Popsicle is a versatile HTTP request library for Node.js and the browser. It provides a simple and consistent API for making HTTP requests, handling responses, and managing various aspects of HTTP communication such as headers, query parameters, and request/response bodies.
Making HTTP Requests
This feature allows you to make HTTP requests to a specified URL. The example demonstrates a GET request to a JSON placeholder API, logging the status and body of the response.
const { request } = require('popsicle');
request('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1')
.then(response => {
console.log(response.status);
console.log(response.body);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});Handling Query Parameters
This feature allows you to include query parameters in your HTTP requests. The example demonstrates a GET request with a query parameter to filter posts by userId.
const { request } = require('popsicle');
request({
url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',
query: { userId: 1 }
})
.then(response => {
console.log(response.status);
console.log(response.body);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});Setting Headers
This feature allows you to set custom headers for your HTTP requests. The example demonstrates setting the 'Content-Type' header to 'application/json'.
const { request } = require('popsicle');
request({
url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
})
.then(response => {
console.log(response.status);
console.log(response.body);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});Handling Request and Response Bodies
This feature allows you to handle request and response bodies. The example demonstrates a POST request with a JSON body to create a new post.
const { request } = require('popsicle');
request({
method: 'POST',
url: 'https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts',
body: { title: 'foo', body: 'bar', userId: 1 },
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
})
.then(response => {
console.log(response.status);
console.log(response.body);
})
.catch(error => {
console.error(error);
});Axios is a popular promise-based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. It provides a simple API for making HTTP requests and handling responses, similar to Popsicle. Axios is known for its ease of use and wide adoption in the JavaScript community.
Node-fetch is a lightweight module that brings `window.fetch` to Node.js. It is a minimalistic library that provides a simple API for making HTTP requests, similar to the Fetch API in the browser. Node-fetch is often used for its simplicity and compatibility with the Fetch API standard.
Superagent is a small progressive client-side HTTP request library, and Node.js module with a similar API. It provides a flexible and powerful API for making HTTP requests and handling responses. Superagent is known for its extensive feature set and ease of use.
Popsicle is the easiest way to make HTTP requests - a consistent, intuitive and tiny API that works on node and the browser. 9.64 kB in browsers, after minification and gzipping.
popsicle.get('/users.json')
.then(function (res) {
console.log(res.status) //=> 200
console.log(res.body) //=> { ... }
console.log(res.headers) //=> { ... }
})
npm install popsicle --save
var popsicle = require('popsicle')
popsicle.request({
method: 'POST',
url: 'http://example.com/api/users',
body: {
username: 'blakeembrey',
password: 'hunter2'
},
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
}
})
.use(popsicle.plugins.parse('json'))
.then(function (res) {
console.log(res.status) // => 200
console.log(res.body) //=> { ... }
console.log(res.get('Content-Type')) //=> 'application/json'
})
Popsicle is ES6-ready and aliases request to the default export. Try using import popsicle from 'popsicle' or import specific methods using import { get, defaults } from 'popsicle'. Exports:
defaults({})request (GET is the default method)defaults({ method: 'delete' })defaults({ method: 'head' })defaults({ method: 'patch' })defaults({ method: 'post' })defaults({ method: 'put' })defaultsRequest classResponse class"GET"){})Infinity)[stringify(), headers()]){})text)stringifyAutomatically serialize the request body into a string (E.g. JSON, URL-encoded or multipart).
headersSets up default headers for environments. For example, Content-Length, User-Agent, Accept, etc.
parseAutomatically parses the response body by allowed type(s).
popsicle.get('/users')
.use(popsicle.plugins.parse(['json', 'urlencoded']))
.then(() => ...)
Popsicle comes with two built-in transports, one for node (using {http,https}.request) and one for browsers (using XMLHttpRequest). These transports have a number of "types" built-in for handling the response body.
responseType === 'document' (browsers)responseType === 'blob' (browsers)responseType === 'arraybuffer' (browsers)Uint8Array (node.js)Node transport options
text)true)popsicle.jar()) (default: null)5)2000000)true)307 and 308 status codes (default: () => false)Buffer or array of strings or Buffers of trusted certificates in PEM formatnull)null)Browser transport options
text)false)Common methods have a short hand exported (created using defaults({ method })).
popsicle.get('http://example.com/api/users')
popsicle.post('http://example.com/api/users')
popsicle.put('http://example.com/api/users')
popsicle.patch('http://example.com/api/users')
popsicle.del('http://example.com/api/users')
Create a new request function with defaults pre-populated. Handy for a common cookie jar or transport to be used.
var cookiePopsicle = popsicle.defaults({
transport: popsicle.createTransport({
jar: popsicle.jar()
})
})
Popsicle will automatically serialize the request body using the stringify plugin. If an object is supplied, it will automatically be stringified as JSON unless the Content-Type was set otherwise. If the Content-Type is application/json, multipart/form-data or application/x-www-form-urlencoded, it will be automatically serialized accordingly.
popsicle.get({
url: 'http://example.com/api/users',
body: {
username: 'blakeembrey'
},
headers: {
'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
}
})
You can manually create form data by calling popsicle.form. When you pass a form data instance as the body, it'll automatically set the correct Content-Type - complete with boundary.
var form = popsicle.form({
username: 'blakeembrey',
profileImage: fs.createReadStream('image.png')
})
popsicle.post({
url: '/users',
body: form
})
All requests can be aborted before or during execution by calling Request#abort.
var request = popsicle.get('http://example.com')
setTimeout(function () {
request.abort()
}, 100)
request.catch(function (err) {
console.log(err) //=> { message: 'Request aborted', code: 'EABORTED' }
})
The request object can be used to check progress at any time.
All percentage properties (request.uploaded, request.downloaded, request.completed) are a number between 0 and 1. Aborting the request will emit a progress event, if the request had started.
var request = popsicle.get('http://example.com')
request.uploaded //=> 0
request.downloaded //=> 0
request.progress(function () {
console.log(request) //=> { uploaded: 1, downloaded: 0, completed: 0.5, aborted: false }
})
request.then(function (response) {
console.log(request.downloaded) //=> 1
})
You can create a reusable cookie jar instance for requests by calling popsicle.jar.
var jar = popsicle.jar()
popsicle.request({
method: 'post',
url: '/users',
transport: popsicle.createTransport({
jar: jar
})
})
Promises and node-style callbacks are supported.
Promises are the most expressive interface. Just chain using Request#then or Request#catch and continue.
popsicle.get('/users')
.then(function (res) {
// Success!
})
.catch(function (err) {
// Something broke.
})
If you live on the edge, try with generators (co) or ES7 async/await.
co(function * () {
const users = yield popsicle.get('/users')
})
async function () {
const users = await popsicle.get('/users')
}
For tooling that expects node-style callbacks, you can use Request#exec. This accepts a single function to call when the response is complete.
popsicle.get('/users')
.exec(function (err, res) {
if (err) {
// Something broke.
}
// Success!
})
Every response will give a Response object on success. The object provides an intuitive interface for accessing common properties.
200 -> 2)application/json)All response handling methods can return an error. Errors have a popsicle property set to the request object and a code string. The built-in codes are documented below, but custom errors can be created using request.error(message, code, cause).
Plugins can be passed in as an array with the initial options (which overrides default plugins), or they can be used via Request#use.
supertest)throat - Throttle promise-based functions with concurrency supportis-browser - Check if your in a browser environment (E.g. Browserify, Webpack)Plugins must be a function that accept config and return a middleware function. For example, here's a basic URL prefix plugin.
function prefix (url) {
return function (self, next) {
self.url = url + self.url
return next()
}
}
popsicle.request('/user')
.use(prefix('http://example.com'))
.then(function (response) {
console.log(response.url) //=> "http://example.com/user"
})
Middleware functions accept two arguments - the current request and a function to proceed to the next middleware function (a la Koa 2.x).
P.S. The middleware array is exposed on request.middleware, which allows you to clone requests and omit middleware - for example, using request.middleware.slice(request.middleware.indexOf(currentFn)). This is useful, as the pre and post steps of previous middleware attach before currentFn is executed.
Creating a custom transportation layer is just a matter creating an object with open, abort and use options set. The open method should set any request information required between called as request._raw. Abort must abort the current request instance, while open must always resolve to a promise. You can set use to an empty array if no plugins should be used by default. However, it's recommended you keep use set to the defaults, or as close as possible using your transport layer.
This project is written using TypeScript and typings. Since version 1.3.1, you can install the type definition using typings.
typings install npm:popsicle --save
Install dependencies and run the test runners (node and Electron using Tape).
npm install && npm test
MIT
FAQs
Advanced HTTP requests in node.js and browsers
We found that popsicle demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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