Frisbee

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Modern fetch-based alternative to axios/superagent/request. Great for React Native.

New in v2.0.4++: baseURI is now optional and you can pass raw: true as a global or request-based option to get the raw fetch() response (e.g. if you want to use res.arrayBuffer() or any other method manually).

Table of Contents

• Install
  • Node (Koa, Express, React Native, ...)
  • Browser
• Usage
  • Example
  • API
  • Logging and Debugging
  • Common Issues
  • Required Features
• Frequently Asked Questions
  • How do I unset a default header
  • Why do my form uploads randomly fail with React Native
  • Does this support callbacks, promises, or both
  • What is the fetch method
  • Does the Browser or Node.js support fetch yet
  • If my engine does not support fetch yet, is there a polyfill
  • Can I make fetch support older browsers
  • What is this project about
  • Why not just use superagent or fetch
  • Want to build an API back-end with Node.js
  • Need help or want to request a feature
• Tests
• Development
• Background
• Contributors
• Credits
• License

Install

Node (Koa, Express, React Native, ...)

1. Install the required package:

   npm install --save frisbee
   

2. See usage example and API below

Browser

VanillaJS

1. Load the package via <script> tag (note you will need to polyfill with required features):

<script crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=es6,Array.from,Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors,Object.getOwnPropertySymbols,Promise,Promise.race,Promise.reject,Promise.resolve,Reflect,Symbol.for,Symbol.iterator,Symbol.prototype,Symbol.species,Symbol.toPrimitive,Symbol.toStringTag,Uint8Array"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/frisbee"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
  (function() {
    // create a new instance of Frisbee
    var api = new Frisbee({
      baseURI: 'https://api.startup.com', // optional
      headers: {
        'Accept': 'application/json',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
      }
    });

    // this is a simple example using `.then` and `.catch`
    api.get('/hello-world').then(console.log).catch(console.error);

    //
    // see the Usage section below in Frisbee's README for more information
    // https://github.com/niftylettuce/frisbee
    //
  })();
</script>

1. See usage example and API below for a more complete example.

Bundler

1. Install the required package:

   npm install frisbee
   

2. Ensure that your environment is polyfilled with required features (e.g. use @babel/polyfill globally or a service like polyfill.io)

3. See usage example and API below

Usage

Example

const Frisbee = require('frisbee');

// create a new instance of Frisbee
const api = new Frisbee({
  baseURI: 'https://api.startup.com', // optional
  headers: {
    'Accept': 'application/json',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
});

// this is a simple example using `.then` and `.catch`
api.get('/hello-world').then(console.log).catch(console.error);

// this is a more complex example using async/await and basic auth
(async () => {
  // log in to our API with a user/pass
  try {
    // make the request
    let res = await api.post('/v1/login');

    // handle HTTP or API errors
    if (res.err) throw res.err;

    // set basic auth headers for all
    // future API requests we make
    api.auth(res.body.api_token);

    // now let's post a message to our API
    res = await api.post('/v1/messages', { body: 'Hello' });

    // handle HTTP or API errors
    if (res.err) throw res.err;

    // now let's get a list of messages filtered by page and limit
    res = await api.get('/v1/messages', {
      body: {
        limit: 10,
        page: 2
      }
    });

    // handle HTTP or API errors
    if (res.err) throw res.err;

    // now let's logout
    res = api.post('/v1/logout');

    // handle HTTP or API errors
    if (res.err) throw res.err;

    // unset auth now since we logged out
    api.auth();

    // for more information on `fetch` headers and
    // how to send and expect various types of data:
    // <https://github.com/github/fetch>
  } catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
  }
})();

API

const Frisbee = require('frisbee');

Frisbee is a function that optionally accepts an argument options, which is an object full of options for constructing your API instance.

• Frisbee - accepts an options object, with the following accepted options:

  • baseURI (String) - the default URI to use as a prefix for all HTTP requests (optional as of v2.0.4+)

    • If your API server is running on http://localhost:8080, then use that as the value for this option

    • If you use React Native, then you most likely want to set baseURI as follows (e.g. making use of __DEV__ global variable):

      const api = new Frisbee({
        baseURI: __DEV__
          ? process.env.API_BASE_URI || 'http://localhost:8080'
          : 'https://api.startup.com'
      });
      

    • You could also set API_BASE_URI as an environment variable, and then set the value of this option to process.env.API_BASE_URI (e.g. API_BASE_URI=http://localhost:8080 node app)

    • Using React Native? You might want to read this article about automatic IP configuration.

  • headers (Object) - an object containing default headers to send with every request

    • Tip: You'll most likely want to set the "Accept" header to "application/json" and the "Content-Type" header to "application/json"

  • body (Object) - an object containing default body payload to send with every request. Either the default body set in options will be used or it will be overridden with a request provided body. Body will not merge nor deep merge.

  • params (Object) - an object containing default querystring parameters to send with every request (API method specific params options will override or extend properties defined here, but will not deep merge)

  • logRequest (Function) - a function that accepts two arguments path (String) and opts (Object) and will be called with before a fetch request is made with (e.g. fetch(path, opts) – see Logging and Debugging below for example usage) - this defaults to false so no log request function is called out of the box

  • logResponse (Function) - a function that accepts three arguments path (String), opts (Object), and response (Object) and has the same parameters as logRequest, with the exception of the third response, which is the raw response object returned from fetch (see Logging and Debugging below for example usage) - this defaults to false so no log response function is called out of the box

  • auth - will call the auth() function below and set it as a default

  • parse - options passed to qs.parse method (see qs for all available options)

    • ignoreQueryPrefix (Boolean) - defaults to true, and parses querystrings from URL's properly

  • stringify - options passed to qs.stringify method (see qs for all available options)

    • addQueryPrefix (Boolean) - defaults to true, and affixes the path with required ? parameter if a querystring is to be passed

    • format (String) - defaults to RFC1738

    • arrayFormat (String) - defaults to 'indices'

  • preventBodyOnMethods (Array) - defaults to [ 'GET', 'HEAD', 'DELETE', 'CONNECT' ], and is an Array of HTTP method names that we will convert a body option to be querystringified URL parameters (e.g. api.get('/v1/users', { search: 'foo' }) will result in GET /v1/users?search=foo). According to RFC 7231, the default methods defined here have no defined semantics for having a payload body, and having one may cause some implementations to reject the request (which is why we set this as a default). If you wish to disable this, you may pass preventBodyOnMethods: false or your own custom Array preventBodyOnMethods: [ ... ]

  • interceptableMethods (Array) - defaults to all API methods supported below (defaults to GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS, PATCH)

  • raw (Boolean) - return a raw fetch response (new as of v2.0.4+)

  • abortToken (Symbol) - some Symbol that you can use to abort one or more frisbee requests

  • signal (Object) - an AbortController Signal used to cancel a fetch request

  • mode (String) - passed to fetch, defaults to "same-origin" (see Fetch's documentation for more info)

  • cache (String) - passed to fetch, defaults to "default" (see Fetch's documentation for more info)

  • credentials (String) - passed to fetch, defaults to "same-origin" (see Fetch's documentation for more info)

  • redirect (String) - passed to fetch, defaults to "follow" (see Fetch's documentation for more info)

  • referrer (String) - passed to fetch, defaults to "client" (see Fetch's documentation for more info)

Upon being invoked, Frisbee returns an object with the following chainable methods:

• api.auth(creds) - helper function that sets BasicAuth headers, and it accepts user and pass arguments

  • You can pass creds user and pass as an array, arguments, or string: ([user, pass]), (user, pass), or ("user:pass"), so you shouldn't have any problems!
  • If you don't pass both user and pass arguments, then it removes any previously set BasicAuth headers from prior auth() calls
  • If you pass only a user, then it will set pass to an empty string '')
  • If you pass : then it will assume you are trying to set BasicAuth headers using your own user:pass string
  • If you pass more than two keys, then it will throw an error (since BasicAuth only consists of user and pass anyways)

• api.setOptions(opts) - helper function to update instance options (note this does not call api.auth internally again even if opts.auth is passed)

• api.jwt(token) - helper function that sets a JWT Bearer header. It accepts the jwt_token as a single string argument. If you simply invoke the function null as the argument for your token, it will remove JWT headers.

• api.abort(token) - aborts all current/queued requests that were created using token

• api.abortAll() - aborts all current/queued - i.e. await-ing in an interceptor - requests

• All exposed HTTP methods return a Promise, and they require a path string, and accept an optional options object:

  • Accepted method arguments:

    • path required - the path for the HTTP request (e.g. /v1/login, will be prefixed with the value of baseURI if set)

    • options optional - an object containing options, such as header values, a request body, form data, or a querystring to send along with the request. These options by default are inherited from global options passed to new Frisbee({ options }). For the GET method (and the DELETE method as of version 1.3.0), body data will be encoded in the query string. **This options object is passed to the native Fetch API method, which means you can use native Fetch API method options as well from Fetch's documentation

      To make only a certain request be raw and not parsed by Frisbee:

      const res = await api.get('/v1/messages', { raw: false });
      

      Here are a few examples (you can override/merge your set default headers as well per request):

      • To turn off caching, pass cache: 'reload' to native fetch options:

        const res = await api.get('/v1/messages', { cache: 'reload' });
        

      • To set a custom header value of X-Reply-To on a POST request:

        const res = await api.post('/messages', {
          headers: {
            'X-Reply-To': '7s9inuna748y4l1azchi'
          }
        });
        

    • raw optional - will override a global raw option if set, and if it is true it will return a raw fetch response (new as of v2.0.4+)

  • List of available HTTP methods:

    • api.get(path, options) - GET
    • api.head(path, options) - HEAD (does not currently work - see tests)
    • api.post(path, options) - POST
    • api.put(path, options) - PUT
    • api.del(path, options) - DELETE
    • api.delete(path, options) - DELETE
    • api.options(path, options) - OPTIONS (does not currently work - see tests)
    • api.patch(path, options) - PATCH

  • Note that you can chain the auth method and a HTTP method together:

    const res = await api.auth('foo:bar').get('/');
    

• interceptor - object that can be used to manipulate request and response interceptors. It has the following methods:

  • api.interceptor.register(interceptor): Accepts an interceptor object that can have one or more of the following functions

    {
    request: function (path, options) {
        // Read/Modify the path or options
        // ...
        return [path, options];
    },
    requestError: function (err) {
        // Handle an error occured in the request method
        // ...
        return Promise.reject(err);
    },
    response: function (response) {
        // Read/Modify the response
        // ...
        return response;
    },
    responseError: function (err) {
        // Handle error occured in api/response methods
        return Promise.reject(err);
    }
    

    the register method returns an unregister() function so that you can unregister the added interceptor.

  • api.interceptor.unregister(interceptor): Accepts the interceptor reference that you want to delete.

  • api.interceptor.clear(): Removes all the added interceptors.

  • Note that when interceptors are added in the order ONE->TWO->THREE:

    • The request/requestError functions will run in the same order ONE->TWO->THREE.
    • The response/responseError functions will run in reversed order THREE->TWO->ONE.

Logging and Debugging

We highly recommend to use CabinJS as your Node.js and JavaScript logging utility (see Automatic Request Logging for complete examples).

Logging Requests and Responses

You can log both requests and/or responses made to fetch internally in Frisbee. Simply pass a logRequest and/or logResponse function.

logRequest accepts two arguments path (String) and opts (Object) and these two arguments are what we call fetch with internally (e.g. fetch(path, opts)):

const cabin = require('cabin');
const frisbee = require('frisbee');
const pino = require('pino')({
  customLevels: {
    log: 30
  },
  hooks: {
    // <https://github.com/pinojs/pino/blob/master/docs/api.md#logmethod>
    logMethod(inputArgs, method) {
      return method.call(this, {
        // <https://github.com/pinojs/pino/issues/854>
        // message: inputArgs[0],
        msg: inputArgs[0],
        meta: inputArgs[1]
      });
    }
  }
});

const logger = new Cabin({
  // (optional: your free API key from https://cabinjs.com)
  // key: 'YOUR-CABIN-API-KEY',
  axe: { logger: pino }
});

const api = new Frisbee({
  logRequest: (path, opts) => {
    logger.info('fetch request', { path, opts });
  }
});

logResponse accepts three arguments, the first two are the same as logRequest (e.g. path and opts), but the third argument is response (Object) and is the raw response object returned from fetch (e.g. const response = await fetch(path, opts)):

const cabin = require('cabin');
const frisbee = require('frisbee');
const pino = require('pino')({
  customLevels: {
    log: 30
  }
});

const logger = new Cabin({
  // (optional: your free API key from https://cabinjs.com)
  // key: 'YOUR-CABIN-API-KEY',
  axe: { logger: pino }
});

const api = new Frisbee({
  logResponse: (path, opts, res) => {
    logger.info('fetch response', { path, opts, res });
  }
});

Debug Statements

You can run your application with DEBUG=frisbee node app.js to output debug logging statements with Frisbee.

Common Issues

• If you're using node-fetch, you need node-fetch@v1.5.3+ to use form-data with files properly (due to bitinn/node-fetch#102)
• If you experience form file upload issues, please see facebook/react-native#7564 (comment).

Required Features

This list is sourced from ESLint output and polyfilled settings through eslint-plugin-compat.

• Array.from() is not supported in IE 11
• Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptors() is not supported in IE 11
• Object.getOwnPropertySymbols() is not supported in IE 11
• Promise is not supported in Opera Mini all, IE Mobile 11, IE 11
• Promise.race() is not supported in Opera Mini all, IE Mobile 11, IE 11
• Promise.reject() is not supported in Opera Mini all, IE Mobile 11, IE 11
• Promise.resolve() is not supported in Opera Mini all, IE Mobile 11, IE 11
• Reflect is not supported in IE 11
• Symbol.for() is not supported in IE 11
• Symbol.iterator() is not supported in IE 11
• Symbol.prototype() is not supported in IE 11
• Symbol.species() is not supported in IE 11
• Symbol.toPrimitive() is not supported in IE 11
• Symbol.toStringTag() is not supported in IE 11
• Uint8Array is not supported in IE Mobile 11

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I unset a default header

Simply set its value to null, '', or undefined – and it will be unset and removed from the headers sent with your request.

A common use case for this is when you are attempting to use FormData and need the content boundary automatically added.

Why do my form uploads randomly fail with React Native

This is due to a bug with setting the boundary. For more information and temporary workaround if you are affected please see facebook/react-native#7564 (comment).

Does this support callbacks, promises, or both

As of version 1.0.0 we have dropped support for callbacks, it now only supports Promises.

What is the fetch method

It is a WHATWG browser API specification. You can read more about at the following links:

• https://fetch.spec.whatwg.org/
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API/Using_Fetch

Does the Browser or Node.js support fetch yet

Yes, a lot of browsers are now supporting it! See this reference for more information http://caniuse.com/#feat=fetch.

If my engine does not support fetch yet, is there a polyfill

Yes you can use the fetch method (polyfill) from whatwg-fetch or node-fetch.

By default, React Native already has a built-in fetch out of the box!

Can I make fetch support older browsers

Yes, but you'll need a promise polyfill for older browsers.

What is this project about

Use this package as a universal API wrapper for integrating your API in your client-side or server-side projects.

It's a better working alternative (and with less headaches; at least for me) – for talking to your API – than superagent and the default fetch Network method provide.

Use it for projects in Node, React, Angular, React Native, ...

It supports and is tested for both client-side usage (e.g. with Bower, Browserify, or Webpack, with whatwg-fetch) and also server-side (with node-fetch).

Why not just use superagent or fetch

See Background for more information.

Want to build an API back-end with Node.js

See Lad as a great starting point, and read this article about building Node.js API's with authentication.

Need help or want to request a feature

File an issue on GitHub and we'll try our best help you out.

Tests

This package is tested to work with whatwg-fetch and node-fetch.

This means that it is compatible for both client-side and server-side usage.

Development

1. Fork/clone this repository
2. Run npm install
3. Run npm run watch to watch the src directory for changes
4. Make changes in src directory
5. Write unit tests in /test/ if you add more stuff
6. Run npm test when you're done
7. Submit a pull request

Background

The docs suggest that you use superagent with React Native, but in our experience it did not work properly, therefore we went with the next best solution, the Github fetch API polyfill included with React Native. After having several issues trying to use fetch and writing our own API wrapper for a project with it (and running into roadblocks along the way) – we decided to publish this.

Here were the issues we discovered/filed related to this:

• github/fetch#235
• facebook/react-native#4376
• visionmedia/superagent#636
• facebook/react-native#863
• facebook/react-native#370
• facebook/react-native#10

We know that solutions like superagent exist, but they don't seem to work well with React Native (which was our use case for this package).

In addition, the authors of WHATWG's fetch API only support throwing errors instead of catching them and bubbling them up to the callback/promise (for example, with Frisbee any HTTP or API errors are found in the res.err object).

Therefore we created frisbee to serve as our API glue, and hopefully it'll serve as yours too.

Contributors

Credits

• Thanks to James Ide for coining the name "Frisbee" (it used to be called fetch-api, and frisbee was surprisingly available on npm)
• Inspiration from https://gist.github.com/anthonator/0dc0310a931398490fab, superagent, and from writing dozens of API wrappers!
• Google for being an awesome search engine to help me discover stuff on GitHub (haha)

License

MIT © Nick Baugh