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JavaScript Build a Simple Dynamic Site with Node.js Creating a Simple Server in Node.js Creating a Simple Server

Brendan Moran
Brendan Moran
14,052 Points
Posted by Brendan Moran
Brendan Moran
14,052 Points

Is response.writeHead necessary?

In the most recent documentation, it seems like response.writeHead might not be necessary in all cases.

Can someone-who-knows-more-about-this-than-me help me to understand when the explicit "writeHead" method would be necessary, and when we can let Node calculate the response head on its own (implicit)? Is it best practice to define the response head explicitly?

Andrew Chalkley, what do you think?

1 Answer

Seth Kroger
Seth Kroger
56,414 Points
Seth Kroger
Seth Kroger
56,414 Points

We're changing the default for content type from text/html to text/plain, so in this case we do need to use it or response.setHeader() to change it.

Brendan Moran
Brendan Moran
14,052 Points
Brendan Moran
Brendan Moran
14,052 Points

That's good to know! Thank you. Any tips for where to read more about this?

Brendan Moran
Brendan Moran
14,052 Points
Brendan Moran
Brendan Moran
14,052 Points

Oops, wait a minute. Now, I've made this server natively on my machine, no setHeader() method used, and it has the same behavior as Andrew's code which explicitly changes to text/plain. It seems node is implicitly changing to text/plain behind the scenes as I give it plain text and not html. What do you think? Try copying this script into your text editor, save a .js file, and run it in terminal. It works!

const HTTP = require("http");
const HOSTNAME = '127.0.0.1';
const PORT = 8080;

function requestHandler (request, response) {
  response.write("The end is nigh\n");
  response.end(`It works! Path hit: ${request.url}`);
}

var server = HTTP.createServer(requestHandler);
server.listen(PORT, HOSTNAME, () => console.log(`Server listening on: http://localhost: ${PORT}`));