The XMLHttpRequest Object

With an XMLHttpRequest you can communicate with your server from inside a web page.

What is the XMLHttpRequest Object?

The XMLHttpRequest object is the developer’s dream, because you can:

• Update a web page with new data without reloading the page
• Request and receive new data from a server after the page has loaded
• Communicate with a server in the background

XMLHttpRequest Example

When you type in the input box below, an HTTP request is sent to the server and name suggestions are returned from a name list:

Creating an XMLHttpRequest Object

Creating an XMLHttpRequest object is done with one single line of JavaScript.

In all modern browsers:

In older Microsoft browsers (IE 5 and 6):

In the next chapter, we will use the XMLHttpRequest object to retrieve XML information from a server.

The XMLHttpRequest object is supported in all modern browsers

Is the XMLHttpRequest Object a W3C Standard?

The XMLHttpRequest object is not specified in any W3C recommendation.

However, the W3C DOM Level 3 "Load and Save" specification contains some similar functionality, but these are not implemented in any browsers yet.

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