axios-http-builder

An axios instance builder for use on client or server side with common features pre-configured:

• Timeout
• Cancellation

By default, axios does not configure a timeout or a cancellation timeout. However, axios-http-builder sets both to 2 seconds by default, which remains configurable.

axios-http-builder also includes an optional exception handler.

Install

npm i -save axios-http-builder

Usage

To use the default configuration, instantiate the axios instance with buildHttpClient and then use as normal:

import { buildHttpClient } from 'axios-http-builder';

const httpClient = buildHttpClient();
await httpClient.get('https://myservice/entity');

buildHttpClient takes a CreateAxiosDefaults object, so you can use any of axios' options as normal:

import { buildHttpClient } from 'axios-http-builder';

const httpClient = buildHttpClient({ baseURL: 'https://myservice' });
await httpClient.get('/entity');

The axios-http-builder defaults are applied to the configuration, unless you specify your own:

import { buildHttpClient, newAbortSignal } from 'axios-http-builder';

const httpClient = buildHttpClient({ baseURL: 'https://myservice' , timeout: 3000, signal: newAbortSignal(3000)});
await httpClient.get('/entity');

The timeout and cancellation timeout can also be set using environment variables:

AXIOS_TIMEOUT=3000
AXIOS_CANCEL_TIMEOUT=3000

Exception Handling

axios-http-builder includes an optional exception handling function:

import { buildHttpClient, handleException } from 'axios-http-builder';

const httpClient = buildHttpClient({ baseURL: 'https://myservice' });
try {
    await httpClient.get('/entity');
} catch (e: any) {
    const { isAxiosError, message, axiosError, data, statusCode, statusText } = handleException(e);
    ...
}

handleException analyses the exception to determine whether it is an AxiosError, Error or something else. It always returns isAxiosError and message. The other values are only returned if the exception is an AxiosError. The intention is to provide a boilerplate function which handles AxiosError and other exceptions and always return the right exception message.

• isAxiosError - whether or not the exception is an AxiosError
• message - the exception message
• axiosError - the AxiosError object. Although this is the same as the original exception, the type of the original exception is not recognised by the compiler, as it could be Error or something else. Only returned for AxiosErrors
• data - the body of the response. Only returned for AxiosErrors
• statusCode - the http status code. Only returned for AxiosErrors
• statusText - the http status text. Only returned for AxiosErrors