How to make an AJAX call using JavaScript, without using jQuery?
24 Answers
With "vanilla" JavaScript:
<script type="text/javascript">
function loadXMLDoc() {
var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (xmlhttp.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE) { // XMLHttpRequest.DONE == 4
if (xmlhttp.status == 200) {
document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML = xmlhttp.responseText;
}
else if (xmlhttp.status == 400) {
alert('There was an error 400');
}
else {
alert('something else other than 200 was returned');
}
}
};
xmlhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt", true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
</script>
With jQuery:
$.ajax({
url: "test.html",
context: document.body,
success: function(){
$(this).addClass("done");
}
});
Using the following snippet you can do similar things pretty easily, like this:
ajax.get('/test.php', {foo: 'bar'}, function() {});
Here is the snippet:
var ajax = {};
ajax.x = function () {
if (typeof XMLHttpRequest !== 'undefined') {
return new XMLHttpRequest();
}
var versions = [
"MSXML2.XmlHttp.6.0",
"MSXML2.XmlHttp.5.0",
"MSXML2.XmlHttp.4.0",
"MSXML2.XmlHttp.3.0",
"MSXML2.XmlHttp.2.0",
"Microsoft.XmlHttp"
];
var xhr;
for (var i = 0; i < versions.length; i++) {
try {
xhr = new ActiveXObject(versions[i]);
break;
} catch (e) {
}
}
return xhr;
};
ajax.send = function (url, callback, method, data, async) {
if (async === undefined) {
async = true;
}
var x = ajax.x();
x.open(method, url, async);
x.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (x.readyState == 4) {
callback(x.responseText)
}
};
if (method == 'POST') {
x.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
}
x.send(data)
};
ajax.get = function (url, data, callback, async) {
var query = [];
for (var key in data) {
query.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(data[key]));
}
ajax.send(url + (query.length ? '?' + query.join('&') : ''), callback, 'GET', null, async)
};
ajax.post = function (url, data, callback, async) {
var query = [];
for (var key in data) {
query.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(data[key]));
}
ajax.send(url, callback, 'POST', query.join('&'), async)
};
I know this is a fairly old question, but there is now a nicer API available natively in newer browsers. The fetch()
method allow you to make web requests.
For example, to request some json from /get-data
:
var opts = {
method: 'GET',
headers: {}
};
fetch('/get-data', opts).then(function (response) {
return response.json();
})
.then(function (body) {
//doSomething with body;
});
See here for more details.
You can use the following function:
function callAjax(url, callback){
var xmlhttp;
// compatible with IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function(){
if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4 && xmlhttp.status == 200){
callback(xmlhttp.responseText);
}
}
xmlhttp.open("GET", url, true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
You can try similar solutions online on these links:
How about this version in plain ES6/ES2015?
function get(url) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
const req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('GET', url);
req.onload = () => req.status === 200 ? resolve(req.response) : reject(Error(req.statusText));
req.onerror = (e) => reject(Error(`Network Error: ${e}`));
req.send();
});
}
The function returns a promise. Here is an example on how to use the function and handle the promise it returns:
get('foo.txt')
.then((data) => {
// Do stuff with data, if foo.txt was successfully loaded.
})
.catch((err) => {
// Do stuff on error...
});
If you need to load a json file you can use JSON.parse()
to convert the loaded data into an JS Object.
You can also integrate req.responseType='json'
into the function but unfortunately there is no IE support for it, so I would stick with JSON.parse()
.
Use XMLHttpRequest.
Simple GET request
httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest()
httpRequest.open('GET', 'http://www.example.org/some.file')
httpRequest.send()
Simple POST request
httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest()
httpRequest.open('POST', 'http://www.example.org/some/endpoint')
httpRequest.send('some data')
We can specify that the request should be asynchronous(true), the default, or synchronous(false) with an optional third argument.
// Make a synchronous GET request
httpRequest.open('GET', 'http://www.example.org/some.file', false)
We can set headers before calling httpRequest.send()
httpRequest.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
We can handle the response by setting httpRequest.onreadystatechange
to a function before calling httpRequest.send()
httpRequest.onreadystatechange = function(){
// Process the server response here.
if (httpRequest.readyState === XMLHttpRequest.DONE) {
if (httpRequest.status === 200) {
alert(httpRequest.responseText);
} else {
alert('There was a problem with the request.');
}
}
}
You can get the correct object according to the browser with
function getXmlDoc() {
var xmlDoc;
if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
xmlDoc = new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else {
// code for IE6, IE5
xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
return xmlDoc;
}
With the correct object, a GET might can be abstracted to:
function myGet(url, callback) {
var xmlDoc = getXmlDoc();
xmlDoc.open('GET', url, true);
xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (xmlDoc.readyState === 4 && xmlDoc.status === 200) {
callback(xmlDoc);
}
}
xmlDoc.send();
}
And a POST to:
function myPost(url, data, callback) {
var xmlDoc = getXmlDoc();
xmlDoc.open('POST', url, true);
xmlDoc.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (xmlDoc.readyState === 4 && xmlDoc.status === 200) {
callback(xmlDoc);
}
}
xmlDoc.send(data);
}
I was looking for a way to include promises with ajax and exclude jQuery. There's an article on HTML5 Rocks that talks about ES6 promises. (You could polyfill with a promise library like Q) You can use the code snippet that I copied from the article.
function get(url) {
// Return a new promise.
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
// Do the usual XHR stuff
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('GET', url);
req.onload = function() {
// This is called even on 404 etc
// so check the status
if (req.status == 200) {
// Resolve the promise with the response text
resolve(req.response);
}
else {
// Otherwise reject with the status text
// which will hopefully be a meaningful error
reject(Error(req.statusText));
}
};
// Handle network errors
req.onerror = function() {
reject(Error("Network Error"));
};
// Make the request
req.send();
});
}
Note: I also wrote an article about this.
A small combination from a couple of the examples below and created this simple piece:
function ajax(url, method, data, async)
{
method = typeof method !== 'undefined' ? method : 'GET';
async = typeof async !== 'undefined' ? async : false;
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
{
var xhReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else
{
var xhReq = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
if (method == 'POST')
{
xhReq.open(method, url, async);
xhReq.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xhReq.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With", "XMLHttpRequest");
xhReq.send(data);
}
else
{
if(typeof data !== 'undefined' && data !== null)
{
url = url+'?'+data;
}
xhReq.open(method, url, async);
xhReq.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With", "XMLHttpRequest");
xhReq.send(null);
}
//var serverResponse = xhReq.responseText;
//alert(serverResponse);
}
// Example usage below (using a string query):
ajax('http://www.google.com');
ajax('http://www.google.com', 'POST', 'q=test');
OR if your parameters are object(s) - minor additional code adjustment:
var parameters = {
q: 'test'
}
var query = [];
for (var key in parameters)
{
query.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(parameters[key]));
}
ajax('http://www.google.com', 'POST', query.join('&'));
Both should be fully browser + version compatible.
If you don't want to include JQuery, I'd try out some lightweight AJAX libraries.
My favorite is reqwest. It's only 3.4kb and very well built out: https://github.com/ded/Reqwest
Here's a sample GET request with reqwest:
reqwest({
url: url,
method: 'GET',
type: 'json',
success: onSuccess
});
Now if you want something even more lightweight, I'd try microAjax at a mere 0.4kb: https://code.google.com/p/microajax/
This is all the code right here:
function microAjax(B,A){this.bindFunction=function(E,D){return function(){return E.apply(D,[D])}};this.stateChange=function(D){if(this.request.readyState==4){this.callbackFunction(this.request.responseText)}};this.getRequest=function(){if(window.ActiveXObject){return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")}else{if(window.XMLHttpRequest){return new XMLHttpRequest()}}return false};this.postBody=(arguments[2]||"");this.callbackFunction=A;this.url=B;this.request=this.getRequest();if(this.request){var C=this.request;C.onreadystatechange=this.bindFunction(this.stateChange,this);if(this.postBody!==""){C.open("POST",B,true);C.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With","XMLHttpRequest");C.setRequestHeader("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");C.setRequestHeader("Connection","close")}else{C.open("GET",B,true)}C.send(this.postBody)}};
And here's a sample call:
microAjax(url, onSuccess);
XMLHttpRequest()
You can use the XMLHttpRequest()
constructor to create a new XMLHttpRequest
(XHR) object which will allow you to interact with a server using standard HTTP request methods (such as GET
and POST
):
const data = JSON.stringify({
example_1: 123,
example_2: 'Hello, world!',
});
const request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.addEventListener('load', function () {
if (this.readyState === 4 && this.status === 200) {
console.log(this.responseText);
}
});
request.open('POST', 'example.php', true);
request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8');
request.send(data);
fetch()
You can also use the fetch()
method to obtain a Promise
which resolves to the Response
object representing the response to your request:
const data = JSON.stringify({
example_1: 123,
example_2: 'Hello, world!',
});
fetch('example.php', {
method: 'POST',
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8',
},
body: data,
}).then(response => {
if (response.ok) {
response.text().then(response => {
console.log(response);
});
}
});
navigator.sendBeacon()
On the other hand, if you are simply attempting to POST
data and do not need a response from the server, the shortest solution would be to use navigator.sendBeacon()
:
const data = JSON.stringify({
example_1: 123,
example_2: 'Hello, world!',
});
navigator.sendBeacon('example.php', data);
Old but I will try, maybe someone will find this info useful.
This is the minimal amount of code you need to do a GET
request and fetch some JSON
formatted data. This is applicable only to modern browsers like latest versions of Chrome, FF, Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge.
const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('GET', 'https://example.com/data.json'); // by default async
xhr.responseType = 'json'; // in which format you expect the response to be
xhr.onload = function() {
if(this.status == 200) {// onload called even on 404 etc so check the status
console.log(this.response); // No need for JSON.parse()
}
};
xhr.onerror = function() {
// error
};
xhr.send();
Also check out new Fetch API which is a promise-based replacement for XMLHttpRequest API.
Try using the Fetch Api (Fetch API)
fetch('http://example.com/movies.json').then(response => response.json()).then(data => console.log(data));
Its really clear, and 100% vanilla.
From youMightNotNeedJquery.com + JSON.stringify
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open('POST', '/my/url', true);
request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8');
request.send(JSON.stringify(data));
This may help:
function doAjax(url, callback) {
var xmlhttp = window.XMLHttpRequest ? new XMLHttpRequest() : new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4 && xmlhttp.status == 200) {
callback(xmlhttp.responseText);
}
}
xmlhttp.open("GET", url, true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
<html>
<script>
var xmlDoc = null ;
function load() {
if (typeof window.ActiveXObject != 'undefined' ) {
xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = process ;
}
else {
xmlDoc = new XMLHttpRequest();
xmlDoc.onload = process ;
}
xmlDoc.open( "GET", "background.html", true );
xmlDoc.send( null );
}
function process() {
if ( xmlDoc.readyState != 4 ) return ;
document.getElementById("output").value = xmlDoc.responseText ;
}
function empty() {
document.getElementById("output").value = '<empty>' ;
}
</script>
<body>
<textarea id="output" cols='70' rows='40'><empty></textarea>
<br></br>
<button onclick="load()">Load</button>
<button onclick="empty()">Clear</button>
</body>
</html>
Well it is just a 4 step easy proceess,
I hope it helps
Step 1.
Store the reference to the XMLHttpRequest object
var xmlHttp = createXmlHttpRequestObject();
Step 2.
Retrieve the XMLHttpRequest object
function createXmlHttpRequestObject() {
// will store the reference to the XMLHttpRequest object
var xmlHttp;
// if running Internet Explorer
if (window.ActiveXObject) {
try {
xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (e) {
xmlHttp = false;
}
}
// if running Mozilla or other browsers
else {
try {
xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (e) {
xmlHttp = false;
}
}
// return the created object or display an error message
if (!xmlHttp)
alert("Error creating the XMLHttpRequest object.");
else
return xmlHttp;
}
Step 3.
Make asynchronous HTTP request using the XMLHttpRequest object
function process() {
// proceed only if the xmlHttp object isn't busy
if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4 || xmlHttp.readyState == 0) {
// retrieve the name typed by the user on the form
item = encodeURIComponent(document.getElementById("input_item").value);
// execute the your_file.php page from the server
xmlHttp.open("GET", "your_file.php?item=" + item, true);
// define the method to handle server responses
xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = handleServerResponse;
// make the server request
xmlHttp.send(null);
}
}
Step 4.
Executed automatically when a message is received from the server
function handleServerResponse() {
// move forward only if the transaction has completed
if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4) {
// status of 200 indicates the transaction completed successfully
if (xmlHttp.status == 200) {
// extract the XML retrieved from the server
xmlResponse = xmlHttp.responseText;
document.getElementById("put_response").innerHTML = xmlResponse;
// restart sequence
}
// a HTTP status different than 200 signals an error
else {
alert("There was a problem accessing the server: " + xmlHttp.statusText);
}
}
}
in plain JavaScript in the browser:
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (xhr.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE ) {
if(xhr.status == 200){
console.log(xhr.responseText);
} else if(xhr.status == 400) {
console.log('There was an error 400');
} else {
console.log('something else other than 200 was returned');
}
}
}
xhr.open("GET", "mock_data.json", true);
xhr.send();
Or if you want to use Browserify to bundle your modules up using node.js. You can use superagent:
var request = require('superagent');
var url = '/mock_data.json';
request
.get(url)
.end(function(err, res){
if (res.ok) {
console.log('yay got ' + JSON.stringify(res.body));
} else {
console.log('Oh no! error ' + res.text);
}
});
Here's a JSFiffle without JQuery
http://jsfiddle.net/rimian/jurwre07/
function loadXMLDoc() {
var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
var url = 'http://echo.jsontest.com/key/value/one/two';
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (xmlhttp.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE) {
if (xmlhttp.status == 200) {
document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML = xmlhttp.responseText;
} else if (xmlhttp.status == 400) {
console.log('There was an error 400');
} else {
console.log('something else other than 200 was returned');
}
}
};
xmlhttp.open("GET", url, true);
xmlhttp.send();
};
loadXMLDoc();
var load_process = false;
function ajaxCall(param, response) {
if (load_process == true) {
return;
}
else
{
if (param.async == undefined) {
param.async = true;
}
if (param.async == false) {
load_process = true;
}
var xhr;
xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
if (param.type != "GET") {
xhr.open(param.type, param.url, true);
if (param.processData != undefined && param.processData == false && param.contentType != undefined && param.contentType == false) {
}
else if (param.contentType != undefined || param.contentType == true) {
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', param.contentType);
}
else {
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
}
}
else {
xhr.open(param.type, param.url + "?" + obj_param(param.data));
}
xhr.onprogress = function (loadTime) {
if (param.progress != undefined) {
param.progress({ loaded: loadTime.loaded }, "success");
}
}
xhr.ontimeout = function () {
this.abort();
param.success("timeout", "timeout");
load_process = false;
};
xhr.onerror = function () {
param.error(xhr.responseText, "error");
load_process = false;
};
xhr.onload = function () {
if (xhr.status === 200) {
if (param.dataType != undefined && param.dataType == "json") {
param.success(JSON.parse(xhr.responseText), "success");
}
else {
param.success(JSON.stringify(xhr.responseText), "success");
}
}
else if (xhr.status !== 200) {
param.error(xhr.responseText, "error");
}
load_process = false;
};
if (param.data != null || param.data != undefined) {
if (param.processData != undefined && param.processData == false && param.contentType != undefined && param.contentType == false) {
xhr.send(param.data);
}
else {
xhr.send(obj_param(param.data));
}
}
else {
xhr.send();
}
if (param.timeout != undefined) {
xhr.timeout = param.timeout;
}
else
{
xhr.timeout = 20000;
}
this.abort = function (response) {
if (XMLHttpRequest != null) {
xhr.abort();
load_process = false;
if (response != undefined) {
response({ status: "success" });
}
}
}
}
}
function obj_param(obj) {
var parts = [];
for (var key in obj) {
if (obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
parts.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(obj[key]));
}
}
return parts.join('&');
}
my ajax call
var my_ajax_call=ajaxCall({
url: url,
type: method,
data: {data:value},
dataType: 'json',
async:false,//synchronous request. Default value is true
timeout:10000,//default timeout 20000
progress:function(loadTime,status)
{
console.log(loadTime);
},
success: function (result, status) {
console.log(result);
},
error :function(result,status)
{
console.log(result);
}
});
for abort previous requests
my_ajax_call.abort(function(result){
console.log(result);
});
HTML :
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function loadXMLDoc()
{
var xmlhttp;
if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
{// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
}
else
{// code for IE6, IE5
xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}
xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function()
{
if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200)
{
document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
}
}
xmlhttp.open("GET","1.php?id=99freebies.blogspot.com",true);
xmlhttp.send();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="myDiv"><h2>Let AJAX change this text</h2></div>
<button type="button" onclick="loadXMLDoc()">Change Content</button>
</body>
</html>
PHP:
<?php
$id = $_GET[id];
print "$id";
?>
A verry good solution with pure javascript is here
/*create an XMLHttpRequest object*/
let GethttpRequest=function(){
let httpRequest=false;
if(window.XMLHttpRequest){
httpRequest =new XMLHttpRequest();
if(httpRequest.overrideMimeType){
httpRequest.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
}
}else if(window.ActiveXObject){
try{httpRequest =new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
}catch(e){
try{
httpRequest =new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}catch(e){}
}
}
if(!httpRequest){return 0;}
return httpRequest;
}
/*Defining a function to make the request every time when it is needed*/
function MakeRequest(){
let uriPost ="myURL";
let xhrPost =GethttpRequest();
let fdPost =new FormData();
let date =new Date();
/*data to be sent on server*/
let data = {
"name" :"name",
"lName" :"lName",
"phone" :"phone",
"key" :"key",
"password" :"date"
};
let JSONdata =JSON.stringify(data);
fdPost.append("data",JSONdata);
xhrPost.open("POST" ,uriPost, true);
xhrPost.timeout = 9000;/*the time you need to quit the request if it is not completed*/
xhrPost.onloadstart = function (){
/*do something*/
};
xhrPost.onload = function (){
/*do something*/
};
xhrPost.onloadend = function (){
/*do something*/
}
xhrPost.onprogress =function(){
/*do something*/
}
xhrPost.onreadystatechange =function(){
if(xhrPost.readyState < 4){
}else if(xhrPost.readyState === 4){
if(xhrPost.status === 200){
/*request succesfull*/
}else if(xhrPost.status !==200){
/*request failled*/
}
}
}
xhrPost.ontimeout = function (e){
/*you can stop the request*/
}
xhrPost.onerror = function (){
/*you can try again the request*/
};
xhrPost.onabort = function (){
/*you can try again the request*/
};
xhrPost.overrideMimeType("text/plain; charset=x-user-defined-binary");
xhrPost.setRequestHeader("Content-disposition", "form-data");
xhrPost.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With","xmlhttprequest");
xhrPost.send(fdPost);
}
/*PHP side
<?php
//check if the variable $_POST["data"] exists isset() && !empty()
$data =$_POST["data"];
$decodedData =json_decode($_POST["data"]);
//show a single item from the form
echo $decodedData->name;
?>
*/
/*Usage*/
MakeRequest();