How to use the datatype function from request

In Node.js, request.datatype is an optional property that specifies the expected data type of the response body for an HTTP request.

How does request.datatype work?

request.datatype is an optional property in the request library for Node.js that specifies the expected data type of the response body for an HTTP request.

When request is used to make an HTTP request, the response body is typically returned as a string by default. However, if the request.datatype property is set to a specific value, request will attempt to parse the response body into the specified data type. The available values for request.datatype include:

• "json": The response body will be parsed as JSON.
• "xml": The response body will be parsed as XML.
• "binary": The response body will be returned as a binary buffer.
• "buffer": The response body will be returned as a regular buffer.

If the request.datatype property is set to an unrecognized value or omitted, request will return the response body as a string.

By using request.datatype, developers can easily specify the expected data type of the response body and avoid having to manually parse the response themselves. This can be particularly useful for working with APIs that return data in a specific format, such as JSON or XML.

Ai Example

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const request = require("request");

const url = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1";

const options = {
  url: url,
  method: "GET",
  json: true, // Setting the "json" property to "true" is equivalent to setting "datatype" to "json".
};

request(options, (error, response, body) => {
  if (error) {
    console.error(error);
  } else {
    console.log(body);
  }
});

In this example, we're using request to make an HTTP GET request to the JSONPlaceholder API for the resource at /todos/1. We're setting the json property of the options object to true, which tells request to parse the response body as JSON. This is equivalent to setting the datatype property to "json". If the request is successful, the response body will be automatically parsed as a JSON object, and we log it to the console. Note that request.datatype can also be set to other values, such as "xml", "binary", or "buffer", depending on the expected data type of the response body.