How to pass Authentication Header Token when POSTing data to API using Node.js

A step-by-step guide on how to pass an Authentication Token in the header while POSTing data to an API using Node.js. The article demonstrates how to use the `axios` or `http` package to perform authenticated HTTP requests.

This article introduces how to pass an Authentication Token via the header when making POST requests to an API in Node.js. We'll use the axios or http package to perform HTTP requests with header configurations that include the token.

JavaScript Code

Using the axios package to POST data and pass Authentication Header Token:

const axios = require('axios');

// Data to POST to the API
const data = {
    name: 'John Doe',
    email: 'john.doe@example.com'
};

// Authentication Token
const token = 'Bearer your_auth_token';

// Request configuration with token in the header
const config = {
    headers: {
        'Authorization': token,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    }
};

// Send POST request to API with Authentication Token
axios.post('https://api.example.com/data', data, config)
    .then(response => {
        console.log('Data successfully sent:', response.data);
    })
    .catch(error => {
        console.error('Error in sending request:', error);
    });

Detailed explanation:

1. const axios = require('axios');: Import the axios package to perform HTTP requests.
2. const data = {...};: Define the JSON data to be sent to the API.
3. const token = 'Bearer your_auth_token';: Declare the Authentication Token in the Bearer format.
4. const config = {...};: Configure the headers to include the authentication token and Content-Type.
5. axios.post(...): Perform the POST request with the API URL, data, and token configuration.
6. .then(response => {...});: Handle the response from the API when the request is successful.
7. .catch(error => {...});: Handle errors if the request fails.

System requirements:

• Node.js version >= 10.0
• axios package (install with npm install axios)

How to install the libraries:

• Install Node.js from nodejs.org
• Run the following command to install axios:

  npm install axios
  

Tips:

• Always keep the Authentication Token secure and avoid hardcoding it directly into your source code.
• Double-check your API configuration to ensure the Token format is correct.

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