How can I get access to the Angular 2 http response body without converting it to string or json?

Question

I would like to copy a REST response into a blob but I am unable to do some because blob() and arrayBuffer() have not yet been implemented in the Response Object. The Response Body is a private variable.

...
return this.http.get(url, {params: params, headers: headers})
     .map(res => {   
        // can't access _body because it is private
        // no method appears to exist to get to the _body without modification             
        new Blob([res._body], {type: res.headers.get('Content-Type')});
     })
     .catch(this.log);
...

Is there a solution I can use until these methods get implemented?

score 49 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 01 '17 at 19:02

49

There's a much simpler solution to accessing the body as a string which I haven't seen documented anywhere:

let body = res.text()

answered Jan 01 '17 at 19:02

StudioLE

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4

Wow! This solution actually allows npm to compile my TS too! Where did you even find this? – Allen Rufolo Feb 08 '17 at 03:37
1

There was a lot of trial and error involved so I can't really recall I'm afraid. – StudioLE Feb 22 '17 at 11:54

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '17 at 09:36

10

Addon to @StudioLE. You may use json() method to return data as json.

let body = res.json()

answered Aug 15 '17 at 09:36

SKL

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1

This is absolutely what should be used. On your `error` response, you could do `error.json()` and the actually returned data from the API will be available in template. – KhoPhi Aug 15 '17 at 12:55
Dangit, I had forgot to use `.json()` lol thanks for this answer luckily I was only banging my head for a few minutes. – Eric Bishard Sep 17 '17 at 09:28

dmungin · Answer 3 · 2016-11-04T22:08:55.060

6

Since I found this question while running into the same problem (and Angular's documentation is not updated as of today) you can now use:

let blob = new Blob([response.arrayBuffer()], { type: contentType });

Another workaround if you for some reason are on an old version of Angular 2 is:

let blob = new Blob([(<any> response)._body], { type: contentType });

edited Nov 04 '16 at 22:08

answered Nov 04 '16 at 22:03

dmungin

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score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 20 '18 at 11:00

2

set the responseType of requestoptions. That will make the response.blob() method work.

let headers = this.getAuthorizationHeader();
headers.append("Accept", "application/octet-stream");
return this.http
    .get(url, new RequestOptions({ headers: headers, responseType: ResponseContentType.Blob }))
    .map((res: Response): Blob => {
        return res.ok ? res.blob() : undefined;
    });

edited Dec 20 '18 at 11:00

Tushar Walzade

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answered Feb 28 '17 at 12:04

Andreas

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1

more info on the new features : http://restlet.com/company/blog/2016/08/29/whats-new-in-the-http-module-of-angular-2/, dont forget to use subscribe to exploit the result – Jeffrey Nicholson Carré Jun 16 '17 at 23:46

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 18 '16 at 15:15

1

I can't see no other solutions before the following PR is merged:

https://github.com/angular/angular/pull/7260

Whereas you have a compilation error, the field can be used at runtime...

answered Mar 18 '16 at 15:15

Thierry Templier

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How can I get access to the Angular 2 http response body without converting it to string or json?

5 Answers5

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