I would like to have a button that when clicked gets a file (in this case a dynamically generated PDF) from a (predefined) URL on the same domain, and sends it to a (php) backend to be saved.
I am guessing that the best way to do this is to somehow load the file returned by the URL into a javascript variable, base64 encode it and send that to the backend with an ajax POST. Then on the backend I would base64 decode it and save it as a regular file.
Is this the right approach, or is there a better way to do it?
If this is the right approach, the part I am not sure how to do is getting the file from the URL into a variable. Once it's there, I guess I can use btoa() to base64 encode it. The other thing I am not 100% sure about is whether that will be compatible with base64_decode() in PHP for when I decode it?
Update
You say, the URL is predefined, and you don't know how to get in into a javascript variable. I guess, the URL is defined in the backend (PHP). So you could simply set/inject it in the client side code (javascript) with PHP.
Don't post the URL back from the client to the server, as there seems to be no need for that, and the URL could easily be changed by the user (security issue)!!!
So, maybe a better way would be to keep the URL on the server side, and inject it in the client page using php, without posting it back to the server.
Original answer
This answer is only appropriate if the client generates the URL and you have a secure way to verify it, as every client side input has to be treated as potential harmful user input.
In my opinion this is the absolutely right approach. Yes, you should base64 encode your variable. You could put the base64 encoded string in a json object and post this json object via ajax, or post it as plain text in your post body. Make sure to verify this as a client input!
I see no reason why btoa()/base64_decode() should not work. Base64 is platform independent.
I figured it out. It's a mix of vanilla and jQuery because the vanilla is from this article and the project I am working in already has jQuery available for $.ajax to make the POST to the backend easier.
var oReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
var fileUrl = '[URL from PHP]';
oReq.open("GET", fileUrl, true);
oReq.responseType = "arraybuffer";
oReq.onload = function (oEvent) {
let arrayBuffer = oReq.response; // Note: not oReq.responseText
if (arrayBuffer) {
let binaryText;
let byteArray = new Uint8Array(arrayBuffer);
for (var i = 0; i < byteArray.byteLength; i++) {
binaryText+=String.fromCharCode( byteArray[ i ] );
}
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/path/to/backend-upload",
data: {"fileData":btoa(binaryText)},
success: function(resultData){
alert("File Uploaded");
}
});
}
};
oReq.send(null);
and in the PHP backend:
file_put_contents("/path/to/destination", base64_decode($_POST['fileData']));
JSON stands for javascript object notation (as I'm sure you're aware), so why, when sending json via ajax do you need to turn it into a string to send it? Is it simply a formatting thing, or what?
This may belong in another place, if so, let me know, I'll close it and move it.
Obviously, I'm not looking for opinions, I'd like to know the actual answer.
Just to make sure I'm clear, I understand what JSON.stringify() does, and its counterpart JSON.parse(). I just want to know, why using stringify is required.
Thanks!
when sending json via ajax do you need to turn it into a string to send it?
If it isn't a string, then it isn't JSON in the first place.
JSON is a text based data format. HTTP is a text based communications protocol.
JSON stands for javascript object notation
JSON is based on the syntax for JavaScript literals. A JavaScript object is not JSON.
AJAX is all about HTTP requests, which are basically "text" requests to a server. That's the main reason why you have to stringify your object: That way it's turned into text that can "travel" over HTTP.
When sending data to a web server, the data has to be a string.
That's why we are using JSON.stringify() function to convert data to string and send it via XHR request to the server.
// Creating a XHR object
let xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
let url = "submit.php";
// open a connection
xhr.open("POST", url, true);
// Set the request header i.e. which type of content you are sending
xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
// Converting JSON data to string
var data = JSON.stringify({ "name": name.value, "email": email.value });
// Sending data with the request
xhr.send(data);
How do I access a page's HTTP response headers via JavaScript?
Related to this question, which was modified to ask about accessing two specific HTTP headers.
Related:
How do I access the HTTP request header fields via JavaScript?
It's not possible to read the current headers. You could make another request to the same URL and read its headers, but there is no guarantee that the headers are exactly equal to the current.
Use the following JavaScript code to get all the HTTP headers by performing a get request:
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('GET', document.location, false);
req.send(null);
var headers = req.getAllResponseHeaders().toLowerCase();
alert(headers);
Unfortunately, there isn't an API to give you the HTTP response headers for your initial page request. That was the original question posted here. It has been repeatedly asked, too, because some people would like to get the actual response headers of the original page request without issuing another one.
For AJAX Requests:
If an HTTP request is made over AJAX, it is possible to get the response headers with the getAllResponseHeaders() method. It's part of the XMLHttpRequest API. To see how this can be applied, check out the fetchSimilarHeaders() function below. Note that this is a work-around to the problem that won't be reliable for some applications.
myXMLHttpRequest.getAllResponseHeaders();
The API was specified in the following candidate recommendation for XMLHttpRequest: XMLHttpRequest - W3C Candidate Recommendation 3 August 2010
Specifically, the getAllResponseHeaders() method was specified in the following section: w3.org: XMLHttpRequest: the getallresponseheaders() method
The MDN documentation is good, too: developer.mozilla.org: XMLHttpRequest.
This will not give you information about the original page request's HTTP response headers, but it could be used to make educated guesses about what those headers were. More on that is described next.
Getting header values from the Initial Page Request:
This question was first asked several years ago, asking specifically about how to get at the original HTTP response headers for the current page (i.e. the same page inside of which the javascript was running). This is quite a different question than simply getting the response headers for any HTTP request. For the initial page request, the headers aren't readily available to javascript. Whether the header values you need will be reliably and sufficiently consistent if you request the same page again via AJAX will depend on your particular application.
The following are a few suggestions for getting around that problem.
1. Requests on Resources which are largely static
If the response is largely static and the headers are not expected to change much between requests, you could make an AJAX request for the same page you're currently on and assume that they're they are the same values which were part of the page's HTTP response. This could allow you to access the headers you need using the nice XMLHttpRequest API described above.
function fetchSimilarHeaders (callback) {
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (request.readyState === XMLHttpRequest.DONE) {
//
// The following headers may often be similar
// to those of the original page request...
//
if (callback && typeof callback === 'function') {
callback(request.getAllResponseHeaders());
}
}
};
//
// Re-request the same page (document.location)
// We hope to get the same or similar response headers to those which
// came with the current page, but we have no guarantee.
// Since we are only after the headers, a HEAD request may be sufficient.
//
request.open('HEAD', document.location, true);
request.send(null);
}
This approach will be problematic if you truly have to rely on the values being consistent between requests, since you can't fully guarantee that they are the same. It's going to depend on your specific application and whether you know that the value you need is something that won't be changing from one request to the next.
2. Make Inferences
There are some BOM properties (Browser Object Model) which the browser determines by looking at the headers. Some of these properties reflect HTTP headers directly (e.g. navigator.userAgent is set to the value of the HTTP User-Agent header field). By sniffing around the available properties you might be able to find what you need, or some clues to indicate what the HTTP response contained.
3. Stash them
If you control the server side, you can access any header you like as you construct the full response. Values could be passed to the client with the page, stashed in some markup or perhaps in an inlined JSON structure. If you wanted to have every HTTP request header available to your javascript, you could iterate through them on the server and send them back as hidden values in the markup. It's probably not ideal to send header values this way, but you could certainly do it for the specific value you need. This solution is arguably inefficient, too, but it would do the job if you needed it.
Using XmlHttpRequest you can pull up the current page and then examine the http headers of the response.
Best case is to just do a HEAD request and then examine the headers.
For some examples of doing this have a look at http://www.jibbering.com/2002/4/httprequest.html
Just my 2 cents.
A solution with Service Workers
Service workers are able to access network information, which includes headers. The good part is that it works on any kind of request, not just XMLHttpRequest.
How it works:
Add a service worker on your website.
Watch every request that's being sent.
Make the service worker fetch the request with the respondWith function.
When the response arrives, read the headers.
Send the headers from the service worker to the page with the postMessage function.
Working example:
Service workers are a bit complicated to understand, so I've built a small library that does all this. It is available on github: https://github.com/gmetais/sw-get-headers.
Limitations:
the website needs to be on HTTPS
the browser needs to support the Service Workers API
the same-domain/cross-domain policies are in action, just like on XMLHttpRequest
Another way to send header information to JavaScript would be through cookies. The server can extract whatever data it needs from the request headers and send them back inside a Set-Cookie response header — and cookies can be read in JavaScript. As keparo says, though, it's best to do this for just one or two headers, rather than for all of them.
(2021) An answer without additional HTTP call
While it's not possible in general to read arbitrary HTTP response headers of the top-level HTML navigation, if you control the server (or middleboxes on the way) and want to expose some info to JavaScript that can't be exposed easily in any other way than via a header:
You may use Server-Timing header to expose arbitrary key-value data, and it will be readable by JavaScript.
(*in supported browsers: Firefox 61, Chrome 65, Edge 79; no Safari yet and no immediate plans for shipping as of 2021.09; no IE)
Example:
server-timing: key;desc="value"
You can use this header multiple times for multiple pieces of data:
server-timing: key1;desc="value1"
server-timing: key2;desc="value2"
or use its compact version where you expose multiple pieces of data in one header, comma-separated.
server-timing: key1;desc="value1", key2;desc="value2"
Example of how Wikipedia uses this header to expose info about cache hit/miss:
Code example (need to account for lack of browser support in Safari and IE):
if (window.performance && performance.getEntriesByType) { // avoid error in Safari 10, IE9- and other old browsers
let navTiming = performance.getEntriesByType('navigation')
if (navTiming.length > 0) { // still not supported as of Safari 14...
let serverTiming = navTiming[0].serverTiming
if (serverTiming && serverTiming.length > 0) {
for (let i=0; i<serverTiming.length; i++) {
console.log(`${serverTiming[i].name} = ${serverTiming[i].description}`)
}
}
}
}
This logs cache = hit-front in supported browsers.
Notes:
as mentioned on MDN, the API is only supported over HTTPS
if your JS is served from another domain, you have to add Timing-Allow-Origin response header to make the data readable to JS (Timing-Allow-Origin: * or Timing-Allow-Origin: https://www.example.com)
Server-Timing headers support also dur(header) field, readable as duration on JS side, but it's optional and defaults to 0 in JS if not passed
regarding Safari support: see bug 1 and bug 2 and bug 3
You can read more on server-timing in this blog post
Note that performance entries buffers might get cleaned by JS on the page (via an API call), or by the browser, if the page issues too many calls for subresources. For that reason, you should capture the data as soon as possible, and/or use PerformanceObserver API instead. See the blog post for details.
For those looking for a way to parse all HTTP headers into an object that can be accessed as a dictionary headers["content-type"], I've created a function parseHttpHeaders:
function parseHttpHeaders(httpHeaders) {
return httpHeaders.split("\n")
.map(x=>x.split(/: */,2))
.filter(x=>x[0])
.reduce((ac, x)=>{ac[x[0]] = x[1];return ac;}, {});
}
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('GET', document.location, false);
req.send(null);
var headers = parseHttpHeaders(req.getAllResponseHeaders());
// Now we can do: headers["content-type"]
You can't access the http headers, but some of the information provided in them is available in the DOM. For example, if you want to see the http referer (sic), use document.referrer. There may be others like this for other http headers. Try googling the specific thing you want, like "http referer javascript".
I know this should be obvious, but I kept searching for stuff like "http headers javascript" when all I really wanted was the referer, and didn't get any useful results. I don't know how I didn't realize I could make a more specific query.
Like many people I've been digging the net with no real answer :(
I've nevertheless find out a bypass that could help others. In my case I fully control my web server. In fact it is part of my application (see end reference). It is easy for me to add a script to my http response. I modified my httpd server to inject a small script within every html pages. I only push a extra 'js script' line right after my header construction, that set an existing variable from my document within my browser [I choose location], but any other option is possible. While my server is written in nodejs, I've no doubt that the same technique can be use from PHP or others.
case ".html":
response.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/html");
response.write ("<script>location['GPSD_HTTP_AJAX']=true</script>")
// process the real contend of my page
Now every html pages loaded from my server, have this script executed by the browser at reception. I can then easily check from JavaScript if the variable exist or not. In my usecase I need to know if I should use JSON or JSON-P profile to avoid CORS issue, but the same technique can be used for other purposes [ie: choose in between development/production server, get from server a REST/API key, etc ....]
On the browser you just need to check variable directly from JavaScript as in my example, where I use it to select my Json/JQuery profile
// Select direct Ajax/Json profile if using GpsdTracking/HttpAjax server otherwise use JsonP
var corsbypass = true;
if (location['GPSD_HTTP_AJAX']) corsbypass = false;
if (corsbypass) { // Json & html served from two different web servers
var gpsdApi = "http://localhost:4080/geojson.rest?jsoncallback=?";
} else { // Json & html served from same web server [no ?jsoncallback=]
var gpsdApi = "geojson.rest?";
}
var gpsdRqt =
{key :123456789 // user authentication key
,cmd :'list' // rest command
,group :'all' // group to retreive
,round : true // ask server to round numbers
};
$.getJSON(gpsdApi,gpsdRqt, DevListCB);
For who ever would like to check my code:
https://www.npmjs.org/package/gpsdtracking
Allain Lalonde's link made my day.
Just adding some simple working html code here.
Works with any reasonable browser since ages plus IE9+ and Presto-Opera 12.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<title>(XHR) Show all response headers</title>
<h1>All Response Headers with XHR</h1>
<script>
var X= new XMLHttpRequest();
X.open("HEAD", location);
X.send();
X.onload= function() {
document.body.appendChild(document.createElement("pre")).textContent= X.getAllResponseHeaders();
}
</script>
Note: You get headers of a second request, the result may differ from the initial request.
Another way is the more modern fetch() API
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WindowOrWorkerGlobalScope/fetch
Per caniuse.com it's supported by Firefox 40, Chrome 42, Edge 14, Safari 11
Working example code:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<title>fetch() all Response Headers</title>
<h1>All Response Headers with fetch()</h1>
<script>
var x= "";
if(window.fetch)
fetch(location, {method:'HEAD'})
.then(function(r) {
r.headers.forEach(
function(Value, Header) { x= x + Header + "\n" + Value + "\n\n"; }
);
})
.then(function() {
document.body.appendChild(document.createElement("pre")).textContent= x;
});
else
document.write("This does not work in your browser - no support for fetch API");
</script>
If we're talking about Request headers, you can create your own headers when doing XmlHttpRequests.
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With", "XMLHttpRequest");
request.open("GET", path, true);
request.send(null);
To get the headers as an object which is handier (improvement of Raja's answer):
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('GET', document.location, false);
req.send(null);
var headers = req.getAllResponseHeaders().toLowerCase();
headers = headers.split(/\n|\r|\r\n/g).reduce(function(a, b) {
if (b.length) {
var [ key, value ] = b.split(': ');
a[key] = value;
}
return a;
}, {});
I've just tested, and this works for me using Chrome Version 28.0.1500.95.
I was needing to download a file and read the file name. The file name is in the header so I did the following:
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', url, true);
xhr.responseType = "blob";
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (xhr.readyState == 4) {
success(xhr.response); // the function to proccess the response
console.log("++++++ reading headers ++++++++");
var headers = xhr.getAllResponseHeaders();
console.log(headers);
console.log("++++++ reading headers end ++++++++");
}
};
Output:
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:21:33 GMT
Content-Disposition: attachment;filename=testFileName.doc
Content-Length: 20
Server: Apache-Coyote/1.1
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
This is my script to get all the response headers:
var url = "< URL >";
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('HEAD', url, false);
req.send(null);
var headers = req.getAllResponseHeaders();
//Show alert with response headers.
alert(headers);
Having as a result the response headers.
This is a comparison test using Hurl.it:
Using mootools, you can use this.xhr.getAllResponseHeaders()
This is an old question. Not sure when support became more broad, but getAllResponseHeaders() and getResponseHeader() appear to now be fairly standard: http://www.w3schools.com/xml/dom_http.asp
As has already been mentioned, if you control the server side then it should be possible to send the initial request headers back to the client in the initial response.
In Express, for example, the following works:
app.get('/somepage', (req, res) => {
res.render('somepage.hbs', {headers: req.headers});
})
The headers are then available within the template, so could be hidden visually but included in the markup and read by clientside javascript.
I think the question went in the wrong way,
If you want to take the Request header from JQuery/JavaScript the answer is simply No. The other solutions is create a aspx page or jsp page then we can easily access the request header.
Take all the request in aspx page and put into a session/cookies then you can access the cookies in JavaScript page..
Question:
I'm trying to use JSON accross domains, but all i find is JSON parsers, which I don't need...
I've read that it's possible to do cross-domain requests with JSON,
but so far, all I see is implementations that use XMLHttpRequest...
- which means you can't use cross-domain requests, at least not outside IE 8...
I've been on http://www.json.org/, but all I find is either parsers or useless.
The best I've found with google so far is
http://devpro.it/JSON/files/JSONRequest-js.html
but this is rather a mess, doesn't work cross domain, and intra-domain neither - or rather not at all...
var the_object = {};
var http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
http_request.open( "GET", url, true );
http_request.onreadystatechange = function () {
if ( http_request.readyState == 4 && http_request.status == 200 ) {
the_object = JSON.parse( http_request.responseText );
}
};
http_request.send(null);
What you can do cross-domain is inject a script include:
var s = document.createElement('script');
s.src = 'http://someotherdomain/getMeMyJs.aspx?parameter=value';
s.onload = someOptionalCallback;
s.type = 'text/javascript';
if(document.getElementsByTagName('head').length > 0)
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);
Now, the code returned by that request will be executed immediately. If you want for that to interact with your code, you can make sure that it's being returned with all data wrapped in a function call:
jsonCallback({ object: json, whatever: value });
You can use that to build APIs, where you pass the name of a callback function as a request querystring parameter. Here's an example of such an API
JSON is just a serialization method. There is no relation whatsoever between the method of the serialization and the question of whether or not the browser will try to stop you from accessing data across domains. (This explains why you are only finding parsers - there is nothing to JSON, except encoding and decoding it).
XMLHTTPRequest is just named XML HTTPRequest. It doesn't really have anything to do with XML. It can be used to send text data, data encoded in JSON, or any others serialization method.
There are several methods to access data cross domain. one described in David Hedlund's answer. Others can be found in answers to similar questions (see here and here).