 'LOADING';
		break;
	  default:
		throw new Error("Unknown status "+state);
	}
}
  • The callback function when the state changes. It will show the request status when the state is done.
function stateListener () { 
    console.log("The state has changed to "+toStateDescription(this.readyState));
    if (this.readyState === XMLHttpRequest.DONE ) {
        if (this.status === 200) {
            console.log("The request has finished with the following status ("+this.status+" - "+this.statusText+")");
        } else {
            console.log("The request has not finished successfully. Status = ("+this.status+" - "+this.statusText+")");
        }
    }
}

Usage: Tracker example

Send a post as a client side tracker will do.

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.onreadystatechange = stateListener;
xhr.open("POST", 'https://api.bytle.net/combo/api/v1.0/analytics/event', true);
xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json"); // How to set a header (must be called after open)
// The send argument is the body
xhr.send('{ "event_name": "script called", "properties": { "url": "'+parent.document.URL+'", "type": "example"} }');

Management

See

In the Browser devtool, you can see the request.

Example with Chrome.

Chrome Devtool Xhr Fetch Request

You can see the type of request with the X-Requested-With header.

X-Requested-With:XMLHttpRequest

Body

In the send method, you are passing the body.

If you pass:

Note that that you can overwrite the mime (content-type)

Documentation / Reference