How to return on client error message with status

Question

I tried to use this:

return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError, "My message");

also I tried this one:

return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError, "My message");

But I see 500 error on my browser though any message like "My message" are displayed.

Answer 1

To return a specific response code with a message from ASP.NET MVC controller use:

return new HttpStatusCodeResult(errorCode, "Message");

Make sure the method in the controller is type ActionResult, not ViewResult.

Answer 2

I have an ErrorController that help me throwing the errors and showing a nice error page, the use Response.StatusCode to return a different StatusCode

namespace Site.Controllers {

    [OutputCache(Location = OutputCacheLocation.None)]
    public class ErrorController : ApplicationController {

        public ActionResult Index() {
            ViewBag.Title = "Error";
            ViewBag.Description = "blah blah";
            return View("Error");
        }

        public ActionResult HttpError404(string ErrorDescription) {
            Response.StatusCode = 404;
            ViewBag.Title = "Page not found (404)";
            ViewBag.Description = "blah blah";
            return View("Error");
        }


        ...

    }
}

Edit For returning message-only to ajax results I use something like this in an actionFilter

        Response.StatusCode = 200;

        //Needed for IIS7.0
        Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors = true;

        return new ContentResult {
            Content = "ERROR: " + Your_message,
            ContentEncoding = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8
        };