Frisbee

tldr; Stripe-inspired API wrapper for WHATWG's fetch() method for making simple HTTP requests (alternative to superagent, request, axios).

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

Index

• React Native Usage
• Browser and Server-Side Usage
• API
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Tests
• Development
• Background
• Contributors
• Credits
• License

React Native Usage

1. Install the required package (note that react-native provides us with a fetch implementation):

npm install --save frisbee

2. Import the package:

   import Frisbee from 'frisbee';

3. See usage example and API below.

Browser and Server-Side Usage

1. Install the required packages:

   • NPM:

     # optional (to support older browsers):
     npm install --save es6-promise
     
     # required (to add global `fetch` method):
     npm install --save isomorphic-fetch
     
     # required (this package):
     npm install --save frisbee

   • Bower:

     # optional (to support older browsers):
     bower install --save es6-promise
     
     # required (to add global `fetch` method):
     bower install --save isomorphic-fetch
     
     # required (this package):
     bower install --save frisbee

2. Require it, set default options, and make some requests:

   // add optional support for older browsers
   import es6promise from 'es6-promise';
   es6promise.polyfill();
   
   // add required support for global `fetch` method
   // *this must always come before `frisbee` is imported*
   import 'isomorphic-fetch';
   
   // require the module
   import Frisbee from 'frisbee';
   
   // create a new instance of Frisbee
   const api = new Frisbee({
     baseURI: 'https://api.startup.com',
     headers: {
       'Accept': 'application/json',
       'Content-Type': 'application/json'
     }
   });
   
   makeRequests();
   
   async function makeRequests() {
   
     // log in to our API with a user/pass
     try {
   
       // make the request
       let res = await api.post('/v1/login');
       console.log('response', res.body);
   
       // 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' });
       console.log('response', res.body);
   
       // 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');
       console.log('response', res.body);
   
       // 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) {
       throw err;
     }
   
   }

API

import Frisbee from '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 - the default URI to use as a prefix for all HTTP requests

    • 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 - 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"

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

  • arrayFormat - how to stringify array in passed body. See qs for available formats

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.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.

• 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 mentioned earlier)

    • options optional - an object containing options, such as header values, a request body, form data, or a querystring to send along with the request. For the GET method (and the DELETE method as of version 1.3.0), body data will be encoded in the query string.

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

      • 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'
          }
        });

  • 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.options(path, options) - OPTIONS (does not currently work - see tests)
    • api.patch(path, options) - PATCH

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

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

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 CrocodileJS 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:

• JakeChampion/fetch#235
• facebook/react-native#4376
• ladjs/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

• Nick Baugh niftylettuce@gmail.com

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