Is it possible to use HTTP.get on the client side to retrieve some json data and store it as a string?
I need to get the JSON from this site https://blockchain.info/address/15cNko3ZtmYCba8GoaYsZ6GWFy1VCLgFji?format=json and store it as a string for later parsing.
The above site address for the wallet was chosen at random.
You can perform HTTP.get on the client. As per the documentation it's available Anywhere (Client and Server)
However, the example you've provided isn't on the same domain as your app, and hasn't provided Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers to permit cross-domain requests. So requests from the client will fail.
The same origin policy prevents a document or script loaded from one origin from getting or setting properties of a document from another origin. This policy dates all the way back to Netscape Navigator 2.0.
Try typing $.ajax("https://blockchain.info/address/15cNko3ZtmYCba8GoaYsZ6GWFy1VCLgFji?format=json"); in your browser console in your application development tab.
You're likely to receive this error as response :
XMLHttpRequest cannot load https://blockchain.info/address/15cNko3ZtmYCba8GoaYsZ6GWFy1VCLgFji?format=json. No 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header is present on the requested resource. Origin 'http://localhost:3000' is therefore not allowed access.
This is a CORS related issue which is a whole topic on itself so I suggest you google this and understand its implications.
Next, if you can control CORS settings on the domain where you're trying to fetch json from, then you need to allow cross origin requests from your web application domain, this is possible when using an amazon S3 bucket, another web application you designed, etc...
If you can't, then I'm afraid you'll have to use a Meteor.method client side to reach your Meteor server where you'll fetch the json with HTTP.get then send it back to the Meteor client.
