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HTTP Requests

There are different options when it comes to making HTTP requests (this is not React specific). There are different libraries that can be used to achieve the task, a very popular one is Axios. Nowadays there is also the Fetch API that is built into browsers.

There are a few differences to them, which can be compared here:

httpRequestLibraries

Generally when making simple requests in a browser context, the Fetch API is a very good option, since it doesn't require any additional package and generally has very solid feature support. If the has more complex requirements, axios should be considered.

According to mzabriskie (a developer on axios):

Overall axios and fetch are very similar. Some benefits of axios:

  • Transformers: allow performing transforms on data before a request is made or after a response is received
  • Interceptors: allow you to alter the request or response entirely (headers as well). also, perform async operations before a request is made or before Promise settles
  • Built-in XSRF protection

Some differences between axios and fetch are:

  • Fetch's body = Axios' data
  • Fetch's body has to be stringified, Axios' data contains the object
  • Fetch has no url in request object, Axios has url in request object
  • Fetch request function includes the url as parameter, Axios request function does not include the url as parameter.
  • Fetch request is ok when response object contains the ok property, Axios request is ok when status is 200 and statusText is 'OK'
  • To get the json object response: in fetch call the json() function on the response object, in Axios get data property of the response object.