How can I make an AJAX call without jQuery?

With "vanilla" (plain) JavaScript:

function loadXMLDoc() {
    var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();

    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (xmlhttp.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE) { // XMLHttpRequest.DONE == 4
           if (xmlhttp.status == 200) {
               document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML = xmlhttp.responseText;
           }
           else if (xmlhttp.status == 400) {
              alert('There was an error 400');
           }
           else {
               alert('something else other than 200 was returned');
           }
        }
    };

    xmlhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt", true);
    xmlhttp.send();
}

With jQuery:

$.ajax({
    url: "test.html",
    context: document.body,
    success: function() {
      $(this).addClass("done");
    }
});

Using the following snippet you can do similar things pretty easily, like this:

ajax.get('/test.php', {foo: 'bar'}, function() {});

Here is the snippet:

var ajax = {};
ajax.x = function () {
    if (typeof XMLHttpRequest !== 'undefined') {
        return new XMLHttpRequest();
    }
    var versions = [
        "MSXML2.XmlHttp.6.0",
        "MSXML2.XmlHttp.5.0",
        "MSXML2.XmlHttp.4.0",
        "MSXML2.XmlHttp.3.0",
        "MSXML2.XmlHttp.2.0",
        "Microsoft.XmlHttp"
    ];

    var xhr;
    for (var i = 0; i < versions.length; i++) {
        try {
            xhr = new ActiveXObject(versions[i]);
            break;
        } catch (e) {
        }
    }
    return xhr;
};

ajax.send = function (url, callback, method, data, async) {
    if (async === undefined) {
        async = true;
    }
    var x = ajax.x();
    x.open(method, url, async);
    x.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (x.readyState == 4) {
            callback(x.responseText)
        }
    };
    if (method == 'POST') {
        x.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
    }
    x.send(data)
};

ajax.get = function (url, data, callback, async) {
    var query = [];
    for (var key in data) {
        query.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(data[key]));
    }
    ajax.send(url + (query.length ? '?' + query.join('&') : ''), callback, 'GET', null, async)
};

ajax.post = function (url, data, callback, async) {
    var query = [];
    for (var key in data) {
        query.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(data[key]));
    }
    ajax.send(url, callback, 'POST', query.join('&'), async)
};

There is now a nicer Fetch API available natively in modern browsers. The fetch() method allows you to make web requests. For example, to request some JSON from /get-data:

let options = {
  method: 'GET',      
  headers: {}
};

fetch('/get-data', options)
.then(response => response.json())
.then(body => {
  // Do something with body
});

See MDN Web Docs: Using the Fetch API for more details.

You can use the following function:

function callAjax(url, callback){
    var xmlhttp;
    // compatible with IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
    xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function(){
        if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4 && xmlhttp.status == 200){
            callback(xmlhttp.responseText);
        }
    }
    xmlhttp.open("GET", url, true);
    xmlhttp.send();
}

You can try similar solutions online on these links:

https://www.w3schools.com/xml/tryit.asp?filename=tryajax_first

https://www.w3schools.com/xml/tryit.asp?filename=tryajax_callback

xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
        alert(this.responseText);
    }
};
xhttp.open("GET", "ajax_info.txt", true);
xhttp.send();

How about this version in plain ES6/ES2015?

function get(url) {
  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
    const req = new XMLHttpRequest();
    req.open('GET', url);
    req.onload = () => req.status === 200 ? resolve(req.response) : reject(Error(req.statusText));
    req.onerror = (e) => reject(Error(`Network Error: ${e}`));
    req.send();
  });
}

The function returns a promise. Here is an example on how to use the function and handle the promise it returns:

get('foo.txt')
.then((data) => {
  // Do stuff with data, if foo.txt was successfully loaded.
})
.catch((err) => {
  // Do stuff on error...
});

If you need to load a json file you can use JSON.parse() to convert the loaded data into an JS Object.

You can also integrate req.responseType='json' into the function but unfortunately there is no IE support for it, so I would stick with JSON.parse().

Use XMLHttpRequest.

Simple GET request

httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest()
httpRequest.open('GET', 'http://www.example.org/some.file')
httpRequest.send()

Simple POST request

httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest()
httpRequest.open('POST', 'http://www.example.org/some/endpoint')
httpRequest.send('some data')

We can specify that the request should be asynchronous(true), the default, or synchronous(false) with an optional third argument.

// Make a synchronous GET request
httpRequest.open('GET', 'http://www.example.org/some.file', false)

We can set headers before calling httpRequest.send()

httpRequest.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');

We can handle the response by setting httpRequest.onreadystatechange to a function before calling httpRequest.send()

httpRequest.onreadystatechange = function(){
  // Process the server response here.
  if (httpRequest.readyState === XMLHttpRequest.DONE) {
    if (httpRequest.status === 200) {
      alert(httpRequest.responseText);
    } else {
      alert('There was a problem with the request.');
    }
  }
}

You can get the correct object according to the browser with

function getXmlDoc() {
  var xmlDoc;

  if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
    // code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
    xmlDoc = new XMLHttpRequest();
  }
  else {
    // code for IE6, IE5
    xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
  }

  return xmlDoc;
}

With the correct object, a GET might can be abstracted to:

function myGet(url, callback) {
  var xmlDoc = getXmlDoc();

  xmlDoc.open('GET', url, true);

  xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (xmlDoc.readyState === 4 && xmlDoc.status === 200) {
      callback(xmlDoc);
    }
  }

  xmlDoc.send();
}

And a POST to:

function myPost(url, data, callback) {
  var xmlDoc = getXmlDoc();

  xmlDoc.open('POST', url, true);
  xmlDoc.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

  xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = function() {
    if (xmlDoc.readyState === 4 && xmlDoc.status === 200) {
      callback(xmlDoc);
    }
  }

  xmlDoc.send(data);
}

I was looking for a way to include promises with ajax and exclude jQuery. There's an article on HTML5 Rocks that talks about ES6 promises. (You could polyfill with a promise library like Q) You can use the code snippet that I copied from the article.

function get(url) {
  // Return a new promise.
  return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
    // Do the usual XHR stuff
    var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
    req.open('GET', url);

    req.onload = function() {
      // This is called even on 404 etc
      // so check the status
      if (req.status == 200) {
        // Resolve the promise with the response text
        resolve(req.response);
      }
      else {
        // Otherwise reject with the status text
        // which will hopefully be a meaningful error
        reject(Error(req.statusText));
      }
    };

    // Handle network errors
    req.onerror = function() {
      reject(Error("Network Error"));
    };

    // Make the request
    req.send();
  });
}

Note: I also wrote an article about this.

A small combination from a couple of the examples below and created this simple piece:

function ajax(url, method, data, async)
{
    method = typeof method !== 'undefined' ? method : 'GET';
    async = typeof async !== 'undefined' ? async : false;

    if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
    {
        var xhReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
    }
    else
    {
        var xhReq = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
    }


    if (method == 'POST')
    {
        xhReq.open(method, url, async);
        xhReq.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
        xhReq.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With", "XMLHttpRequest");
        xhReq.send(data);
    }
    else
    {
        if(typeof data !== 'undefined' && data !== null)
        {
            url = url+'?'+data;
        }
        xhReq.open(method, url, async);
        xhReq.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With", "XMLHttpRequest");
        xhReq.send(null);
    }
    //var serverResponse = xhReq.responseText;
    //alert(serverResponse);
}

// Example usage below (using a string query):

ajax('http://www.google.com');
ajax('http://www.google.com', 'POST', 'q=test');

OR if your parameters are object(s) - minor additional code adjustment:

var parameters = {
    q: 'test'
}

var query = [];
for (var key in parameters)
{
    query.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(parameters[key]));
}

ajax('http://www.google.com', 'POST', query.join('&'));

Both should be fully browser + version compatible.

If you don't want to include JQuery, I'd try out some lightweight AJAX libraries.

My favorite is reqwest. It's only 3.4kb and very well built out: https://github.com/ded/Reqwest

Here's a sample GET request with reqwest:

reqwest({
    url: url,
    method: 'GET',
    type: 'json',
    success: onSuccess
});

Now if you want something even more lightweight, I'd try microAjax at a mere 0.4kb: https://code.google.com/p/microajax/

This is all the code right here:

function microAjax(B,A){this.bindFunction=function(E,D){return function(){return E.apply(D,[D])}};this.stateChange=function(D){if(this.request.readyState==4){this.callbackFunction(this.request.responseText)}};this.getRequest=function(){if(window.ActiveXObject){return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")}else{if(window.XMLHttpRequest){return new XMLHttpRequest()}}return false};this.postBody=(arguments[2]||"");this.callbackFunction=A;this.url=B;this.request=this.getRequest();if(this.request){var C=this.request;C.onreadystatechange=this.bindFunction(this.stateChange,this);if(this.postBody!==""){C.open("POST",B,true);C.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With","XMLHttpRequest");C.setRequestHeader("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");C.setRequestHeader("Connection","close")}else{C.open("GET",B,true)}C.send(this.postBody)}};

And here's a sample call:

microAjax(url, onSuccess);

XMLHttpRequest()

You can use the XMLHttpRequest() constructor to create a new XMLHttpRequest (XHR) object which will allow you to interact with a server using standard HTTP request methods (such as GET and POST):

const data = JSON.stringify({
  example_1: 123,
  example_2: 'Hello, world!',
});

const request = new XMLHttpRequest();

request.addEventListener('load', function () {
  if (this.readyState === 4 && this.status === 200) {
    console.log(this.responseText);
  }
});

request.open('POST', 'example.php', true);
request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8');
request.send(data);

fetch()

You can also use the fetch() method to obtain a Promise which resolves to the Response object representing the response to your request:

const data = JSON.stringify({
  example_1: 123,
  example_2: 'Hello, world!',
});

fetch('example.php', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8',
  },
  body: data,
}).then(response => {
  if (response.ok) {
    response.text().then(response => {
      console.log(response);
    });
  }
});

navigator.sendBeacon()

On the other hand, if you are simply attempting to POST data and do not need a response from the server, the shortest solution would be to use navigator.sendBeacon():

const data = JSON.stringify({
  example_1: 123,
  example_2: 'Hello, world!',
});

navigator.sendBeacon('example.php', data);

Try using the Fetch Api (Fetch API)

fetch('http://example.com/movies.json').then(response => response.json()).then(data => console.log(data));

Its really clear, and 100% vanilla.

Old but I will try, maybe someone will find this info useful.

This is the minimal amount of code you need to do a GET request and fetch some JSON formatted data. This is applicable only to modern browsers like latest versions of Chrome, FF, Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge.

const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('GET', 'https://example.com/data.json'); // by default async 
xhr.responseType = 'json'; // in which format you expect the response to be


xhr.onload = function() {
  if(this.status == 200) {// onload called even on 404 etc so check the status
   console.log(this.response); // No need for JSON.parse()
  }
};

xhr.onerror = function() {
  // error 
};


xhr.send();

Also check out new Fetch API which is a promise-based replacement for XMLHttpRequest API.

From youMightNotNeedJquery.com + JSON.stringify

var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.open('POST', '/my/url', true);
request.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8');
request.send(JSON.stringify(data));

This may help:

function doAjax(url, callback) {
    var xmlhttp = window.XMLHttpRequest ? new XMLHttpRequest() : new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");

    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4 && xmlhttp.status == 200) {
            callback(xmlhttp.responseText);
        }
    }

    xmlhttp.open("GET", url, true);
    xmlhttp.send();
}

<html>
  <script>
    var xmlDoc = null ;

  function load() {
    if (typeof window.ActiveXObject != 'undefined' ) {
      xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
      xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = process ;
    }
    else {
      xmlDoc = new XMLHttpRequest();
      xmlDoc.onload = process ;
    }
    xmlDoc.open( "GET", "background.html", true );
    xmlDoc.send( null );
  }

  function process() {
    if ( xmlDoc.readyState != 4 ) return ;
    document.getElementById("output").value = xmlDoc.responseText ;
  }

  function empty() {
    document.getElementById("output").value = '<empty>' ;
  }
</script>

<body>
  <textarea id="output" cols='70' rows='40'><empty></textarea>
  <br></br>
  <button onclick="load()">Load</button> &nbsp;
  <button onclick="empty()">Clear</button>
</body>
</html>

Well it is just a 4 step easy proceess,

I hope it helps

Step 1. Store the reference to the XMLHttpRequest object

var xmlHttp = createXmlHttpRequestObject();

Step 2. Retrieve the XMLHttpRequest object

function createXmlHttpRequestObject() {
    // will store the reference to the XMLHttpRequest object
    var xmlHttp;
    // if running Internet Explorer
    if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        try {
            xmlHttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        } catch (e) {
            xmlHttp = false;
        }
    }
    // if running Mozilla or other browsers
    else {
        try {
            xmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
        } catch (e) {
            xmlHttp = false;
        }
    }
    // return the created object or display an error message
    if (!xmlHttp)
        alert("Error creating the XMLHttpRequest object.");
    else
        return xmlHttp;
}

Step 3. Make asynchronous HTTP request using the XMLHttpRequest object

function process() {
    // proceed only if the xmlHttp object isn't busy
    if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4 || xmlHttp.readyState == 0) {
        // retrieve the name typed by the user on the form
        item = encodeURIComponent(document.getElementById("input_item").value);
        // execute the your_file.php page from the server
        xmlHttp.open("GET", "your_file.php?item=" + item, true);
        // define the method to handle server responses
        xmlHttp.onreadystatechange = handleServerResponse;
        // make the server request
        xmlHttp.send(null);
    }
}

Step 4. Executed automatically when a message is received from the server

function handleServerResponse() {

    // move forward only if the transaction has completed
    if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4) {
        // status of 200 indicates the transaction completed successfully
        if (xmlHttp.status == 200) {
            // extract the XML retrieved from the server
            xmlResponse = xmlHttp.responseText;
            document.getElementById("put_response").innerHTML = xmlResponse;
            // restart sequence
        }
        // a HTTP status different than 200 signals an error
        else {
            alert("There was a problem accessing the server: " + xmlHttp.statusText);
        }
    }
}

in plain JavaScript in the browser:

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
  if (xhr.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE ) {
    if(xhr.status == 200){
      console.log(xhr.responseText);
    } else if(xhr.status == 400) {
      console.log('There was an error 400');
    } else {
      console.log('something else other than 200 was returned');
    }
  }
}

xhr.open("GET", "mock_data.json", true);

xhr.send();

Or if you want to use Browserify to bundle your modules up using node.js. You can use superagent:

var request = require('superagent');
var url = '/mock_data.json';

 request
   .get(url)
   .end(function(err, res){
     if (res.ok) {
       console.log('yay got ' + JSON.stringify(res.body));
     } else {
       console.log('Oh no! error ' + res.text);
     }
 });

Here's a JSFiffle without JQuery

http://jsfiddle.net/rimian/jurwre07/

function loadXMLDoc() {
    var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    var url = 'http://echo.jsontest.com/key/value/one/two';

    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (xmlhttp.readyState == XMLHttpRequest.DONE) {
            if (xmlhttp.status == 200) {
                document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML = xmlhttp.responseText;
            } else if (xmlhttp.status == 400) {
                console.log('There was an error 400');
            } else {
                console.log('something else other than 200 was returned');
            }
        }
    };

    xmlhttp.open("GET", url, true);
    xmlhttp.send();
};

loadXMLDoc();

var load_process = false;
function ajaxCall(param, response) {

 if (load_process == true) {
     return;
 }
 else
 { 
  if (param.async == undefined) {
     param.async = true;
 }
 if (param.async == false) {
         load_process = true;
     }
 var xhr;

 xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

 if (param.type != "GET") {
     xhr.open(param.type, param.url, true);

     if (param.processData != undefined && param.processData == false && param.contentType != undefined && param.contentType == false) {
     }
     else if (param.contentType != undefined || param.contentType == true) {
         xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', param.contentType);
     }
     else {
         xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
     }


 }
 else {
     xhr.open(param.type, param.url + "?" + obj_param(param.data));
 }

 xhr.onprogress = function (loadTime) {
     if (param.progress != undefined) {
         param.progress({ loaded: loadTime.loaded }, "success");
     }
 }
 xhr.ontimeout = function () {
     this.abort();
     param.success("timeout", "timeout");
     load_process = false;
 };

 xhr.onerror = function () {
     param.error(xhr.responseText, "error");
     load_process = false;
 };

 xhr.onload = function () {
    if (xhr.status === 200) {
         if (param.dataType != undefined && param.dataType == "json") {

             param.success(JSON.parse(xhr.responseText), "success");
         }
         else {
             param.success(JSON.stringify(xhr.responseText), "success");
         }
     }
     else if (xhr.status !== 200) {
         param.error(xhr.responseText, "error");

     }
     load_process = false;
 };
 if (param.data != null || param.data != undefined) {
     if (param.processData != undefined && param.processData == false && param.contentType != undefined && param.contentType == false) {
             xhr.send(param.data);

     }
     else {
             xhr.send(obj_param(param.data));

     }
 }
 else {
         xhr.send();

 }
 if (param.timeout != undefined) {
     xhr.timeout = param.timeout;
 }
 else
{
 xhr.timeout = 20000;
}
 this.abort = function (response) {

     if (XMLHttpRequest != null) {
         xhr.abort();
         load_process = false;
         if (response != undefined) {
             response({ status: "success" });
         }
     }

 }
 }
 }

function obj_param(obj) {
var parts = [];
for (var key in obj) {
    if (obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
        parts.push(encodeURIComponent(key) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(obj[key]));
    }
}
return parts.join('&');
}

my ajax call

  var my_ajax_call=ajaxCall({
    url: url,
    type: method,
    data: {data:value},
    dataType: 'json',
    async:false,//synchronous request. Default value is true 
    timeout:10000,//default timeout 20000
    progress:function(loadTime,status)
    {
    console.log(loadTime);
     },
    success: function (result, status) {
      console.log(result);
    },
      error :function(result,status)
    {
    console.log(result);
     }
      });

for abort previous requests

      my_ajax_call.abort(function(result){
       console.log(result);
       });

HTML :

<!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <head>
    <script>
    function loadXMLDoc()
    {
    var xmlhttp;
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest)
      {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
      xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
      }
    else
      {// code for IE6, IE5
      xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
      }
    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function()
      {
      if (xmlhttp.readyState==4 && xmlhttp.status==200)
        {
        document.getElementById("myDiv").innerHTML=xmlhttp.responseText;
        }
      }
    xmlhttp.open("GET","1.php?id=99freebies.blogspot.com",true);
    xmlhttp.send();
    }
    </script>
    </head>
    <body>

    <div id="myDiv"><h2>Let AJAX change this text</h2></div>
    <button type="button" onclick="loadXMLDoc()">Change Content</button>

    </body>
    </html>

PHP:

<?php

$id = $_GET[id];
print "$id";

?>

A verry good solution with pure javascript is here

/*create an XMLHttpRequest object*/

let GethttpRequest=function(){  
  let httpRequest=false;
  if(window.XMLHttpRequest){
    httpRequest   =new XMLHttpRequest();
    if(httpRequest.overrideMimeType){
    httpRequest.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
    }
  }else if(window.ActiveXObject){
    try{httpRequest   =new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
  }catch(e){
      try{
        httpRequest   =new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
      }catch(e){}
    }
  }
  if(!httpRequest){return 0;}
  return httpRequest;
}

  /*Defining a function to make the request every time when it is needed*/

  function MakeRequest(){

    let uriPost       ="myURL";
    let xhrPost       =GethttpRequest();
    let fdPost        =new FormData();
    let date          =new Date();

    /*data to be sent on server*/
    let data          = { 
                        "name"      :"name",
                        "lName"     :"lName",
                        "phone"     :"phone",
                        "key"       :"key",
                        "password"  :"date"
                      };

    let JSONdata =JSON.stringify(data);             
    fdPost.append("data",JSONdata);
    xhrPost.open("POST" ,uriPost, true);
    xhrPost.timeout = 9000;/*the time you need to quit the request if it is not completed*/
    xhrPost.onloadstart = function (){
      /*do something*/
    };
    xhrPost.onload      = function (){
      /*do something*/
    };
    xhrPost.onloadend   = function (){
      /*do something*/
    }
    xhrPost.onprogress  =function(){
      /*do something*/
    }

    xhrPost.onreadystatechange =function(){

      if(xhrPost.readyState < 4){

      }else if(xhrPost.readyState === 4){

        if(xhrPost.status === 200){

          /*request succesfull*/

        }else if(xhrPost.status !==200){

          /*request failled*/

        }

      }


   }
  xhrPost.ontimeout = function (e){
    /*you can stop the request*/
  }
  xhrPost.onerror = function (){
    /*you can try again the request*/
  };
  xhrPost.onabort = function (){
    /*you can try again the request*/
  };
  xhrPost.overrideMimeType("text/plain; charset=x-user-defined-binary");
  xhrPost.setRequestHeader("Content-disposition", "form-data");
  xhrPost.setRequestHeader("X-Requested-With","xmlhttprequest");
  xhrPost.send(fdPost);
}

/*PHP side
<?php
  //check if the variable $_POST["data"] exists isset() && !empty()
  $data        =$_POST["data"];
  $decodedData =json_decode($_POST["data"]);
  //show a single item from the form
  echo $decodedData->name;

?>
*/

/*Usage*/
MakeRequest();

Fast code fetch without jQuery

async  function product_serach(word) {
            var response = await fetch('<?php echo base_url(); ?>home/product_search?search='+word);
            var json = await response.json();
            for (let [key, value] of Object.entries(json)) 
            {
                console.log(json)
            }                                 
        }