Jan

Jan is a simple library for making HTTP requests.
Issue network calls without dealing with awkward legacy API signatures.

Documentation

Why Jan?

"AJAX" just isn't a thing anymore.
It's 2014, we're on Web 3.0 or some "living document" version of the web by now.
We don't need to invent names for basic concepts like making HTTP requests.

Ask yourself:

• Am I using a DOM manipulation library to do networking?
• Would I consider using a NPM package that both rendered HTML templates and abstracted WebSocket communications?

Application architecture is easier when it isn't tied to monolithic frameworks.
It's time to drop those aging AJAX APIs and get back to the basics of what makes networking simple.

Usage

Basic GET request:

jan.get('/api/foo.json', function(err, res, json) {
	console.log(err, res, json);
});

POST request:

jan.post({
	url : '/api/todos',
	body : 'name=Get%20gas'
}, function(err, res, data) {
	if (err) throw err;
	alert('ToDo created: ' + data.name);
});

Request with all options:

jan({
	method : 'PUT',
	url : 'http://foo.com/bar.json',
	headers : {
		'Content-Type' : 'application/json'
	},
	user : 'bob',
	pass : 'firebird',
	body : JSON.stringify({ key : 'value' })
}, function(err, res) {
	if (err) throw err;
	console.log(res);
});

Plugins / Events

Hook requests with the req event:

// A plugin that adds an API key header to all requests:
jan.on('req', function(e) {
	e.req.headers['x-api-key'] = 'my-super-secure-api-key';
});

Hook responses with the res event:

// A plugin that parses CSV responses
jan.on('res', function(e) {
	if (e.res.headers['content-type']==='text/csv') {
		e.res.data = e.res.csv = e.res.text.split(/\s*\,\s*/g);
	}
});

Instantiation

Via node / browserify:

var jan = require('jan');

Via AMD / requirejs:

define(['jan'], function(jan) {

});

Via globals / script tag:

<script src="jan.js"></script>
<script>
	jan;  // now it's exposed as a "jan" global
</script>

Installation

Installation via Bower: (Recommended)

bower install jan

Manual Download:

• jan.js - full source with comments, for development
• jan.min.js - minified, for production

License

BSD