Translating Python API call to NodeJS Axios api call - how do I format it correctly?

Question

I'm getting a 400 error and isAxiosError: true. I think the problem is the auth line is not formatted correctly, or I'm not quite understanding how params work in axios and what's needed by the api? What am I doing wrong in my translating of python to Axios/JS? Here's the Voila Norbert API documentation.

Here's my Axios api call.

axios.post('https://api.voilanorbert.com/2018-01-08/search/name', {
  params: {
    auth: {any_string: API_KEY},
    data: { 
      domain: 'amazon.com',
      name: 'Jeff Bezos'
    }
  }
})

Here's the python version:

API_TOKEN = 'abcde'

req = requests.post(
  'https://api.voilanorbert.com/2018-01-08/search/name',
  auth=('any_string', API_TOKEN),
  data = {
      'name': 'Cyril Nicodeme',
      'domain': 'reflectiv.net'
  }
)

Christian Fritz · Answer 1 · 2021-01-05T17:23:57.560

1

According to their documentation, https://github.com/axios/axios, you need to give auth as a separate field, not inside params:

axios.post('https://api.voilanorbert.com/2018-01-08/search/name', {
  auth: {
    username: 'any_string',
    password: API_KEY
  },
  data: { 
    domain: 'amazon.com',
    name: 'Jeff Bezos'
  }
})

Updated: removed the nesting of data in params. They should be sent as POST body, not URL params.

edited Jan 05 '21 at 17:23

answered Jan 05 '21 at 16:55

Christian Fritz

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Thank you. I tried that (without the auth in params) I'm still getting a 400 bad request error. – Agent Zebra Jan 05 '21 at 17:14
I suspects that's because of a different error: you had the POST payload (data) inside of params. I'm willing to bet that that's wrong, because POSTs don't usually use URL parameters to send data. I've updated my answer. Try again with that? – Christian Fritz Jan 05 '21 at 17:27
PS: if the auth was wrong then the API should send a 401 (not authorized) of 403 (forbidden), not a 400 (bad request). – Christian Fritz Jan 05 '21 at 17:29
Thanks, yep I tried that also. Still a 400 error. – Agent Zebra Jan 05 '21 at 17:37
In Postman I'm getting the error 400 Bad Request using url params - The request cannot be fulfilled due to bad syntax. {"name":["This field is required."]} But if I put them in the body I get 403 Forbidden. Hmmm... – Agent Zebra Jan 05 '21 at 18:14

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 23 '22 at 19:13

I am a year late with this answer but I found your question while dealing with this same error with the same API. The API documentation's suggested Python code works for me with a successful response, but I want to do it in Node and the JS code returns a 400 error. I'm sharing my solution in case it helps others in the future.

I believe the core issue is that the API expects the data to be posted as form data, not as JSON. I followed an example in another post to post form data with Axios but still was receiving a 400 error.

Then I tried posting it using the request package instead of Axios, and that results in a successful response (no error):

const request = require('request');

var data = {'name': 'Jeff Bezos', 'domain': 'amazon.com'};

request.post({
    url: 'https://any_string:API_KEY@api.voilanorbert.com/2018-01-08/search/name',
    form: data,
}, function(error, response, body){
    console.log(body);
});

This example works when the data is included in the form: field but does not work when it is in body:

Please note the request package is deprecated and in maintenance mode.

Translating Python API call to NodeJS Axios api call - how do I format it correctly?

2 Answers2