Making API calls to RapidAPI using XMLHttpRequest in JavaScript

Other Questions RapidAPI
1

I’m having trouble getting my JavaScript XMLHttpRequest to work properly with a RapidAPI endpoint. The API call works fine when I test it through other methods, but my web implementation isn’t returning the expected data.

Here’s a working example from the API documentation:

const request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.withCredentials = true;

request.addEventListener('readystatechange', function() {
    if (this.readyState === 4) {
        console.log(this.responseText);
    }
});

request.open('GET', 'https://music-downloader-api.p.rapidapi.com/audio/abc123def');
request.setRequestHeader('x-rapidapi-host', 'music-downloader-api.p.rapidapi.com');
request.setRequestHeader('x-rapidapi-key', 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE');
request.send();

And here’s my implementation:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>API Test</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>API Request Test</h1>
    <button onclick="fetchData()">Get Data</button>
    <div id="result"></div>

    <script>
    function fetchData() {
        const apiRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
        apiRequest.withCredentials = true;
        const endpoint = 'https://music-downloader-api.p.rapidapi.com/audio/xyz789abc';
        
        apiRequest.onreadystatechange = function() {
            if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
                document.getElementById('result').innerHTML = 'Response: ' + this.responseText;
            }
        };
        
        apiRequest.open('GET', endpoint);
        apiRequest.setRequestHeader('x-rapidapi-host', 'music-downloader-api.p.rapidapi.com');
        apiRequest.setRequestHeader('x-rapidapi-key', 'YOUR_API_KEY_HERE');
        apiRequest.send();
    }
    </script>
</body>
</html>

When I click the button, I only see my placeholder text without any actual response data. If I use an invalid API key, I get proper error messages, so the connection is working. What could be causing the empty response when using a valid key?

2

Sounds like a CORS issue. RapidAPI endpoints can act weird when called from client-side JavaScript vs server-side or testing tools. Try removing withCredentials: true from your code - it often breaks CORS with APIs that don’t allow credentials in cross-origin requests. Lots of devs miss this since RapidAPI examples include it by default. Also check your browser’s network tab to see the actual HTTP response. You might be getting data but in a different format, or the API could be returning 202 or 204 instead of 200 for success. I’ve seen this happen plenty of times.

3

I’ve encountered this same issue with RapidAPI endpoints. Your code appears to be correct, but here are a few things to verify:

Firstly, and this may sound trivial, ensure you’ve replaced ‘YOUR_API_KEY_HERE’ with your actual API key.

Additionally, it’s advisable to log the response status even if it’s not 200. Some APIs respond with different success codes. Consider adding console.log('Status:', this.status, 'Response:', this.responseText); outside the status check for better debugging.

Moreover, double-check that the endpoint ID ‘xyz789abc’ is valid by copying it directly from their documentation.

Lastly, be cautious of rate limits or any hidden required parameters, as these are not always clearly outlined in RapidAPI documentation.

4

check if ur endpoint actually returns data or just sends an empty response. some rapidapi services return status 200 but with blank content when there’s nothing for that id. log this.responseText.length to see if you’re getting an empty string vs undefined. also, you’re only checking for status 200 but the api might return data with 202 or other status codes.