# web-request > Simplifies making web requests with TypeScript async/await This package makes it easier to perform web requests using [TypeScript](http://www.typescriptlang.org/) and [**async/await**](https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/typescript/2015/11/03/what-about-asyncawait/). It wraps the popular [request](https://www.npmjs.com/package/request) package, extending it with an interface that facilitates async/await and strong-typing. ## Examples Get web-page content as a string... ```js var result = await WebRequest.get('http://www.google.com/'); console.log(result.content); ``` Get JSON data... ```js var url = 'http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql?q=select+*+from+yahoo.finance.quotes+where+symbol+IN+(%22YHOO%22,%22AAPL%22)&format=json&env=http://datatables.org/alltables.env'; var data = await WebRequest.json(url); for (var quote of data.query.results.quote) console.log(quote.Symbol, quote.Bid, 'low='+quote.DaysLow, 'high='+quote.DaysHigh, 'vol='+quote.Volume); ``` Get JSON data with a strongly typed result... ```js interface QuoteResult { query: { results: { quote: Array<{ Symbol: string; Bid: string; DaysHigh: string; DaysLow: string; Volume: string; }> } } } var url = 'http://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql?q=select+*+from+yahoo.finance.quotes+where+symbol+IN+(%22YHOO%22,%22AAPL%22)&format=json&env=http://datatables.org/alltables.env'; var data = await WebRequest.json(url); for (var quote of data.query.results.quote) console.log(quote.Symbol, quote.Bid, 'low='+quote.DaysLow, 'high='+quote.DaysHigh, 'vol='+quote.Volume); ``` Perform a series of REST operations, one-by-one... ```js // Transfer all orders from customer #123 to customer #321 and then delete customer #123... var orders = await WebRequest.json('http://www.example.com/customers/123/orders'); // Change status of all orders to backorder... for (var order of orders) order.status = "backorder"; await WebRequest.post('http://www.example.com/customers/321/orders', null, orders); await WebRequest.delete('http://www.example.com/customers/123'); // Flag order #98765 as shipped... await WebRequest.patch('http://www.example.com/customers/321/orders/98765', null, {status: "shipped"}); ``` ## Getting Started Make sure you're running Node v4 and TypeScript 1.7 or higher... ``` $ node -v v4.2.6 $ npm install -g typescript tsd $ tsc -v Version 1.7.5 ``` Install the *web-request* package and the typings definitions for Node.js... ``` $ npm install web-request $ tsd install node ``` Write some code... ```js import * as WebRequest from 'web-request'; (async function () { var result = await WebRequest.get('http://www.google.com/'); console.log(result.content); })(); ``` Save the above to a file (index.ts), build and run it! ``` $ tsc index.ts typings/node/node.d.ts --target es6 --module commonjs $ node index.js >; function post(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions, content?: any): Promise>; function put(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions, content?: any): Promise>; function patch(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions, content?: any): Promise>; function head(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions): Promise>; function delete(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions): Promise>; function json(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions): Promise; function create(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions, content?: any): Promise>; function stream(uri: string, options?: RequestOptions, content?: any): Promise>; function defaults(options: RequestOptions): void; function debug(value?: boolean): boolean; interface Request extends request.Request { options: RequestOptions; response: Promise>; } class Response { request: Request; message: http.IncomingMessage; get charset(): string; get content(): T; get contentLength(): number; get contentType(): string; get cookies(): Cookie[]; get headers(): Headers; get httpVersion(): string; get lastModified(): Date; get method(): string; get server(): string; get statusCode(): number; get statusMessage(): string; get uri(): Uri; } ``` Note the following interfaces are as defined by *request*... * [RequestOptions](https://www.npmjs.com/package/request#requestoptions-callback) * [http.IncomingMessage](https://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_incomingmessage) ## More Examples Setting defaults that apply for all requests is supported... ```js WebRequest.defaults({baseUrl: 'https://example.com/'}); // now we can make requests without having to specify the root every time... var orders = await WebRequest.json('/customers/123/orders'); await WebRequest.post('/customers/321/orders', null, orders); await WebRequest.delete('/customers/123'); ``` To make a request that requires authentication... ```js await WebRequest.get('https://example.com/', { auth: { user: 'username', pass: 'password', sendImmediately: false }}); ``` To make a request with custom headers... ```js await WebRequest.get('https://example.com', {headers: {'User-Agent': 'request'}}); ``` To enable cookies, set **jar** to true or specify a custom cookie jar... ```js var response = await WebRequest.get('https://www.google.com/', {jar: true}); console.log(response.cookies); ``` Use the **stream** method to request a large resource efficiently with negligible memory impact... ```js var request = WebRequest.stream('http://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/944021EarthHighRes.png'); // 4.3Mb var w = fs.createWriteStream('earth.png'); request.pipe(w); // pipe content directly to a file var response = await request.response; // wait for web-request to complete await new Promise(resolve => w.on('finish', () => resolve())); // wait for file-write to complete ``` Stream a file up to a server... ```js var request = WebRequest.stream('http://example.com/data.json', {method:'post'}); fs.createReadStream('file.json').pipe(request); await request.response; ``` Stream a file from one server to another... ```js var request1 = WebRequest.stream('http://test.com/earth.png', {method:'get'}); var request2 = WebRequest.stream('http://example.com/earth.png', {method:'post'}); request1.pipe(request2); await Promise.all([request1.response, request2.response]); ```