Django >= 3.1 and is_ajax

Question

HttpRequest.is_ajax() is deprecated starting with version 3.1.

I want to return html if the page is requested from a browser and as JsonResponse if called from javascript or programmatically.

I am seeking guidance on how to do that.

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/request-response/#django.http.HttpRequest.is_ajax

Gerhardine

its is deprecated, but not yet removed. – Estebanesteem

@Estebanesteem I come from the future in the year 2023. is_ajax is removed now in django 4. and finally, robots rule the world! – Samale

Answer 1

Check HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH header

def sample_view(request):
    is_ajax = request.META.get('HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH') == 'XMLHttpRequest'

From the Release Notes of 3.1

The HttpRequest.is_ajax() method is deprecated as it relied on a jQuery-specific way of signifying AJAX calls, while current usage tends to use the JavaScript Fetch API. Depending on your use case, you can either write your own AJAX detection method, or use the new HttpRequest.accepts() method if your code depends on the client Accept HTTP header.

Estebanesteem

Just a note to many other solutions here. Adding request.accepts("application/json") doesn't seem right ot me. This header might be send for any regular non-ajax request, for example in for of Accepts: */*. Browsers are not forced to request a specific MIME type, although they might suggest if that matters. But on server side it usually doesn't matter. – Convene

Answer 2

Funny thing -- the quoted deprecation blurb only gets you halfway there. There's no indication of how you "use the new HttpRequest.accepts method" to replace HttpRequest.is_ajax -- not in the deprecation text, nor the documentation, nor the release notes.

So, here it is: if request.accepts("application/json")

(At least that's what worked for me.)

Juster

Take care that if your request will accept */*, this test may be wrong. – Boer

Answer 3

Instead of:

if request.is_ajax():

Helped me:

if request.headers.get('x-requested-with') == 'XMLHttpRequest':

Krongold

Adding reference to orig conversation on Django group: groups.google.com/g/django-users/c/5x-qF0Q5Xi8 – Subtract

Answer 4

Combining the suggestions works for our use cases...

def is_ajax(request: django.http.request.HttpRequest) -> bool:
    """
    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63629935
    """
    return (
        request.headers.get('x-requested-with') == 'XMLHttpRequest'
        or request.accepts("application/json")
    )

And then replace all instances of request.is_ajax() with is_ajax(request).

Erythromycin

The part or request.accepts("application/json") shouldn't be there, check comment on accepted answer. – Convene

Answer 5

have you tried to check HttpRequest.headers?
HttpRequest.is_ajax() depends on HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH header.
so you can check this header, if it is true it would be AJAX other wise it would be a request from a browser.

HttpRequest.headers['HTTP_X_REQUESTED_WITH']

Carbonous

Answer 6

I did what arakkal-abu said but I also added 'X-Requested-With' header with the same value ie. 'XMLHttpRequest'

to my request and it worked

Hit

Answer 7

Make sure to import this at the top

import re
from django.http import JsonResponse
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from django.conf.urls import handler404

You can have this inside your function/method to determine if from browser or ajax call

    requested_html = re.search(r'^text/html', request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT'))
    if requested_html:
        # requested from browser, do as per your wish
    # ajax call. Returning as per wish 
    return JsonResponse({
        'detail': _('Requested API URL not found')
    }, status=404, safe=False)

Explanation

If you request to load a page from a browser, you would see in the network tab under the requested headers of that request, text/html is at the beginning of requested headers.

However, if you are making an ajax call from the browser, the requested headers has */* in the beginning. If you attach

Accept: application/json

in the header, then requested headers become this

From this, you can understand how the accept header is different in these cases.

Boylan

Answer 8

your_app.middleware.py

class AjaxMiddleware:
    def __init__(self, get_response):
        self.get_response = get_response

    def __call__(self, request):
        def is_ajax(self) -> bool:
            return (
                request.headers.get('x-requested-with') == 'XMLHttpRequest'
                or request.accepts("application/json")
            )
        
        request.is_ajax = is_ajax.__get__(request)
        response = self.get_response(request)
        return response

settings.py

MIDDLEWARE = [
    'your_app.middleware.AjaxMiddleware',
]

Superheterodyne

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