XMLHttpRequest definition

Definition

Use XMLHttpRequest (XHR) objects to interact with servers.

You can retrieve data from a URL without having to do a full page refresh.

This enables a Web page to update just part of a page without disrupting what the user is doing.

XMLHttpRequest is used heavily in AJAX programming .

Despite its name, XMLHttpRequest can be used to retrieve any type of data, not just XML.

If your communication needs to involve receiving event data or message data from a server, consider using server-sent events through the EventSource interface.

For full-duplex communication, WebSockets may be a better choice.