How to Prevent Multiple Fetch Calls with eventListener in JavaScript

Discover how to correctly implement event listeners to avoid multiple fetch calls when uploading GIFs with the Giphy API.
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How to Prevent Multiple Fetch Calls with eventListener in JavaScript

Are you having trouble managing event listeners in your JavaScript code, particularly when using the Giphy API to upload GIFs? If you've noticed that each upload generates multiple requests and saves multiple IDs in your local storage, you're not alone. This is a common problem and can be easily resolved by properly structuring your event listeners.

Understanding the Problem

When you set up an event listener for the form's change event to handle file uploads, you're inadvertently adding a new submit event listener every time the form input changes. This causes multiple fetch calls on each submission because there are now multiple submit listeners active, leading to inappropriately storing multiple IDs in local storage for a single GIF upload.

The Solution: Separate Event Listeners

To eliminate this issue, you need to ensure that the submit event listener is not added repeatedly. Instead, keep the event listeners separate and structured in a way that the submit logic is only assigned once. Here’s how you can do this:

Step 1: Set Up the HTML Structure

Ensure your HTML form remains straightforward. Here's a quick reminder:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Update the JavaScript Code

Now, let’s tweak the JavaScript code. The goal is to keep the submit listener independent of the change event. Here’s a refactored version of your previous code:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Key Changes

Simplified Local Storage Management: Store the upload ID more effectively by first checking if local storage has existing data.

Conclusion

By organizing your event listeners correctly, you can avoid the issue of multiple fetch calls during form submission. This not only cleans up your local storage but also provides a smoother user experience. Remember to test your code thoroughly to ensure everything works as expected. Happy coding!