How to load http data with javascript?

Question

I'm trying to build a very simple bit of javascript that reads and displays a couple stock indexes when a webpage is loaded.

I was hoping to find an RSS feed with this data that I could then parse with jQuery.parseXML, but I couldn't track one down. What I did find is this: Yahoo Finance provides a way to download stock data in CSV format, specifying which data you're after via the URL.

So, I'm thinking this might be a way to accmplish what I'm after: when the page is loaded, I could send a request to Yahoo Finance, and then somehow parse the CSV data to get the data I need to populate my stock quote. My question relates to the aforementioned "somehow." Is there a way to do this via javascript? Is it possible to, for example, somehow load the CSV generated by Yahoo Finance as a string?

I'm also very open to any other suggestions of how to accomplish this. If anyone, for example, knows of an RSS feed from which I could get the S&P/TSX Composite index, please let me know!

jl. · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-26 19:32:11Z

2

You'll probably run into some cross site scripting problems as the browser will not let you do that. See the howto on that about avoiding that. You could also do it on the server side and then query that from you client. Depends on the server side technology you are using.

After that parsing the CSV shouldn't be a problem. Use something like string.split on each line.

answered Feb 26, 2012 at 19:32

jl.

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2 Comments

jkjenner Over a year ago

Thanks -- this at least gives me somewhere to start. It's looking like I may have to write my first few lines of php...

jl. Over a year ago

You might also consider node.js. I found it very easy for smaller tasks. I recently did node.js + api_request in a similar context as yours....

Christofer Eliasson · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-26 19:32:25Z

2

JavaScript is by default not allowed to cross-domain requests unless you use JSON-P as your format, requesting CSV directly from another domain will not be allowed. Therefor this is a bit problematic. In this case you will probably have to setup a proxy within your own domain that will fetch the data from Yahoo server-side, and send it to your JavaScript from within your own domain.

answered Feb 26, 2012 at 19:32

Christofer Eliasson

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