HomeFrameworksNodeJSHow to Make a Request Using Axios API?

How to Make a Request Using Axios API?

Axios API

This journal is in continuation of the journal where we saw the features and installation of the Axios – Promise based HTTP client. In case you missed out reading that journal then you can find the same here “Axios: Promise based HTTP client for the Browser and NodeJS”.

Requests can be made by passing the relevant config toĀ axios.

axios(config)
// Send a POST request
axios({
  method: 'post',
  url: '/user/12345',
  data: {
    firstName: 'Fred',
    lastName: 'Flintstone'
  }
});
// GET request for remote image
axios({
  method:'get',
  url:'http://bit.ly/2mTM3nY',
  responseType:'stream'
})
  .then(function(response) {
  response.data.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('ada_lovelace.jpg'))
});
axios(url[, config])
// Send a GET request (default method)
axios('/user/12345');

Request method aliases

For convenience aliases have been provided for all supported request methods.

axios.request(config)
axios.get(url[, config])
axios.delete(url[, config])
axios.head(url[, config])
axios.options(url[, config])
axios.post(url[, data[, config]])
axios.put(url[, data[, config]])
axios.patch(url[, data[, config]])
NOTE

When using the alias methodsĀ url,Ā method, andĀ dataĀ properties don’t need to be specified in config.

Concurrency

Helper functions for dealing with concurrent requests.

axios.all(iterable)
axios.spread(callback)

Creating an instance

You can create a new instance of axios with a custom config.

axios.create([config])
var instance = axios.create({
  baseURL: 'https://some-domain.com/api/',
  timeout: 1000,
  headers: {'X-Custom-Header': 'foobar'}
});

Instance methods

The available instance methods are listed below. The specified config will be merged with the instance config.

axios#request(config)
axios#get(url[, config])
axios#delete(url[, config])
axios#head(url[, config])
axios#options(url[, config])
axios#post(url[, data[, config]])
axios#put(url[, data[, config]])
axios#patch(url[, data[, config]])

Request Config

These are the available config options for making requests. Only theĀ urlĀ is required. Requests will default toĀ GETĀ ifĀ methodis not specified.

{
  // `url` is the server URL that will be used for the request
  url: '/user',

  // `method` is the request method to be used when making the request
  method: 'get', // default

  // `baseURL` will be prepended to `url` unless `url` is absolute.
  // It can be convenient to set `baseURL` for an instance of axios to pass relative URLs
  // to methods of that instance.
  baseURL: 'https://some-domain.com/api/',

  // `transformRequest` allows changes to the request data before it is sent to the server
  // This is only applicable for request methods 'PUT', 'POST', and 'PATCH'
  // The last function in the array must return a string or an instance of Buffer, ArrayBuffer,
  // FormData or Stream
  transformRequest: [function (data) {
    // Do whatever you want to transform the data

    return data;
  }],

  // `transformResponse` allows changes to the response data to be made before
  // it is passed to then/catch
  transformResponse: [function (data) {
    // Do whatever you want to transform the data

    return data;
  }],

  // `headers` are custom headers to be sent
  headers: {'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest'},

  // `params` are the URL parameters to be sent with the request
  // Must be a plain object or a URLSearchParams object
  params: {
    ID: 12345
  },

  // `paramsSerializer` is an optional function in charge of serializing `params`
  // (e.g. https://www.npmjs.com/package/qs, http://api.jquery.com/jquery.param/)
  paramsSerializer: function(params) {
    return Qs.stringify(params, {arrayFormat: 'brackets'})
  },

  // `data` is the data to be sent as the request body
  // Only applicable for request methods 'PUT', 'POST', and 'PATCH'
  // When no `transformRequest` is set, must be of one of the following types:
  // - string, plain object, ArrayBuffer, ArrayBufferView, URLSearchParams
  // - Browser only: FormData, File, Blob
  // - Node only: Stream, Buffer
  data: {
    firstName: 'Fred'
  },

  // `timeout` specifies the number of milliseconds before the request times out.
  // If the request takes longer than `timeout`, the request will be aborted.
  timeout: 1000,

  // `withCredentials` indicates whether or not cross-site Access-Control requests
  // should be made using credentials
  withCredentials: false, // default

  // `adapter` allows custom handling of requests which makes testing easier.
  // Return a promise and supply a valid response (see lib/adapters/README.md).
  adapter: function (config) {
    /* ... */
  },

  // `auth` indicates that HTTP Basic auth should be used, and supplies credentials.
  // This will set an `Authorization` header, overwriting any existing
  // `Authorization` custom headers you have set using `headers`.
  auth: {
    username: 'janedoe',
    password: 's00pers3cret'
  },

  // `responseType` indicates the type of data that the server will respond with
  // options are 'arraybuffer', 'blob', 'document', 'json', 'text', 'stream'
  responseType: 'json', // default

  // `xsrfCookieName` is the name of the cookie to use as a value for xsrf token
  xsrfCookieName: 'XSRF-TOKEN', // default

  // `xsrfHeaderName` is the name of the http header that carries the xsrf token value
  xsrfHeaderName: 'X-XSRF-TOKEN', // default

  // `onUploadProgress` allows handling of progress events for uploads
  onUploadProgress: function (progressEvent) {
    // Do whatever you want with the native progress event
  },

  // `onDownloadProgress` allows handling of progress events for downloads
  onDownloadProgress: function (progressEvent) {
    // Do whatever you want with the native progress event
  },

  // `maxContentLength` defines the max size of the http response content allowed
  maxContentLength: 2000,

  // `validateStatus` defines whether to resolve or reject the promise for a given
  // HTTP response status code. If `validateStatus` returns `true` (or is set to `null`
  // or `undefined`), the promise will be resolved; otherwise, the promise will be
  // rejected.
  validateStatus: function (status) {
    return status >= 200 && status < 300; // default
  },

  // `maxRedirects` defines the maximum number of redirects to follow in node.js.
  // If set to 0, no redirects will be followed.
  maxRedirects: 5, // default

  // `httpAgent` and `httpsAgent` define a custom agent to be used when performing http
  // and https requests, respectively, in node.js. This allows options to be added like
  // `keepAlive` that are not enabled by default.
  httpAgent: new http.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
  httpsAgent: new https.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),

  // 'proxy' defines the hostname and port of the proxy server
  // `auth` indicates that HTTP Basic auth should be used to connect to the proxy, and
  // supplies credentials.
  // This will set an `Proxy-Authorization` header, overwriting any existing
  // `Proxy-Authorization` custom headers you have set using `headers`.
  proxy: {
    host: '127.0.0.1',
    port: 9000,
    auth: {
      username: 'mikeymike',
      password: 'rapunz3l'
    }
  },

  // `cancelToken` specifies a cancel token that can be used to cancel the request
  // (see Cancellation section below for details)
  cancelToken: new CancelToken(function (cancel) {
  })
}

Response Schema

The response for a request contains the following information.

{
  // `data` is the response that was provided by the server
  data: {},

  // `status` is the HTTP status code from the server response
  status: 200,

  // `statusText` is the HTTP status message from the server response
  statusText: 'OK',

  // `headers` the headers that the server responded with
  // All header names are lower cased
  headers: {},

  // `config` is the config that was provided to `axios` for the request
  config: {},

  // `request` is the request that generated this response
  // It is the last ClientRequest instance in node.js (in redirects)
  // and an XMLHttpRequest instance the browser
  request: {}
}

When usingĀ then, you will receive the response as follows:

axios.get('/user/12345')
  .then(function(response) {
    console.log(response.data);
    console.log(response.status);
    console.log(response.statusText);
    console.log(response.headers);
    console.log(response.config);
  });

When usingĀ catch, or passing aĀ rejection callbackĀ as second parameter ofĀ then, the response will be available through theĀ errorĀ object as explained in theĀ Handling ErrorsĀ section.

Config Defaults

You can specify config defaults that will be applied to every request.

Global axios defaults

axios.defaults.baseURL = 'https://api.example.com';
axios.defaults.headers.common['Authorization'] = AUTH_TOKEN;
axios.defaults.headers.post['Content-Type'] = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded';

Custom instance defaults

// Set config defaults when creating the instance
var instance = axios.create({
  baseURL: 'https://api.example.com'
});

// Alter defaults after instance has been created
instance.defaults.headers.common['Authorization'] = AUTH_TOKEN;

Config order of precedence

Config will be merged with an order of precedence. The order is library defaults found inĀ lib/defaults.js, thenĀ defaultsproperty of the instance, and finallyĀ configĀ argument for the request. The latter will take precedence over the former. Here’s an example.

// Create an instance using the config defaults provided by the library
// At this point the timeout config value is `0` as is the default for the library
var instance = axios.create();

// Override timeout default for the library
// Now all requests will wait 2.5 seconds before timing out
instance.defaults.timeout = 2500;

// Override timeout for this request as it's known to take a long time
instance.get('/longRequest', {
  timeout: 5000
});

Interceptors

You can intercept requests or responses before they are handled byĀ thenĀ orĀ catch.

// Add a request interceptor
axios.interceptors.request.use(function (config) {
    // Do something before request is sent
    return config;
  }, function (error) {
    // Do something with request error
    return Promise.reject(error);
  });

// Add a response interceptor
axios.interceptors.response.use(function (response) {
    // Do something with response data
    return response;
  }, function (error) {
    // Do something with response error
    return Promise.reject(error);
  });

If you may need to remove an interceptor later you can.

var myInterceptor = axios.interceptors.request.use(function () {/*...*/});
axios.interceptors.request.eject(myInterceptor);

You can add interceptors to a custom instance of axios.

var instance = axios.create();
instance.interceptors.request.use(function () {/*...*/});

Handling Errors

axios.get('/user/12345')
  .catch(function (error) {
    if (error.response) {
      // The request was made and the server responded with a status code
      // that falls out of the range of 2xx
      console.log(error.response.data);
      console.log(error.response.status);
      console.log(error.response.headers);
    } else if (error.request) {
      // The request was made but no response was received
      // `error.request` is an instance of XMLHttpRequest in the browser and an instance of
      // http.ClientRequest in node.js
      console.log(error.request);
    } else {
      // Something happened in setting up the request that triggered an Error
      console.log('Error', error.message);
    }
    console.log(error.config);
  });

You can define a custom HTTP status code error range using theĀ validateStatusĀ config option.

axios.get('/user/12345', {
  validateStatus: function (status) {
    return status < 500; // Reject only if the status code is greater than or equal to 500
  }
})

Cancellation

You can cancel a request using aĀ cancel token.

The axios cancel token API is based on the withdrawnĀ cancelable promises proposal.

You can create a cancel token using theĀ CancelToken.sourceĀ factory as shown below:

var CancelToken = axios.CancelToken;
var source = CancelToken.source();

axios.get('/user/12345', {
  cancelToken: source.token
}).catch(function(thrown) {
  if (axios.isCancel(thrown)) {
    console.log('Request canceled', thrown.message);
  } else {
    // handle error
  }
});

// cancel the request (the message parameter is optional)
source.cancel('Operation canceled by the user.');

You can also create a cancel token by passing an executor function to theĀ CancelTokenĀ constructor:

var CancelToken = axios.CancelToken;
var cancel;

axios.get('/user/12345', {
  cancelToken: new CancelToken(function executor(c) {
    // An executor function receives a cancel function as a parameter
    cancel = c;
  })
});

// cancel the request
cancel();

Note: you can cancel several requests with the same cancel token.

Using application/x-www-form-urlencoded format

By default, axios serializes JavaScript objects toĀ JSON. To send data in theĀ application/x-www-form-urlencodedĀ format instead, you can use one of the following options.

Browser

In a browser, you can use theĀ URLSearchParamsĀ API as follows:

var params = new URLSearchParams();
params.append('param1', 'value1');
params.append('param2', 'value2');
axios.post('/foo', params);

Note thatĀ URLSearchParamsĀ is not supported by all browsers, but there is aĀ polyfillĀ available (make sure to polyfill the global environment).

Alternatively, you can encode data using theĀ qsĀ library:

var qs = require('qs');
axios.post('/foo', qs.stringify({ 'bar': 123 }));

Node.js

In node.js, you can use theĀ querystringĀ module as follows:

var querystring = require('querystring');
axios.post('http://something.com/', querystring.stringify({ foo: 'bar' }));

You can also use theĀ qsĀ library.

Semver

Until axios reaches aĀ 1.0Ā release, breaking changes will be released with a new minor version. For exampleĀ 0.5.1, andĀ 0.5.4Ā will have the same API, butĀ 0.6.0Ā will have breaking changes.

Promises

axios depends on a native ES6 Promise implementation to beĀ supported. If your environment doesn’t support ES6 Promises, you canĀ polyfill.

TypeScript

axios includesĀ TypeScriptĀ definitions.

import axios from 'axios';
axios.get('/user?ID=12345');

 

Source Viva:Ā https://github.com/mzabriskie/axios

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