OWD project: Replace XMLHttpRequest in examples with fetch()

[wbamberg]

Problem statement

Although we have for some time promoted fetch() and un-promoted XMLHttpRequest, we still have lots of examples that date from XMLHttpRequest times. We should if appropriate update them to use fetch().

Proposed solutions

No response

Task list

This would take an analysis phase, to figure out where we are using XHR and where we should replace it with fetch().

Priority assessment

• Effort: Medium
• Dependencies: No
• Community enablement: Yes? (could get community help for this)
• Momentum: No
• Enabling learners: Yes
• Enabling professionals: Yes
• Underrepresented topics / Ethical web: No
• Operational necessities: No
• Addressing needs of the web industry: Yes

More information

No response

[Josh-Cena]

See also: mdn/content#14157

[Elchi3]

This would take an analysis phase, to figure out where we are using XHR and where we should replace it with fetch().

@teoli2003 can you do the analysis and post it here? Once we have this, I can label this project "ready".

[yarusome]

A further suggestion: During this project, could await and try...catch be used in place of promise.then() and promise.catch()? The lengthy chains easily produced by the latter two make codes far less legible.

[Josh-Cena]

@yarusome note though: our style guide recommends against top-level await, so for casual examples involving just one promise, then is the best approach. In general, we (that is, I) are not too keen to replace then with await unless it significantly simplifies nesting (not necessarily chaining).

[wbamberg]

I'm closing this as completed: mdn/imsc-examples#14 is still open but (1) it's not in content and (2) it's approved.

I haven't checked through mentions of XHR in Firefox/Releases, but apart from that all places we refer to XHR across MDN have been updated. This doesn't mean we don't mention XHR at all of course, it's still a legitimate part of the web platform. But we promote fetch() instead, and try to make it so people are aware of fetch() as the default tool to reach for when making HTTP requests.