Web API Best Approach for returning HttpResponseMessage
Solution 1
Although this is not directly answering the question, I wanted to provide some information I found usefull. http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/archive/2013/11/11/new-features-in-asp-net-web-api-2-part-i.aspx
The HttpResponseMessage has been more or less replaced with IHttpActionResult. It is much cleaner an easier to use.
public IHttpActionResult Get()
{
Object obj = new Object();
if (obj == null)
return NotFound();
return Ok(obj);
}
Then you can encapsulate to create custom ones. How to set custom headers when using IHttpActionResult?
I haven't found a need yet for implementing a custom result yet but when I do, I will be going this route.
Its probably very similar to do using the old one as well.
To expand further on this and provide a bit more info. You can also include messages with some of the requests. For instance.
return BadRequest("Custom Message Here");
You can't do this with many of the other ones but helps for common messages you want to send back.
Solution 2
You can return an error response to provide more detail.
public HttpResponseMessage Get()
{
HttpError myCustomError = new HttpError("The file has no content or rows to process.") { { "CustomErrorCode", 42 } };
return Request.CreateErrorResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, myCustomError);
}
Would return:
{
"Message": "The file has no content or rows to process.",
"CustomErrorCode": 42
}
More details here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/youssefm/archive/2012/06/28/error-handling-in-asp-net-webapi.aspx
I also use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes to help me determine what http status code to return.
Solution 3
One important note: Don't put content in 204 responses! Not only is it against the HTTP specification, but .NET can actually behave in unexpected manners if you do.
I mistakenly used return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.NoContent, null);
and it led to a real headache; future requests from the same session would break due to having a "null"
string value prepended to the response. I guess .NET doesn't always do a full clear of the response object for API calls from the same session.
VAAA
Updated on July 15, 2020Comments
-
VAAA almost 4 years
I have a Web API project and right my methods always returns HttpResponseMessage.
So, if it works or fails I return:
No errors:
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK,"File was processed.");
Any error or fail
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.NoContent, "The file has no content or rows to process.");
When I return an object then I use:
return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, user);
I would like to know how can I return to my HTML5 client a better encapsulated respose, so I can return more information about the transaction, etc.
I was thinking on creating a custom class that can encapsulate the HttpResponseMessage but also have more data.
Does anyone have implemented something similar?
-
LastTribunal almost 9 yearsThanks to you, I will never use the dreaded HttpResponseMessage again
-
Don Cheadle over 6 yearsGenerally if you return a HttpActionResult with
HttpStatusCode.NoContent
, it will - surprise - return no content, even if you are passing in content like in OP's case above. Can be a surprising bug. -
Adam Baxter about 6 yearsAnd if you're using MVC Core or whatever it's called today, the type you're looking for might be called
IActionResult