Send Post Data Using Xmlhttprequest
I'd Like to Send Some Data Using an Xmlhttprequest in Javascript. Say I Have the Following Form in Html: How Can I Write the Equivalent Using an Xmlhttprequest...
I'd like to send some data using an XMLHttpRequest in JavaScript.
Say I have the following form in HTML:
<form name="inputform" action="somewhere" method="post">
<input type="hidden" value="person" name="user">
<input type="hidden" value="password" name="pwd">
<input type="hidden" value="place" name="organization">
<input type="hidden" value="key" name="requiredkey">
</form>
How can I write the equivalent using an XMLHttpRequest in JavaScript?
13 Answers
The code below demonstrates on how to do this.
var http = new XMLHttpRequest();
var url = 'get_data.php';
var params = 'orem=ipsum&name=binny';
http.open('POST', url, true);
//Send the proper header information along with the request
http.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
http.onreadystatechange = function() {//Call a function when the state changes.
if(http.readyState == 4 && http.status == 200) {
alert(http.responseText);
}
}
http.send(params);
In case you have/create an object you can turn it into params using the following code, i.e:
var params = new Object();
params.myparam1 = myval1;
params.myparam2 = myval2;
// Turn the data object into an array of URL-encoded key/value pairs.
let urlEncodedData = "", urlEncodedDataPairs = [], name;
for( name in params ) {
urlEncodedDataPairs.push(encodeURIComponent(name)+'='+encodeURIComponent(params[name]));
}
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', 'somewhere', true);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
xhr.onload = function () {
// do something to response
console.log(this.responseText);
};
xhr.send('user=person&pwd=password&organization=place&requiredkey=key');
Or if you can count on browser support you could use FormData:
var data = new FormData();
data.append('user', 'person');
data.append('pwd', 'password');
data.append('organization', 'place');
data.append('requiredkey', 'key');
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', 'somewhere', true);
xhr.onload = function () {
// do something to response
console.log(this.responseText);
};
xhr.send(data);
Use modern JavaScript!
I'd suggest looking into fetch. It is the ES5 equivalent and uses Promises. It is much more readable and easily customizable.
const url = "";
fetch(url, {
method : "POST",
body: new FormData(document.getElementById("inputform")),
// -- or --
// body : JSON.stringify({
// user : document.getElementById('user').value,
// ...
// })
}).then(
response => response.text() // .json(), etc.
// same as function(response) {return response.text();}
).then(
html => console.log(html)
);In Node.js, you'll need to import fetch using:
const fetch = require("node-fetch");
If you want to use it synchronously (doesn't work in top scope):
const json = await fetch(url, optionalOptions)
.then(response => response.json()) // .text(), etc.
.catch((e) => {});
More Info:
Here is a complete solution with application-json:
// Input values will be grabbed by ID
<input id="loginEmail" type="text" name="email" placeholder="Email">
<input id="loginPassword" type="password" name="password" placeholder="Password">
// return stops normal action and runs login()
<button onclick="return login()">Submit</button>
<script>
function login() {
// Form fields, see IDs above
const params = {
email: document.querySelector('#loginEmail').value,
password: document.querySelector('#loginPassword').value
}
const http = new XMLHttpRequest()
http.open('POST', '/login')
http.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json')
http.send(JSON.stringify(params)) // Make sure to stringify
http.onload = function() {
// Do whatever with response
alert(http.responseText)
}
}
</script>
Ensure that your Backend API can parse JSON.
For example, in Express JS:
import bodyParser from 'body-parser'
app.use(bodyParser.json())
Minimal use of FormData to submit an AJAX request
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge, chrome=1"/>
<script>
"use strict";
function submitForm(oFormElement)
{
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.onload = function(){ alert (xhr.responseText); } // success case
xhr.onerror = function(){ alert (xhr.responseText); } // failure case
xhr.open (oFormElement.method, oFormElement.action, true);
xhr.send (new FormData (oFormElement));
return false;
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form method="post" action="somewhere" onsubmit="return submitForm(this);">
<input type="hidden" value="person" name="user" />
<input type="hidden" value="password" name="pwd" />
<input type="hidden" value="place" name="organization" />
<input type="hidden" value="key" name="requiredkey" />
<input type="submit" value="post request"/>
</form>
</body>
</html>
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
