How can I return a custom HTTP status code from a WCF REST method?

Question

If something goes wrong in a WCF REST call, such as the requested resource is not found, how can I play with the HTTP response code (setting it to something like HTTP 404, for example) in my OperationContract method?

Solution 1

There is a WebOperationContext that you can access and it has a OutgoingResponse property of type OutgoingWebResponseContext which has a StatusCode property that can be set.

WebOperationContext ctx = WebOperationContext.Current;
ctx.OutgoingResponse.StatusCode = System.Net.HttpStatusCode.OK;

Solution 2

If you need to return a reason body then have a look at WebFaultException

For example

throw new WebFaultException<string>("Bar wasn't Foo'd", HttpStatusCode.BadRequest );

Solution 3

For 404 there is a built in method on the WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse called SetStatusAsNotFound(string message) that will set the status code to 404 and a status description with one call.

Note there is also, SetStatusAsCreated(Uri location) that will set the status code to 201 and location header with one call.

Solution 4

You can also return a statuscode and reason body with WebOperationContext's StatusCode and StatusDescription:

WebOperationContext context = WebOperationContext.Current;
context.OutgoingResponse.StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.OK;
context.OutgoingResponse.StatusDescription = "Your Message";

Solution 5

If you wish to see the status description in the header, REST method should make sure to return null from the Catch() section as below:

catch (ArgumentException ex)
{
    WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse.StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
    WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse.StatusDescription = ex.Message;
    return null;
}

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