XMLHttpRequest_en

XMLHttpRequest

XMLHttpRequest (XHR) objects are used 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.

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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.