node-fetch send post request with body as x-www-form-urlencoded

Question

i want to send a post request using node-fetch with a body payload encoded in the x-www-form. I tried this code but unfortunately it doesnt work:

paypalSignIn = function(){
var username = process.env.PAYPALID;
var password = process.env.PAYPALSECRET;
var authContent = 'Basic '+base64.encode(username + ":" + password);

fetch('https://api.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token', { method: 'POST',
 headers: {
       'Accept': 'application/json',
       'Accept-Language' :"en_US",
       'Authorization': authContent,
       'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'

  },
  body: 'grant_type=client_credentials' })
    .then(res => res.json()) // expecting a json response
    .then(json => console.log(json));

} I'm not sure if this way is possible but i need to use this standard for die paypal api. I'm getting statu code 400 with error

grant_type is null

Thx

Answer 1

I don't know if this is the only error, but at the very least you need a space between the word Basic and the encoded username/password.

Next time you ask a question, also post what your script returned. I'm guessing it was a 401 error in this case.

Answer 2

I used the PayPal sandbox today, here is how I managed to get my access token and a successful response (and also answering the OP's question about sending application/x-www-form-urlencoded POST requests with data) =>

I did it with node-fetch but the plain fetch API should work the same.

import fetch from "node-fetch";

export interface PayPalBusinessAccessTokenResponseInterface {
    access_token: string;
}

export interface PayPalClientInterface {
    getBusinessAccessToken: (
        clientId: string, 
        clientSecret: string
    ) => Promise<PayPalBusinessAccessTokenResponseInterface>
}

const paypalClient: PayPalClientInterface = {
    async getBusinessAccessToken(
        clientId: string, 
        clientSecret: string
    ): Promise<PayPalBusinessAccessTokenResponseInterface> {
        const params = new URLSearchParams();
        params.append("grant_type", "client_credentials");
        const paypalAPICall = await fetch(
            "https://api-m.sandbox.paypal.com/v1/oauth2/token", 
            {
                method: "POST", 
                body: params,
                headers: {
                    "Authorization": `Basic ${Buffer.from(clientId + ":" + clientSecret).toString('base64')}`
                }
            }
        );
        const paypalAPIRes = await paypalAPICall.json();
        return paypalAPIRes;
    }
};

export default paypalClient;