Node http.ClientRequest does not fire “error” event

Question

I have the following javascript node.js code:

    var options = {
         host: "x.y.z"
        ,path: "/api/abc/"
        ,method: "GET"
    };

    var req = http.request(options);

   req.on('response' , function(data) {
      console.log("response: ",data.statusCode);
      done();
   });

   req.on('error' , function() {
      console.log("error");
      done();
   });

   req.end();

I can't get the error event when an actual HTTP request error occurs. What am I missing ?

---

Preliminary findings: It would appear that the failure case "no response from server" (eg due to network issue) does not fire any event. So, the workaround is to create a 'timer' and trap this condition by yourself.

Answer 1

Try using an if / else statement instead of two independent functions.

if(response you want && response.statusCode = 200){
   //logic
} else {
   //console.log("error")
}

Answer 2

You should create your own Timeout function inside the request. In fact, I believe that after a lot of time (maybe a minute?) the request would fail. But, if you require something more earlier, you can check this thread that asks for the same thing:

How to set a timeout on a http.request() in Node?