Serving non-standard HTTP method with ExpressJS

Question

I would like to write an HTTP server that answer to request using a non-standard HTTP method (verb). For instance, the client would make a request like FOO / HTTP/.1.1

Answer 1

Short answer: No, it's not possible. Not without implementing your own HTTP module.

To test, start a barebones HTTP server ...

$ node
> require('http').createServer(function(req, res) {
...   console.log(req.method);
...   res.end();
... }).listen(8080);

Then (as you've already done) telnet to it and issue a GET and FOO request ...

$ telnet localhost 8080
Trying ::1...
telnet: connect to address ::1: Connection refused
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
GET / HTTP/1.1

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: keep-alive
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

0

FOO / HTTP/1.1
Connection closed by foreign host.

$ 

In node console you'll see

GET

... but no FOO. So, node's native HTTP module, which Express uses, does not make these requests available.