Properties and methods of req and res onjects in node js

The easiest way to find out in JavaScript which functions, properties, ... an object has is to serialize the object to a string and print that string to the console.

Basically this is a one-liner, such as:

console.log(JSON.stringify(req));

This shows you everything the req object has.

http://nodejs.org/api/http.html

To best understand one of the modules intrinsic to nodejs, you should first read its documentation. Then, if further understanding is required, you'll want to explore the source code where it is defined. (Most of the intrinsic modules are themselves written in JavaScript.)

For example, the ServerResponse object (as typically passed into HTTP request handlers as "res") is defined on line 867 in http.js which can be found in the nodejs source code at https://github.com/joyent/node/blob/master/lib/http.js

By exploring the source, you'll be able to see what methods and properties the object supports by itself.

Then, to fully understand how a object works and discover all of its methods and properties, you'll need to follow its inheritance tree.

ServerResponse inherits from

OutgoingMessage (defined in the same file) which itself inherits from

Stream (defined in stream.js) which further inherits from

events.EventEmitter, which is of course, an

Object

So, the full list of methods and properties of ServerResponse are:

ServerResponse

  statusCode             property
  _implicitHeader()      method
  assignSocket()         method
  detachSocket()         method
  writeContinue()        method
  writeHead()            method
  writeHeader()          method

  _buffer()              (from OutputMessage) method
  _finish()              (from OutputMessage) method
  _flush()               (from OutputMessage) method
  _renderHeaders()       (from OutputMessage) method
  _send()                (from OutputMessage) method
  _storeHeader()         (from OutputMessage) method
  _writeRaw()            (from OutputMessage) method
  addTrailers()          (from OutputMessage) method
  destroy()              (from OutputMessage) method
  end                    (from OutputMessage) method
  getHeader()            (from OutputMessage) method
  removeHeader()         (from OutputMessage) method
  setHeader()            (from OutputMessage) method
  write()                (from OutputMessage) method

  pipe()                 (from Stream) method

  addListener()          (from EventEmitter) method
  emit()                 (from EventEmitter) method
  listeners()            (from EventEmitter) method
  on()                   (from EventEmitter) method
  once()                 (from EventEmitter) method
  removeAllListeners()   (from EventEmitter) method
  removeListener()       (from EventEmitter) method
  setMaxListeners()      (from EventEmitter) method

  arguments              (from Object) property
  caller                 (from Object) property
  length                 (from Object) property
  name                   (from Object) property
  prototype              (from Object) property
  super_                 (from Object) property

  __defineGetter__()     (from Object) method
  __defineSetter__()     (from Object) method
  __lookupGetter__()     (from Object) method
  __lookupSetter__()     (from Object) method
  constructor()          (from Object) method
  hasOwnProperty()       (from Object) method
  isPrototypeOf()        (from Object) method
  propertyIsEnumerable() (from Object) method
  toLocaleString()       (from Object) method
  toString()             (from Object) method
  valueOf()              (from Object) method
  apply()                (from Object) method
  bind()                 (from Object) method
  call()                 (from Object) method

By following an object's entire inheritance tree, you build an intimate understanding of how nodejs works, and appreciate what an amazing tool it is.

You can find a lot of the properties listed at any of the Node.js manual websites, such as http://nodemanual.org/latest/nodejs_dev_guide/creating_an_http_server.html