Angular/RxJS 6: How to prevent duplicate HTTP requests

angularangular6rxjsrxjs6

Currently have a scenario where a method within a shared service is used by multiple components. This method makes an HTTP call to an endpoint that will always have the same response and returns an Observable. Is it possible to share the first response with all subscribers to prevent duplicate HTTP requests?

Below is a simplified version of the scenario described above:

class SharedService {
  constructor(private http: HttpClient) {}

  getSomeData(): Observable<any> {
    return this.http.get<any>('some/endpoint');
  }
}

class Component1 {
  constructor(private sharedService: SharedService) {
    this.sharedService.getSomeData().subscribe(
      () => console.log('do something...')
    );
  }
}

class Component2 {
  constructor(private sharedService: SharedService) {
    this.sharedService.getSomeData().subscribe(
      () => console.log('do something different...')
    );
  }
}

Best Answer

After trying a few different methods, came across this one that resolves my issue and only makes one HTTP request no matter how many subscribers:

class SharedService {
  someDataObservable: Observable<any>;

  constructor(private http: HttpClient) {}

  getSomeData(): Observable<any> {
    if (this.someDataObservable) {
      return this.someDataObservable;
    } else {
      this.someDataObservable = this.http.get<any>('some/endpoint').pipe(share());
      return this.someDataObservable;
    }
  }
}

I am still open to more efficient suggestions!

For the curious: share()

Related Solutions

Angular HTTP GET with TypeScript error http.get(…).map is not a function in [null]

I think that you need to import this:

import 'rxjs/add/operator/map'

Or more generally this if you want to have more methods for observables. WARNING: This will import all 50+ operators and add them to your application, thus affecting your bundle size and load times.

import 'rxjs/Rx';

See this issue for more details.

Angular – the correct way to share the result of an Angular Http network call in RxJs 5

EDIT: as of 2021, the proper way is to use the shareReplay operator natively proposed by RxJs. See more details in below answers.

Cache the data and if available cached, return this otherwise make the HTTP request.

import {Injectable} from '@angular/core';
import {Http, Headers} from '@angular/http';
import {Observable} from 'rxjs/Observable';
import 'rxjs/add/observable/of'; //proper way to import the 'of' operator
import 'rxjs/add/operator/share';
import 'rxjs/add/operator/map';
import {Data} from './data';

@Injectable()
export class DataService {
  private url: string = 'https://cors-test.appspot.com/test';
  
  private data: Data;
  private observable: Observable<any>;

  constructor(private http: Http) {}

  getData() {
    if(this.data) {
      // if `data` is available just return it as `Observable`
      return Observable.of(this.data); 
    } else if(this.observable) {
      // if `this.observable` is set then the request is in progress
      // return the `Observable` for the ongoing request
      return this.observable;
    } else {
      // example header (not necessary)
      let headers = new Headers();
      headers.append('Content-Type', 'application/json');
      // create the request, store the `Observable` for subsequent subscribers
      this.observable = this.http.get(this.url, {
        headers: headers
      })
      .map(response =>  {
        // when the cached data is available we don't need the `Observable` reference anymore
        this.observable = null;

        if(response.status == 400) {
          return "FAILURE";
        } else if(response.status == 200) {
          this.data = new Data(response.json());
          return this.data;
        }
        // make it shared so more than one subscriber can get the result
      })
      .share();
      return this.observable;
    }
  }
}

Plunker example

This article https://blog.thoughtram.io/angular/2018/03/05/advanced-caching-with-rxjs.html is a great explanation how to cache with shareReplay.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Angular HTTP GET with TypeScript error http.get(…).map is not a function in [null]

Angular – the correct way to share the result of an Angular Http network call in RxJs 5

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