HTTP message headers are represented by an object like this:
- { 'content-length': '123'
- , 'content-type': 'text/plain'
- , 'connection': 'keep-alive'
- , 'accept': '*/*'
- }
+ { 'content-length': '123',
+ 'content-type': 'text/plain',
+ 'connection': 'keep-alive',
+ 'accept': '*/*' }
Keys are lowercased. Values are not modified.
parsing only. It parses a message into headers and body but it does not
parse the actual headers or the body.
-HTTPS is supported if OpenSSL is available on the underlying platform.
## http.Server
`function (request, response) { }`
+Emitted each time there is request. Note that there may be multiple requests
+per connection (in the case of keep-alive connections).
`request` is an instance of `http.ServerRequest` and `response` is
an instance of `http.ServerResponse`
### Event: 'connection'
-`function (stream) { }`
+`function (socket) { }`
- When a new TCP stream is established. `stream` is an object of type
- `net.Stream`. Usually users will not want to access this event. The
- `stream` can also be accessed at `request.connection`.
+ When a new TCP stream is established. `socket` is an object of type
+ `net.Socket`. Usually users will not want to access this event. The
+ `socket` can also be accessed at `request.connection`.
### Event: 'close'
`function (errno) { }`
- Emitted when the server closes.
-
-### Event: 'request'
-
-`function (request, response) {}`
-
-Emitted each time there is request. Note that there may be multiple requests
-per connection (in the case of keep-alive connections).
+ Emitted when the server closes.
### Event: 'checkContinue'
-`function (request, response) {}`
+`function (request, response) { }`
Emitted each time a request with an http Expect: 100-continue is received.
If this event isn't listened for, the server will automatically respond
### Event: 'upgrade'
-`function (request, socket, head)`
+`function (request, socket, head) { }`
Emitted each time a client requests a http upgrade. If this event isn't
listened for, then clients requesting an upgrade will have their connections
### Event: 'clientError'
-`function (exception) {}`
+`function (exception) { }`
If a client connection emits an 'error' event - it will forwarded here.
-### http.createServer(requestListener)
+### http.createServer([requestListener])
Returns a new web server object.
when the server has been bound.
-### server.setSecure(credentials)
-
-Enables HTTPS support for the server, with the crypto module credentials specifying the private key and certificate of the server, and optionally the CA certificates for use in client authentication.
-
-If the credentials hold one or more CA certificates, then the server will request for the client to submit a client certificate as part of the HTTPS connection handshake. The validity and content of this can be accessed via verifyPeer() and getPeerCertificate() from the server's request.connection.
-
### server.close()
Stops the server from accepting new connections.
## http.ServerRequest
-This object is created internally by a HTTP server--not by
-the user--and passed as the first argument to a `'request'` listener.
+This object is created internally by a HTTP server -- not by
+the user -- and passed as the first argument to a `'request'` listener.
This is an `EventEmitter` with the following events:
Example: A chunk of the body is given as the single
argument. The transfer-encoding has been decoded. The
body chunk is a string. The body encoding is set with
-`request.setBodyEncoding()`.
+`request.setEncoding()`.
### Event: 'end'
`function () { }`
-Emitted exactly once for each message. No arguments. After
-emitted no other events will be emitted on the request.
+Emitted exactly once for each request. After that, no more `'data'` events
+will be emitted on the request.
+
+### Event: 'close'
+
+`function (err) { }`
+Indicates that the underlaying connection was terminated before
+`response.end()` was called or able to flush.
+
+The `err` parameter is always present and indicates the reason for the timeout:
+
+`err.code === 'timeout'` indicates that the underlaying connection timed out.
+This may happen because all incoming connections have a default timeout of 2
+minutes.
+
+`err.code === 'aborted'` means that the client has closed the underlaying
+connection prematurely.
+
+Just like `'end'`, this event occurs only once per request, and no more `'data'`
+events will fire afterwards.
+
+Note: `'close'` can fire after `'end'`, but not vice versa.
### request.method
`require('url').parse(request.url)`. Example:
node> require('url').parse('/status?name=ryan')
- { href: '/status?name=ryan'
- , search: '?name=ryan'
- , query: 'name=ryan'
- , pathname: '/status'
- }
+ { href: '/status?name=ryan',
+ search: '?name=ryan',
+ query: 'name=ryan',
+ pathname: '/status' }
If you would like to extract the params from the query string,
you can use the `require('querystring').parse` function, or pass
`true` as the second argument to `require('url').parse`. Example:
node> require('url').parse('/status?name=ryan', true)
- { href: '/status?name=ryan'
- , search: '?name=ryan'
- , query: { name: 'ryan' }
- , pathname: '/status'
- }
+ { href: '/status?name=ryan',
+ search: '?name=ryan',
+ query: { name: 'ryan' },
+ pathname: '/status' }
### request.connection
-The `net.Stream` object associated with the connection.
+The `net.Socket` object associated with the connection.
With HTTPS support, use request.connection.verifyPeer() and
### response.writeContinue()
Sends a HTTP/1.1 100 Continue message to the client, indicating that
-the request body should be sent. See the the `checkContinue` event on
+the request body should be sent. See the [checkContinue](#event_checkContinue_) event on
`Server`.
### response.writeHead(statusCode, [reasonPhrase], [headers])
var body = 'hello world';
response.writeHead(200, {
'Content-Length': body.length,
- 'Content-Type': 'text/plain'
- });
+ 'Content-Type': 'text/plain' });
This method must only be called once on a message and it must
be called before `response.end()` is called.
+If you call `response.write()` or `response.end()` before calling this, the
+implicit/mutable headers will be calculated and call this function for you.
+
+Note: that Content-Length is given in bytes not characters. The above example
+works because the string `'hello world'` contains only single byte characters.
+If the body contains higher coded characters then `Buffer.byteLength()`
+should be used to determine the number of bytes in a given encoding.
+And Node does not check whether Content-Length and the length of the body
+which has been transmitted are equal or not.
+
+### response.statusCode
+
+When using implicit headers (not calling `response.writeHead()` explicitly), this property
+controls the status code that will be send to the client when the headers get
+flushed.
+
+Example:
+
+ response.statusCode = 404;
+
+After response header was sent to the client, this property indicates the
+status code which was sent out.
+
+### response.setHeader(name, value)
+
+Sets a single header value for implicit headers. If this header already exists
+in the to-be-sent headers, it's value will be replaced. Use an array of strings
+here if you need to send multiple headers with the same name.
+
+Example:
+
+ response.setHeader("Content-Type", "text/html");
+
+or
+
+ response.setHeader("Set-Cookie", ["type=ninja", "language=javascript"]);
+
+
+### response.getHeader(name)
+
+Reads out a header that's already been queued but not sent to the client. Note
+that the name is case insensitive. This can only be called before headers get
+implicitly flushed.
+
+Example:
+
+ var contentType = response.getHeader('content-type');
+
+### response.removeHeader(name)
+
+Removes a header that's queued for implicit sending.
+
+Example:
+
+ response.removeHeader("Content-Encoding");
+
+
### response.write(chunk, encoding='utf8')
-This method must be called after `writeHead` was
-called. It sends a chunk of the response body. This method may
+If this method is called and `response.writeHead()` has not been called, it will
+switch to implicit header mode and flush the implicit headers.
+
+This sends a chunk of the response body. This method may
be called multiple times to provide successive parts of the body.
`chunk` can be a string or a buffer. If `chunk` is a string,
### response.addTrailers(headers)
This method adds HTTP trailing headers (a header but at the end of the
-message) to the response.
+message) to the response.
-Trailers will **only** be emitted if chunked encoding is used for the
+Trailers will **only** be emitted if chunked encoding is used for the
response; if it is not (e.g., if the request was HTTP/1.0), they will
be silently discarded.
followed by `response.end()`.
-## http.Client
+## http.request(options, callback)
-An HTTP client is constructed with a server address as its
-argument, the returned handle is then used to issue one or more
-requests. Depending on the server connected to, the client might
-pipeline the requests or reestablish the stream after each
-stream. _Currently the implementation does not pipeline requests._
+Node maintains several connections per server to make HTTP requests.
+This function allows one to transparently issue requests.
-Example of connecting to `google.com`:
+Options:
- var http = require('http');
- var google = http.createClient(80, 'www.google.com');
- var request = google.request('GET', '/',
- {'host': 'www.google.com'});
- request.end();
- request.on('response', function (response) {
- console.log('STATUS: ' + response.statusCode);
- console.log('HEADERS: ' + JSON.stringify(response.headers));
- response.setEncoding('utf8');
- response.on('data', function (chunk) {
+- `host`: A domain name or IP address of the server to issue the request to.
+- `port`: Port of remote server.
+- `socketPath`: Unix Domain Socket (use one of host:port or socketPath)
+- `method`: A string specifying the HTTP request method. Possible values:
+ `'GET'` (default), `'POST'`, `'PUT'`, and `'DELETE'`.
+- `path`: Request path. Should include query string and fragments if any.
+ E.G. `'/index.html?page=12'`
+- `headers`: An object containing request headers.
+- `agent`: Controls `Agent` behavior. When an Agent is used request will default to Connection:keep-alive. Possible values:
+ - `undefined` (default): use default `Agent` for this host and port.
+ - `Agent` object: explicitly use the passed in `Agent`.
+ - `false`: opts out of connection pooling with an Agent, defaults request to Connection:close.
+
+`http.request()` returns an instance of the `http.ClientRequest`
+class. The `ClientRequest` instance is a writable stream. If one needs to
+upload a file with a POST request, then write to the `ClientRequest` object.
+
+Example:
+
+ var options = {
+ host: 'www.google.com',
+ port: 80,
+ path: '/upload',
+ method: 'POST'
+ };
+
+ var req = http.request(options, function(res) {
+ console.log('STATUS: ' + res.statusCode);
+ console.log('HEADERS: ' + JSON.stringify(res.headers));
+ res.setEncoding('utf8');
+ res.on('data', function (chunk) {
console.log('BODY: ' + chunk);
});
});
-There are a few special headers that should be noted.
+ req.on('error', function(e) {
+ console.log('problem with request: ' + e.message);
+ });
+
+ // write data to request body
+ req.write('data\n');
+ req.write('data\n');
+ req.end();
+
+Note that in the example `req.end()` was called. With `http.request()` one
+must always call `req.end()` to signify that you're done with the request -
+even if there is no data being written to the request body.
-* The 'Host' header is not added by Node, and is usually required by
- website.
+If any error is encountered during the request (be that with DNS resolution,
+TCP level errors, or actual HTTP parse errors) an `'error'` event is emitted
+on the returned request object.
+
+There are a few special headers that should be noted.
* Sending a 'Connection: keep-alive' will notify Node that the connection to
the server should be persisted until the next request.
* Sending a 'Content-length' header will disable the default chunked encoding.
-* Sending an 'Expect' header will immediately send the request headers.
+* Sending an 'Expect' header will immediately send the request headers.
Usually, when sending 'Expect: 100-continue', you should both set a timeout
and listen for the `continue` event. See RFC2616 Section 8.2.3 for more
information.
+## http.get(options, callback)
-### Event: 'upgrade'
-
-`function (request, socket, head)`
+Since most requests are GET requests without bodies, Node provides this
+convenience method. The only difference between this method and `http.request()` is
+that it sets the method to GET and calls `req.end()` automatically.
-Emitted each time a server responds to a request with an upgrade. If this event
-isn't being listened for, clients receiving an upgrade header will have their
-connections closed.
-
-See the description of the `upgrade` event for `http.Server` for further details.
-
-### Event: 'continue'
-
-`function ()`
-
-Emitted when the server sends a '100 Continue' HTTP response, usually because
-the request contained 'Expect: 100-continue'. This is an instruction that
-the client should send the request body.
-
-
-### http.createClient(port, host='localhost', secure=false, [credentials])
-
-Constructs a new HTTP client. `port` and
-`host` refer to the server to be connected to. A
-stream is not established until a request is issued.
+Example:
-`secure` is an optional boolean flag to enable https support and `credentials` is an optional credentials object from the crypto module, which may hold the client's private key, certificate, and a list of trusted CA certificates.
+ var options = {
+ host: 'www.google.com',
+ port: 80,
+ path: '/index.html'
+ };
-If the connection is secure, but no explicit CA certificates are passed in the credentials, then node.js will default to the publicly trusted list of CA certificates, as given in http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/security/nss/lib/ckfw/builtins/certdata.txt
+ http.get(options, function(res) {
+ console.log("Got response: " + res.statusCode);
+ }).on('error', function(e) {
+ console.log("Got error: " + e.message);
+ });
-### client.request(method='GET', path, [request_headers])
-Issues a request; if necessary establishes stream. Returns a `http.ClientRequest` instance.
+## http.Agent
-`method` is optional and defaults to 'GET' if omitted.
+## http.globalAgent
-`request_headers` is optional.
-Additional request headers might be added internally
-by Node. Returns a `ClientRequest` object.
+Global instance of Agent which is used as the default for all http client requests.
-Do remember to include the `Content-Length` header if you
-plan on sending a body. If you plan on streaming the body, perhaps
-set `Transfer-Encoding: chunked`.
+### agent.maxSockets
-*NOTE*: the request is not complete. This method only sends the header of
-the request. One needs to call `request.end()` to finalize the request and
-retrieve the response. (This sounds convoluted but it provides a chance for
-the user to stream a body to the server with `request.write()`.)
+By default set to 5. Determines how many concurrent sockets the agent can have open per host.
-### client.verifyPeer()
+### agent.sockets
-Returns true or false depending on the validity of the server's certificate in the context of the defined or default list of trusted CA certificates.
+An object which contains arrays of sockets currently in use by the Agent. Do not modify.
-### client.getPeerCertificate()
+### agent.requests
-Returns a JSON structure detailing the server's certificate, containing a dictionary with keys for the certificate 'subject', 'issuer', 'valid\_from' and 'valid\_to'
+An object which contains queues of requests that have not yet been assigned to sockets. Do not modify.
## http.ClientRequest
-This object is created internally and returned from the `request()` method
-of a `http.Client`. It represents an _in-progress_ request whose header has
-already been sent.
+This object is created internally and returned from `http.request()`. It
+represents an _in-progress_ request whose header has already been queued. The
+header is still mutable using the `setHeader(name, value)`, `getHeader(name)`,
+`removeHeader(name)` API. The actual header will be sent along with the first
+data chunk or when closing the connection.
To get the response, add a listener for `'response'` to the request object.
`'response'` will be emitted from the request object when the response
});
This is a `Writable Stream`.
+Note: Node does not check whether Content-Length and the length of the body
+which has been transmitted are equal or not.
This is an `EventEmitter` with the following events:
Emitted when a response is received to this request. This event is emitted only once. The
`response` argument will be an instance of `http.ClientResponse`.
+Options:
+
+- `host`: A domain name or IP address of the server to issue the request to.
+- `port`: Port of remote server.
+- `socketPath`: Unix Domain Socket (use one of host:port or socketPath)
+
+### Event: 'socket'
+
+`function (socket) { }`
+
+Emitted after a socket is assigned to this request.
+
+### Event: 'upgrade'
+
+`function (response, socket, head) { }`
+
+Emitted each time a server responds to a request with an upgrade. If this
+event isn't being listened for, clients receiving an upgrade header will have
+their connections closed.
+
+A client server pair that show you how to listen for the `upgrade` event using `http.getAgent`:
+
+ var http = require('http');
+ var net = require('net');
+
+ // Create an HTTP server
+ var srv = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
+ res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
+ res.end('okay');
+ });
+ srv.on('upgrade', function(req, socket, upgradeHead) {
+ socket.write('HTTP/1.1 101 Web Socket Protocol Handshake\r\n' +
+ 'Upgrade: WebSocket\r\n' +
+ 'Connection: Upgrade\r\n' +
+ '\r\n\r\n');
+
+ socket.ondata = function(data, start, end) {
+ socket.write(data.toString('utf8', start, end), 'utf8'); // echo back
+ };
+ });
+
+ // now that server is running
+ srv.listen(1337, '127.0.0.1', function() {
+
+ // make a request
+ var options = {
+ port: 1337,
+ host: '127.0.0.1',
+ headers: {
+ 'Connection': 'Upgrade',
+ 'Upgrade': 'websocket'
+ }
+ };
+
+ var req = http.request(options);
+ req.end();
+
+ req.on('upgrade', function(res, socket, upgradeHead) {
+ console.log('got upgraded!');
+ socket.end();
+ process.exit(0);
+ });
+ });
+
+### Event: 'continue'
+
+`function ()`
+
+Emitted when the server sends a '100 Continue' HTTP response, usually because
+the request contained 'Expect: 100-continue'. This is an instruction that
+the client should send the request body.
### request.write(chunk, encoding='utf8')
If `data` is specified, it is equivalent to calling `request.write(data, encoding)`
followed by `request.end()`.
+### request.abort()
+
+Aborts a request. (New since v0.3.8.)
+
## http.ClientResponse
-This object is created when making a request with `http.Client`. It is
+This object is created when making a request with `http.request()`. It is
passed to the `'response'` event of the request object.
The response implements the `Readable Stream` interface.
### Event: 'data'
-`function (chunk) {}`
+`function (chunk) { }`
Emitted when a piece of the message body is received.
- Example: A chunk of the body is given as the single
- argument. The transfer-encoding has been decoded. The
- body chunk a String. The body encoding is set with
- `response.setBodyEncoding()`.
### Event: 'end'
-`function () {}`
+`function () { }`
Emitted exactly once for each message. No arguments. After
emitted no other events will be emitted on the response.
+### Event: 'close'
+
+`function (err) { }`
+
+Indicates that the underlaying connection was terminated before
+`end` event was emitted.
+See [http.ServerRequest](#http.ServerRequest)'s `'close'` event for more
+information.
+
### response.statusCode
The 3-digit HTTP response status code. E.G. `404`.
### response.resume()
Resumes a paused response.
-
-### response.client
-
-A reference to the `http.Client` that this response belongs to.