Request object properties in Node.js - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Explore Request Object Properties in Node.js

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Node.js server that listens to HTTP requests. You want to learn how to access different properties of the request object to understand what the client is sending.

🎯 Goal: Create a Node.js HTTP server that reads and logs specific properties from the request object: the HTTP method, the URL, and the headers.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a basic HTTP server using Node.js http module

Access the method property of the request object

Access the url property of the request object

Access the headers property of the request object

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web servers need to read request properties to understand what the client wants and respond correctly.

💼 Career

Knowing how to access request properties is essential for backend developers working with Node.js to build APIs and web applications.

1

Set up a basic HTTP server

Create a Node.js HTTP server using http.createServer and assign it to a variable called server. The server should have a callback function with parameters req and res. Do not add any logic inside the callback yet.

Node.js

const http = require('http');

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use http.createServer with a function that takes req and res as parameters.

2

Add a port number variable

Create a constant variable called port and set it to 3000. This will be the port your server listens on.

Node.js

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  // Request handling will be added later
});

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use const port = 3000; to define the port number.

3

Access and store request properties

Inside the server callback, create three constants: method assigned to req.method, url assigned to req.url, and headers assigned to req.headers.

Node.js

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  // Your code here
});

const port = 3000;

Need a hint?

Use const method = req.method; and similarly for url and headers.

4

Start the server listening on the port

Add a line to make the server listen on the port variable using server.listen(port).

Node.js

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
  const method = req.method;
  const url = req.url;
  const headers = req.headers;
});

const port = 3000;

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use server.listen(port); to start the server.