How does fetch works in javascript?

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn about the JavaScript Fetch API and how to use it to make asynchronous HTTP requests.

The Fetch API is a modern interface that allows you to make HTTP requests to servers from web browsers.

If you have worked with XMLHttpRequest (XHR) object, the Fetch API can perform all the tasks as the XHR object does.

In addition, the Fetch API is much simpler and cleaner. It uses the Promise to deliver more flexible features to make requests to servers from the web browsers.

The fetch() method is available in the global scope that instructs the web browsers to send a request to a URL.

Sending a Request

The fetch() requires only one parameter which is the URL of the resource that you want to fetch:

let response = fetch(url);

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The fetch() method returns a Promise so you can use the then() and catch() methods to handle it:

fetch(url) .then(response => { // handle the response }) .catch(error => { // handle the error });

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

When the request completes, the resource is available. At this time, the promise will resolve into a Response object.

The Response object is the API wrapper for the fetched resource. The Response object has a number of useful properties and methods to inspect the response.

Reading the Response

If the contents of the response are in the raw text format, you can use the text() method. The text() method returns a Promise that resolves with the complete contents of the fetched resource:

fetch('/readme.txt') .then(response => response.text()) .then(data => console.log(data));

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In practice, you often use the async/await with the fetch() method like this:

async function fetchText() { let response = await fetch('/readme.txt'); let data = await response.text(); console.log(data); }

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Besides the text() method, the Response object has other methods such as json(), blob(), formData() and arrayBuffer() to handle the respective type of data.

Handling the status codes of the Response

The Response object provides the status code and status text via the status and statusText properties. When a request is successful, the status code is 200 and status text is OK:

async function fetchText() { let response = await fetch('/readme.txt'); console.log(response.status); // 200 console.log(response.statusText); // OK if (response.status === 200) { let data = await response.text(); // handle data } } fetchText();

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Output:

200 OK

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

If the requested resource doesn’t exist, the response code is 404:

let response = await fetch('/non-existence.txt'); console.log(response.status); // 400 console.log(response.statusText); // Not Found

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Output:

400 Not Found

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

If the requested URL throws a server error, the response code will be 500.

If the requested URL is redirected to the new one with the response 300-309, the status of the Response object is set to 200. In addition the redirected property is set to true.

The fetch() returns a promise that rejects when a real failure occurs such as a web browser timeout, a loss of network connection, and a CORS violation.

JavaScript Fetch API example

Suppose that you have a json file that locates on the webserver with the following contents:

[{ "username": "john", "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Doe", "gender": "Male", "profileURL": "img/male.png", "email": "" }, { "username": "jane", "firstName": "Jane", "lastName": "Doe", "gender": "Female", "profileURL": "img/female.png", "email": "" } ]

Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)

The following shows the HTML page:

html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <title>Fetch API Demotitle> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css"> head> <body> <div class="container">div> <script src="js/app.js">script> body> html>

Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

In the app.js, we’ll use the fetch() method to get the user data and render the data inside the

element with the class container.

First, declare the getUsers() function that fetches users.json from the server.

async function getUsers() { let url = 'users.json'; try { let res = await fetch(url); return await res.json(); } catch (error) { console.log(error); } }

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Then, develop the renderUsers() function that renders user data:

async function renderUsers() { let users = await getUsers(); let html = ''; users.forEach(user => { let htmlSegment = `

${user.firstName} ${user.lastName}

`; html += htmlSegment; }); let container = document.querySelector('.container'); container.innerHTML = html; } renderUsers();

Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Check out the Fetch API demo.

Summary

  • The Fetch API allows you to asynchronously request for a resource.
  • Use the fetch() method to return a promise that resolves into a Response object. To get the actual data, you call one of the methods of the Response object e.g., text() or json(). These methods resolve into the actual data.
  • Use the status and statusText properties of the Response object to get the status and status text of the response.
  • use the catch() method or try...catch statement to handle a failure request.

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How does fetch method work?

The fetch() method takes one mandatory argument, the path to the resource you want to fetch. It returns a Promise that resolves to the Response to that request — as soon as the server responds with headers — even if the server response is an HTTP error status.

How does fetch return an API call?

The Fetch API allows you to asynchronously request for a resource. Use the fetch() method to return a promise that resolves into a Response object. To get the actual data, you call one of the methods of the Response object e.g., text() or json() . These methods resolve into the actual data.

What method does fetch use?

The default method of fetch() is GET. If needed, we can also make a POST, PUT and DELETE method request as well. Below is an example of fetch() using the POST method.

Is JavaScript fetch a GET request?

Fetch defaults to GET requests, but you can use all other types of requests, change the headers, and send data. Let's create a POST request. The method key will have the value 'POST' .