How to get a custom ModelState error message in ASP.NET Core when a wrong enum value is passed in? - asp.net-core

Question

I'm passing a model to an API action with a property called eventType which is a nullable custom enum.
If I pass a random value for eventType, such as 'h', it fails to serialise which is correct.
However, the error I get from the ModelState is not something I would want a public caller to see. It includes the line number and position (see below).
I've tried a number of options including a custom data annotation with no success.
Does anyone know how I could define a nicer custom message?
"Error converting value \"h\" to type
'System.Nullable`1[Custom.EventTypes]'. Path 'eventType', line 1,
position 80."

Answer 1

Most times the first error is usually the most important error or rather one that describes the situation properly. You can use this way to manipulate to get the first error message from the first key or change it to whatever you want if you wish to get all the error messages.
public ActionResult GetMyMoney(MyModel myModel)
{
string nss = ModelState.First().Key;
ModelError[] ern = ModelState[nss].Errors.ToArray();
string ndd = ern.First().ErrorMessage;
}

Answer 2

public class CustomFilter: IAsyncActionFilter
{
public async Task OnActionExecutionAsync(ActionExecutingContext context, ActionExecutionDelegate next)
{
if (!context.ModelState.IsValid)
{
// You can pass custom object to BadRequestObjectResult method
context.Result = new BadRequestObjectResult(customObject);
}
}
}
You can write a custom filter like above mentioned and pass a custom object with your message.
Ref: this

Answer 3

IF you just want the error messages you can simply create a custom class of response and then
var response = new ResponseApi{
StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.BadRequest,
Message = "Validation Error",
Response = ModelState.Values.SelectMany(x => x.Errors).Select(x =>
x.ErrorMessage)
};
then just return the response or create a validation filter to handle validations globally.
/// <summary>
/// Validatation filter to validate all the models.
/// </summary>
public class ValidationActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
/// <inheritdoc/>
public override void OnActionExecuting(HttpActionContext actionContext)
{
ModelStateDictionary modelState = actionContext.ModelState;
if (!modelState.IsValid)
{
actionContext.Response = SendResponse(new ResponseApi
{
StatusCode= 400,
Message = "Validation Error",
Response = modelState.Values.SelectMany(x =>
x.Errors).Select(x => x.ErrorMessage)
});
}
}
private HttpResponseMessage SendResponse(ResponseApiresponse)
{
var responseMessage = new HttpResponseMessage
{
StatusCode = (HttpStatusCode)response.StatusCode,
Content = new StringContent(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(response)),
};
responseMessage.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json");
return responseMessage;
}
}