In the previous examples, you received data from an external resource. You can also send data to an external resource, as long as that resource supports AJAX requests and you know the URL.
JavaScript's XMLHttpRequest method is also used to post data to a server. Here's an example:
const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', url, true);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=UTF-8');
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (xhr.readyState === 4 && xhr.status === 201){
const serverResponse = JSON.parse(xhr.response);
document.getElementsByClassName('message')[0].textContent = serverResponse.userName + serverResponse.suffix;
}
};
const body = JSON.stringify({ userName: userName, suffix: ' loves cats!' });
xhr.send(body);
You've seen several of these methods before. Here the open method initializes the request as a "POST" to the given URL of the external resource, and uses the true Boolean to make it asynchronous.
The setRequestHeader method sets the value of an HTTP request header, which contains information about the sender and the request. It must be called after the open method, but before the send method. The two parameters are the name of the header and the value to set as the body of that header.
Next, the onreadystatechange event listener handles a change in the state of the request. A readyState of 4 means the operation is complete, and a status of 201 means it was a successful request. The document's HTML can be updated.
Finally, the send method sends the request with the body value, which the userName key was given by the user in the input field.
Update the code to create and send a "POST" request. Then enter your name in input box and click "Send Message". Your AJAX function will replace "Reply from Server will be here." with the reply of the server. In this case, it is your name appended with " loves cats".