BEST SITE FOR WEB DEVELOPERS

JS Tutorial

JS HOME JS Introduction JS Where To JS Output JS Statements JS Syntax JS Comments JS Variables JS Let JS Const JS Operators JS Arithmetic JS Assignment JS Data Types JS Functions JS Objects JS Events JS Strings JS String Methods JS String Search JS String Templates JS Numbers JS Number Methods JS Arrays JS Array Methods JS Array Sort JS Array Iteration JS Array Const JS Dates JS Date Formats JS Date Get Methods JS Date Set Methods JS Math JS Random JS Booleans JS Comparisons JS Conditions JS Switch JS Loop For JS Loop For In JS Loop For Of JS Loop While JS Break JS Iterables JS Sets JS Maps JS Typeof JS Type Conversion JS Bitwise JS RegExp JS Errors JS Scope JS Hoisting JS Strict Mode JS this Keyword JS Arrow Function JS Classes JS JSON JS Debugging JS Style Guide JS Best Practices JS Mistakes JS Performance JS Reserved Words

JS Versions

JS Versions JS 2009 (ES5) JS 2015 (ES6) JS 2016 JS 2017 JS 2018 JS IE / Edge JS History

JS Objects

Object Definitions Object Properties Object Methods Object Display Object Accessors Object Constructors Object Prototypes Object Iterables Object Sets Object Maps Object Reference

JS Functions

Function Definitions Function Parameters Function Invocation Function Call Function Apply Function Closures

JS Classes

Class Intro Class Inheritance Class Static

JS Async

JS Callbacks JS Asynchronous JS Promises JS Async/Await

JS HTML DOM

DOM Intro DOM Methods DOM Document DOM Elements DOM HTML DOM Forms DOM CSS DOM Animations DOM Events DOM Event Listener DOM Navigation DOM Nodes DOM Collections DOM Node Lists

JS Browser BOM

JS Window JS Screen JS Location JS History JS Navigator JS Popup Alert JS Timing JS Cookies

JS Web APIs

Web API Intro Web Forms API Web History API Web Storage API Web Worker API Web Fetch API Web Geolocation API

JS AJAX

AJAX Intro AJAX XMLHttp AJAX Request AJAX Response AJAX XML File AJAX PHP AJAX ASP AJAX Database AJAX Applications AJAX Examples

JS JSON

JSON Intro JSON Syntax JSON vs XML JSON Data Types JSON Parse JSON Stringify JSON Objects JSON Arrays JSON Server JSON PHP JSON HTML JSON JSONP

JS vs jQuery

jQuery Selectors jQuery HTML jQuery CSS jQuery DOM

JS Graphics

JS Graphics JS Canvas JS Plotly JS Chart.js JS Google Chart JS D3.js

JS Examples

JS Examples JS HTML DOM JS HTML Input JS HTML Objects JS HTML Events JS Browser JS Editor JS Exercises JS Quiz JS Certificate

JS References

JavaScript Objects HTML DOM Objects

JavaScript. W3Schools in English. Lessons for beginners

Ru Ua

AJAX - The XMLHttpRequest Object

The keystone of AJAX is the XMLHttpRequest object.

  1. Create an XMLHttpRequest object
  2. Define a callback function
  3. Open the XMLHttpRequest object
  4. Send a Request to a server

The XMLHttpRequest Object

All modern browsers support the XMLHttpRequest object.

The XMLHttpRequest object can be used to exchange data with a web server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.


Create an XMLHttpRequest Object

All modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge, Safari, Opera) have a built-in XMLHttpRequest object.

Syntax for creating an XMLHttpRequest object:

variable = new XMLHttpRequest();

Define a Callback Function

A callback function is a function passed as a parameter to another function.

In this case, the callback function should contain the code to execute when the response is ready.

xhttp.onload = function() {
  // What to do when the response is ready
}

Send a Request

To send a request to a server, you can use the open() and send() methods of the XMLHttpRequest object:

xhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt");
xhttp.send();

Example

// Create an XMLHttpRequest object
const xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();

// Define a callback function
xhttp.onload = function() {
  // Here you can use the Data
}

// Send a request
xhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt");
xhttp.send();
Try it Yourself »

Access Across Domains

For security reasons, modern browsers do not allow access across domains.

This means that both the web page and the XML file it tries to load, must be located on the same server.

The examples on W3Schools all open XML files located on the W3Schools domain.

If you want to use the example above on one of your own web pages, the XML files you load must be located on your own server.


XMLHttpRequest Object Methods

Method Description
new XMLHttpRequest() Creates a new XMLHttpRequest object
abort() Cancels the current request
getAllResponseHeaders() Returns header information
getResponseHeader() Returns specific header information
open(method, url, async, user, psw) Specifies the request

method: the request type GET or POST
url: the file location
async: true (asynchronous) or false (synchronous)
user: optional user name
psw: optional password
send() Sends the request to the server
Used for GET requests
send(string) Sends the request to the server.
Used for POST requests
setRequestHeader() Adds a label/value pair to the header to be sent

XMLHttpRequest Object Properties

Property Description
onload Defines a function to be called when the request is recived (loaded)
onreadystatechange Defines a function to be called when the readyState property changes
readyState Holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest.
0: request not initialized
1: server connection established
2: request received
3: processing request
4: request finished and response is ready
responseText Returns the response data as a string
responseXML Returns the response data as XML data
status Returns the status-number of a request
200: "OK"
403: "Forbidden"
404: "Not Found"
For a complete list go to the Http Messages Reference
statusText Returns the status-text (e.g. "OK" or "Not Found")

The onload Property

With the XMLHttpRequest object you can define a callback function to be executed when the request receives an answer.

The function is defined in the onload property of the XMLHttpRequest object:

Example

xhttp.onload = function() {
  document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = this.responseText;
}
xhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt");
xhttp.send();
Try it Yourself »

Multiple Callback Functions

If you have more than one AJAX task in a website, you should create one function for executing the XMLHttpRequest object, and one callback function for each AJAX task.

The function call should contain the URL and what function to call when the response is ready.

Example

loadDoc("url-1", myFunction1);

loadDoc("url-2", myFunction2);

function loadDoc(url, cFunction) {
  const xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
  xhttp.onload = function() {cFunction(this);}
  xhttp.open("GET", url);
  xhttp.send();
}

function myFunction1(xhttp) {
  // action goes here
}
function myFunction2(xhttp) {
  // action goes here
}

The onreadystatechange Property

The readyState property holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest.

The onreadystatechange property defines a callback function to be executed when the readyState changes.

The status property and the statusText property holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest object.

Property Description
onreadystatechange Defines a function to be called when the readyState property changes
readyState Holds the status of the XMLHttpRequest.
0: request not initialized
1: server connection established
2: request received
3: processing request
4: request finished and response is ready
status 200: "OK"
403: "Forbidden"
404: "Page not found"
For a complete list go to the Http Messages Reference
statusText Returns the status-text (e.g. "OK" or "Not Found")

The onreadystatechange function is called every time the readyState changes.

When readyState is 4 and status is 200, the response is ready:

Example

function loadDoc() {
  const xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
  xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
      document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML =
      this.responseText;
    }
  };
  xhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt");
  xhttp.send();
}
Try it Yourself »

The onreadystatechange event is triggered four times (1-4), one time for each change in the readyState.