Guide on obtaining an access token for an API through the use of the POST method in JavaScript

I am trying to obtain credentials for an API that uses OAuth2. The API documentation outlines the process as follows:

Request access token:

POST: auth/access_token

Url Parms:
grant_type    : "client_credentials"
client_id     :  Client id
client_secret :  Client secret

Based on this information, I attempted to send a JSON object in JavaScript.

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("POST","url for the api",false);
    
var obj = {
       
   "POST": "auth/access_token",
   "Url Parms": [   
      {
         "grant_type":'\"client_credentials\"',
         "client_id": "My Client id",
         "client_secret": "My Client secret"
      }
   ]
};
    
var clientcred = JSON.stringify(obj);
xhr.send(obj);

However, I received an error message stating that my request was invalid.

{"error":"invalid_request","error_description":"The request is missing a required parameter, includes an invalid parameter value, includes a parameter more than once, or is otherwise malformed. Check the \"grant_type\" parameter."}

Due to the 'same-origin policy' restriction, the code did not work as expected. After using an extension to bypass this, I still struggled to resolve the issue. Should I consider learning PHP? How can I successfully retrieve my access token?

Edit:

Adding the parameters directly to the URL like POST auth/access_token?grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=id‌​&client_secret=clien‌​t_secret seemed to solve the problem. Thank you @Sara Tibbetts for your suggestion.

Finally, after attempting it again the following day, it worked flawlessly. A big thank you to @Sara Tibbetts and everyone who offered assistance.

Edit 2:

I have come to realize that relying on the extension was not ideal, and I now understand the significance of Cross Origin Resource Sharing. Moving forward, making API calls from the server side is a more secure approach than doing so client-side.

Answer №1

In a live project, I've implemented this method successfully (It utilizes an authentication code that was obtained earlier - but the specifics don't matter; simply adjust the parts related to the auth code with the necessary client secret details and give it a shot.. You might just be overthinking it.

var req = new XMLHttpRequest();

I prefer using a string for my parameters:

var data =
'resource=[my resource]' +
'&client_id=' + cliId +
'&secret=' + cliSecret +
'&grant_type=authorization_code' +
'&response_type=token';
var finalData = encodeURI(data);

Afterwards, I initiate a POST request like so:

req.open('POST', endpointURL, true);
req.withCredentials = true;
req.setRequestHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '[something]');
req.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
req.onreadystatechange = function () {
    if (req.readyState == 4) {
        //execute tasks
    }
}
req.send(finalData);

Answer №2

To implement the code snippet below, ensure that the JSON is properly assigned to the data property.

$.ajax({
    type: 'POST',
    url: 'https://example.com',
    crossDomain: true,
    data: JSON.stringify({grant_type: "client_credentials",
                          client_id: "My Client ID",
                          client_secret: "My Client Secret"}),
    dataType: 'json',
    success: function (responseData, textStatus, jqXHR) {
        console.log(responseData);
    },
    error: function (responseData, textStatus, errorThrown) {
        alert('POST request failed.');
    }
});

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