new XMLHttpRequest() - do I still need to try/catch for ActiveXObject fallback?

Question

From what I gather from the Google machine, it seems unless I'm concerned about IE6 and under users, I no longer need to do a try and catch for XMLHttpRequests.

Just wondering as I'm currently reading Headfirst Ajax which was published in 2008 and their forums are dead.

Cheers

Answer 1

According to MDN.XMLHttpRequest#Browser_Compatibility, the basic support is available on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Webkit (Safari) 1.2+, and Internet Explorer 7+. IE 5 and 6 only support the ActiveXObject method.

So, the answer is No: If you are not planning to support IE 6, you can directly use XMLHttpRequest without the try/catch mechanism for falling back to the ActiveXObject.

However, I suggest using a library that hides all AJAX logic, jQuery.ajax for example.