Best practice to return errors in ASP.NET Web API

Question

I have concerns on the way that we returns errors to client.

Do we return error immediately by throwing HttpResponseException when we get an error:

public void Post(Customer customer)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(customer.Name))
    {
        throw new HttpResponseException("Customer Name cannot be empty", HttpStatusCode.BadRequest) 
    }
    if (customer.Accounts.Count == 0)
    {
         throw new HttpResponseException("Customer does not have any account", HttpStatusCode.BadRequest) 
    }
}

Or we accumulate all errors then send back to client:

public void Post(Customer customer)
{
    List<string> errors = new List<string>();
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(customer.Name))
    {
        errors.Add("Customer Name cannot be empty"); 
    }
    if (customer.Accounts.Count == 0)
    {
         errors.Add("Customer does not have any account"); 
    }
    var responseMessage = new HttpResponseMessage<List<string>>(errors, HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
    throw new HttpResponseException(responseMessage);
}

This is just a sample code, it does not matter either validation errors or server error, I just would like to know the best practice, the pros and cons of each approach.

Answer 1

Just to update on the current state of ASP.NET WebAPI. The interface is now called IActionResult and implementation hasn't changed much:

[JsonObject(IsReference = true)]
public class DuplicateEntityException : IActionResult
{        
    public DuplicateEntityException(object duplicateEntity, object entityId)
    {
        this.EntityType = duplicateEntity.GetType().Name;
        this.EntityId = entityId;
    }

    /// <summary>
    ///     Id of the duplicate (new) entity
    /// </summary>
    public object EntityId { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    ///     Type of the duplicate (new) entity
    /// </summary>
    public string EntityType { get; set; }

    public Task ExecuteResultAsync(ActionContext context)
    {
        var message = new StringContent($"{this.EntityType ?? "Entity"} with id {this.EntityId ?? "(no id)"} already exist in the database");

        var response = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.Ambiguous) { Content = message };

        return Task.FromResult(response);
    }

    #endregion
}

Answer 2

For those errors where modelstate.isvalid is false, I generally send the error as it is thrown by the code. Its easy to understand for the developer who is consuming my service. I generally send the result using below code.

     if(!ModelState.IsValid) {
                List<string> errorlist=new List<string>();
                foreach (var value in ModelState.Values)
                {
                    foreach(var error in value.Errors)
                    errorlist.Add( error.Exception.ToString());
                    //errorlist.Add(value.Errors);
                }
                HttpResponseMessage response = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest,errorlist);}

This sends the error to the client in below format which is basically a list of errors:

    [  
    "Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException: **Could not convert string to integer: abc. Path 'Country',** line 6, position 16.\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReader.ReadAsInt32Internal()\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonTextReader.ReadAsInt32()\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ReadForType(JsonReader reader, JsonContract contract, Boolean hasConverter, Boolean inArray)\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.PopulateObject(Object newObject, JsonReader reader, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, String id)",

       "Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException: **Could not convert string to integer: ab. Path 'State'**, line 7, position 13.\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReader.ReadAsInt32Internal()\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonTextReader.ReadAsInt32()\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ReadForType(JsonReader reader, JsonContract contract, Boolean hasConverter, Boolean inArray)\r\n   
at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.PopulateObject(Object newObject, JsonReader reader, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, String id)"
    ]

Answer 3

ASP.NET Web API 2 really simplified it. For example, the following code:

public HttpResponseMessage GetProduct(int id)
{
    Product item = repository.Get(id);
    if (item == null)
    {
        var message = string.Format("Product with id = {0} not found", id);
        HttpError err = new HttpError(message);
        return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.NotFound, err);
    }
    else
    {
        return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, item);
    }
}

returns the following content to the browser when the item is not found:

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2012 23:27:18 GMT
Content-Length: 51

{
  "Message": "Product with id = 12 not found"
}

Suggestion: Don't throw HTTP Error 500 unless there is a catastrophic error (for example, WCF Fault Exception). Pick an appropriate HTTP status code that represents the state of your data. (See the apigee link below.)

Links:

• Exception Handling in ASP.NET Web API (asp.net) and
• RESTful API Design: what about errors? (apigee.com)

Answer 4

Building up upon Manish Jain's answer (which is meant for Web API 2 which simplifies things):

1) Use validation structures to response as many validation errors as possible. These structures can also be used to response to requests coming from forms.

public class FieldError
{
    public String FieldName { get; set; }
    public String FieldMessage { get; set; }
}

// a result will be able to inform API client about some general error/information and details information (related to invalid parameter values etc.)
public class ValidationResult<T>
{
    public bool IsError { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// validation message. It is used as a success message if IsError is false, otherwise it is an error message
    /// </summary>
    public string Message { get; set; } = string.Empty;

    public List<FieldError> FieldErrors { get; set; } = new List<FieldError>();

    public T Payload { get; set; }

    public void AddFieldError(string fieldName, string fieldMessage)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fieldName))
            throw new ArgumentException("Empty field name");

        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fieldMessage))
            throw new ArgumentException("Empty field message");

        // appending error to existing one, if field already contains a message
        var existingFieldError = FieldErrors.FirstOrDefault(e => e.FieldName.Equals(fieldName));
        if (existingFieldError == null)
            FieldErrors.Add(new FieldError {FieldName = fieldName, FieldMessage = fieldMessage});
        else
            existingFieldError.FieldMessage = $"{existingFieldError.FieldMessage}. {fieldMessage}";

        IsError = true;
    }

    public void AddEmptyFieldError(string fieldName, string contextInfo = null)
    {
        AddFieldError(fieldName, $"No value provided for field. Context info: {contextInfo}");
    }
}

public class ValidationResult : ValidationResult<object>
{

}

2) Service layer will return ValidationResults, regardless of operation being successful or not. E.g:

    public ValidationResult DoSomeAction(RequestFilters filters)
    {
        var ret = new ValidationResult();

        if (filters.SomeProp1 == null) ret.AddEmptyFieldError(nameof(filters.SomeProp1));
        if (filters.SomeOtherProp2 == null) ret.AddFieldError(nameof(filters.SomeOtherProp2 ), $"Failed to parse {filters.SomeOtherProp2} into integer list");

        if (filters.MinProp == null) ret.AddEmptyFieldError(nameof(filters.MinProp));
        if (filters.MaxProp == null) ret.AddEmptyFieldError(nameof(filters.MaxProp));


        // validation affecting multiple input parameters
        if (filters.MinProp > filters.MaxProp)
        {
            ret.AddFieldError(nameof(filters.MinProp, "Min prop cannot be greater than max prop"));
            ret.AddFieldError(nameof(filters.MaxProp, "Check"));
        }

        // also specify a global error message, if we have at least one error
        if (ret.IsError)
        {
            ret.Message = "Failed to perform DoSomeAction";
            return ret;
        }

        ret.Message = "Successfully performed DoSomeAction";
        return ret;
    }

3) API Controller will construct the response based on service function result

One option is to put virtually all parameters as optional and perform custom validation which return a more meaningful response. Also, I am taking care not to allow any exception to go beyond the service boundary.

    [Route("DoSomeAction")]
    [HttpPost]
    public HttpResponseMessage DoSomeAction(int? someProp1 = null, string someOtherProp2 = null, int? minProp = null, int? maxProp = null)
    {
        try
        {
            var filters = new RequestFilters 
            {
                SomeProp1 = someProp1 ,
                SomeOtherProp2 = someOtherProp2.TrySplitIntegerList() ,
                MinProp = minProp, 
                MaxProp = maxProp
            };

            var result = theService.DoSomeAction(filters);
            return !result.IsError ? Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, result) : Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, result);
        }
        catch (Exception exc)
        {
            Logger.Log(LogLevel.Error, exc, "Failed to DoSomeAction");
            return Request.CreateErrorResponse(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError, new HttpError("Failed to DoSomeAction - internal error"));
        }
    }

Answer 5

you can use custom ActionFilter in Web Api to validate model

public class DRFValidationFilters : ActionFilterAttribute
{

    public override void OnActionExecuting(HttpActionContext actionContext)
    {
        if (!actionContext.ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            actionContext.Response = actionContext.Request
                 .CreateErrorResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, actionContext.ModelState);

            //BadRequest(actionContext.ModelState);
        }
    }
    public override Task OnActionExecutingAsync(HttpActionContext actionContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {

        return Task.Factory.StartNew(() => {

            if (!actionContext.ModelState.IsValid)
            {
                actionContext.Response = actionContext.Request
                     .CreateErrorResponse(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, actionContext.ModelState);                    
            }
        });

    }

public class AspirantModel
{
    public int AspirantId { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string MiddleName { get; set; }        
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public string AspirantType { get; set; }       
    [RegularExpression(@"^\(?([0-9]{3})\)?[-. ]?([0-9]{3})[-. ]?([0-9]{4})$", ErrorMessage = "Not a valid Phone number")]
    public string MobileNumber { get; set; }
    public int StateId { get; set; }
    public int CityId { get; set; }
    public int CenterId { get; set; }

}

    [HttpPost]
    [Route("AspirantCreate")]
    [DRFValidationFilters]
    public IHttpActionResult Create(AspirantModel aspirant)
    {
            if (aspirant != null)
            {

            }
            else
            {
                return Conflict();
            }
          return Ok();

}

Register CustomAttribute class in webApiConfig.cs config.Filters.Add(new DRFValidationFilters());