XMLHttpRequest.responseType

The XMLHttpRequest property responseType is an enumerated string value specifying the type of data contained in the response. It also lets the author change the response type. If an empty string is set as the value of responseType, the default value of "text" is used.

Syntax

var type = XMLHttpRequest.responseType;

XMLHttpRequest.responseType = type;

Value

A string taken from the XMLHttpRequestResponseType enum which specifies what type of data the response contains.

The values supported by responseType are the following:

Exceptions

InvalidAccessError

An attempt was made to change the value of responseType on anXMLHttpRequest which is in synchronous mode but not in a Worker. For additional details, see Synchronous XHR restrictions below.

Usage notes

Synchronous XHR restrictions

You cannot change the value of responseType in a synchronous XMLHttpRequest except when the request belongs to a Worker. This restriction is designed in part to help ensure that synchronous operations aren't used for large transactions that block the browser's main thread, thereby bogging down the user experience.

XMLHttpRequests are asynchronous by default; they are only placed in synchronous mode by passing false as the value of the optional async parameter when calling open().

Restrictions in Workers

Attempts to set the value of responseType to "document" are ignored in a Worker.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Using XMLHttpRequest
• HTML in XMLHttpRequest
• The response data: response, responseText, and responseXML