Angular 2 - Dynamically find base url to use in the http requests (services) - rest

Question

I'm wondering if there is a dynamic way of getting the base url, to use in the http requests?
Is there any way of getting the http://192.123.24.2:8080 dynamically?
public getAllTickets() {
this._http.get('http://192.123.24.2:8080/services/', {
method: 'GET',
headers: new Headers([
'Accept', 'application/json',
'Content-Type', 'application/json'
])
})
So, I my request would look something like:
public getAvailableVersions() {
this._http.get('../services', {
method: 'GET',
headers: new Headers([
'Accept', 'application/json',
'Content-Type', 'application/json'
])
})
I'm looking for a way to not having to hard code the URL for the REST calls. Or is the only option to have a global variable with the URL?
Thanks!

Answer 1

You can create a file with your credentials
credentials.ts
export var credentials = {
client_id: 1234,
client_secret: 'secret',
host: 'http://192.123.24.2:8080'
}
And import it into your file
import {credentials} from 'credentials'
public getAllTickets() {
this._http.get(credentials.host + '/services/', {
method: 'GET',
headers: new Headers([
'Accept', 'application/json',
'Content-Type', 'application/json'
])
})
And with that you can handle dev/prod credentials

Answer 2

With version 2.0.0-beta.6 of Angular2, you can override the merge method
import {BaseRequestOptions, RequestOptions, RequestOptionsArgs} from 'angular2/http';
export class CustomRequestOptions extends BaseRequestOptions {
merge(options?:RequestOptionsArgs):RequestOptions {
options.url = 'http://192.123.24.2:8080' + options.url;
return super.merge(options);
}
}
You can register this class this way:
bootstrap(AppComponent, [HTTP_PROVIDERS,
provide(BaseRequestOptions, { useClass: CustomRequestOptions })
]);
Another approach could be to extend the HTTP object to add at the beginning of the request URL a base URL.
First you could create a class that extends the Http one with a baseUrl property:
#Injectable()
export class CustomHttp extends Http {
constructor(backend: ConnectionBackend, defaultOptions: RequestOptions) {
super(backend, defaultOptions);
this.baseUrl = 'http://192.123.24.2:8080';
}
request(url: string | Request, options?: RequestOptionsArgs): Observable<Response> {
console.log('request...');
return super.request(this.baseUrl + url, options).catch(res => {
// do something
});
}
get(url: string, options?: RequestOptionsArgs): Observable<Response> {
console.log('get...');
return super.get(this.baseUrl + url, options).catch(res => {
// do something
});
}
}
and register it as described below:
bootstrap(AppComponent, [HTTP_PROVIDERS,
new Provider(Http, {
useFactory: (backend: XHRBackend, defaultOptions: RequestOptions) => new CustomHttp(backend, defaultOptions),
deps: [XHRBackend, RequestOptions]
})
]);

Answer 3

you can get your application context root as below
this.baseURL = document.getElementsByTagName('base')[0].href;

Answer 4

import {LocationStrategy} from 'angular2/router';
constructor(private locationStrategy:LocationStrategy) {
console.log(locationStrategy.prepareExternalUrl('xxx'));
}
See also https://github.com/angular/angular/blob/1bec4f6c6135d7aaccec7492d70c36e1ceeaeefa/modules/angular2/test/router/path_location_strategy_spec.ts#L88