API Access Token expiration is very short

Question

I'm pretty new to APIs, and I'm starting my first API project. I'm using the Petfinder API v2 to create a website that searches for adoptable animals. But their API uses OAuth, and they give you a key and secret. Then you use those to get a token using something like CURL. But this token expires in 60 minutes. After that, you need to request a new token. Does anyone know how to increase the token's expiration? Or is there a way to have an unlimited amount of time? Or is there a code that will automatically get new tokens? I'm using vanilla JavaScript to program this.

This is their documentation: https://www.petfinder.com/developers/v2/docs/

Answer 1

There's nothing you can do to extend your access tokens expiration time. It's a security measure for Petfinders benefit so they don't have a bunch of old tokens lying around.

What you can do is update your code to fetch a new token if your token has expired. Original inspiration in vanilla javascript is here.

// Get OAuth token
const getOAuth = function() {
    return fetch('https://api.petfinder.com/v2/oauth2/token', {
        method: 'POST',
        body: 'grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=' + key + '&client_secret=' + secret,
        headers: {
            'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
        }
    }).then(function(resp) {
        return resp.json();
    }).then(function(data) {
        // Store token data
        token = data.access_token;
        tokenType = data.token_type;
        expires = new Date().getTime() + (data.expires_in * 1000);
    });
};

// Make call if token expired
const makeCall = () => {
    // If current token is invalid, get a new one
    if (!expires || expires - new Date().getTime() < 1) {
        getOAuth().then(function() {
            // use access token
        });
    }
};