What is the best possible way to send custom error responses in .net core web api - asp.net-core

Question

I'm making a .net Core WebApi using .Net Core 2.2. The API is ready but the failure message and response is where I'm stuck at.
Right now, I'm getting respose like below
json
{
"empId":1999,
"empName":"Conroy, Deborah",
"enrollmentStatus":true,
"primaryFingerprintScore":65,
"secondaryFingerprintScore":60,
"primaryFingerprint":null,
"secondaryFingerprint":null,
"primaryFingerprintType":null,
"secondaryFingerprintType":null}
}
I created a json formatter class and wrote the below code
public class SuperJsonOutputFormatter : JsonOutputFormatter
{
public SuperJsonOutputFormatter(
JsonSerializerSettings serializerSettings,
ArrayPool<char> charPool) : base(serializerSettings, charPool)
{
}
public override async Task WriteResponseBodyAsync(
OutputFormatterWriteContext context,
Encoding selectedEncoding)
{
if (context == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(context));
if (selectedEncoding == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(selectedEncoding));
using (TextWriter writer =
context.WriterFactory(
context.HttpContext.Response.Body,
selectedEncoding))
{
var rewrittenValue = new
{
resultCode = context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode,
resultMessage =
((HttpStatusCode)context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode)
.ToString(),
result = context.Object
};
this.WriteObject(writer, rewrittenValue);
await writer.FlushAsync();
}
}
I expect all the error codes to be sent as generic error messages like the JSON below.
FOR STATUS OKAY:
{
"status" : True,
"error" : null,
"data" : {
{
"empId":1999,
"empName":"Conroy, Deborah",
"enrollmentStatus":true,
"primaryFingerprintScore":65,
"secondaryFingerprintScore":60,
"primaryFingerprint":null,
"secondaryFingerprint":null,
"primaryFingerprintType":null,
"secondaryFingerprintType":null}
}
}
}
FOR OTHER STATUS LIKE 404, 500, 400, 204
{
"status" : False,
"error" : {
"error code" : 404,
"error description" : Not Found
},
"data" : null
}

Answer 1

I expect all the error codes to be sent as generic error messages like the JSON below
You're almost there. What you need to do is enabling your SuperJsonOutputFormatter.
A Little Change to Your Formatter
Firstly, your formatter didn't return a json with the same schema as you want. So I create a dummy class to hold the information for error code and error description:
public class ErrorDescription{
public ErrorDescription(HttpStatusCode statusCode)
{
this.Code = (int)statusCode;
this.Description = statusCode.ToString();
}
[JsonProperty("error code")]
public int Code {get;set;}
[JsonProperty("error description")]
public string Description {get;set;}
}
And change your WriteResponseBodyAsync() method as below:
...
using (TextWriter writer = context.WriterFactory(context.HttpContext.Response.Body, selectedEncoding)) {
var statusCode = context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode;
var rewrittenValue = new {
status = IsSucceeded(statusCode),
error = IsSucceeded(statusCode) ? null : new ErrorDescription((HttpStatusCode)statusCode),
data = context.Object,
};
this.WriteObject(writer, rewrittenValue);
await writer.FlushAsync();
}
Here the IsSucceeded(statusCode) is a simple helper method that you can custom as you need:
private bool IsSucceeded(int statusCode){
// I don't think 204 indicates that's an error.
// However, you could comment out it if you like
if(statusCode >= 400 /* || statusCode==204 */ ) { return false; }
return true;
}
Enable your Formatter
Secondly, to enable your custom Formatter, you have two approaches: One way is to register it as an global Formatter, the other way is to enable it for particular Controller or Action. Personally, I believe the 2nd way is better. So I create a Action Filter to enable your formatter.
Here's an implementation of the Filter that enables your custom formatter dynamically:
public class SuperJsonOutputFormatterFilter : IAsyncActionFilter{
private readonly SuperJsonOutputFormatter _formatter;
// inject your SuperJsonOutputFormatter service
public SuperJsonOutputFormatterFilter(SuperJsonOutputFormatter formatter){
this._formatter = formatter;
}
// a helper method that provides an ObjectResult wrapper over the raw object
private ObjectResult WrapObjectResult(ActionExecutedContext context, object obj){
var wrapper = new ObjectResult(obj);
wrapper.Formatters.Add(this._formatter);
context.Result= wrapper;
return wrapper;
}
public async Task OnActionExecutionAsync(ActionExecutingContext context, ActionExecutionDelegate next)
{
ActionExecutedContext resultContext = await next();
// in case we get a 500
if(resultContext.Exception != null && ! resultContext.ExceptionHandled){
var ewrapper = this.WrapObjectResult(resultContext, new {});
ewrapper.StatusCode = (int) HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
resultContext.ExceptionHandled = true;
return;
}
else {
switch(resultContext.Result){
case BadRequestObjectResult b : // 400 with an object
var bwrapper=this.WrapObjectResult(resultContext,b.Value);
bwrapper.StatusCode = b.StatusCode;
break;
case NotFoundObjectResult n : // 404 with an object
var nwrapper=this.WrapObjectResult(resultContext,n.Value);
nwrapper.StatusCode = n.StatusCode;
break;
case ObjectResult o : // plain object
this.WrapObjectResult(resultContext,o.Value);
break;
case JsonResult j : // plain json
this.WrapObjectResult(resultContext,j.Value);
break;
case StatusCodeResult s: // other statusCodeResult(including NotFound,NoContent,...), you might want to custom this case
var swrapper = this.WrapObjectResult(resultContext, new {});
swrapper.StatusCode = s.StatusCode;
break;
}
}
}
}
And don't forget to register your formatter as a service :
services.AddScoped<SuperJsonOutputFormatter>();
Finally, when you want to enable your formatter, just add a [TypeFilter(typeof(SuperJsonOutputFormatterFilter))] annotation for the controller or action.
Demo
Let's create an action method for Test:
[TypeFilter(typeof(SuperJsonOutputFormatterFilter))]
public IActionResult Test(int status)
{
// test json result(200)
if(status == 200){ return Json(new { Id = 1, }); }
// test 400 object result
else if(status == 400){ return BadRequest( new {}); }
// test 404 object result
else if(status == 404){ return NotFound(new { Id = 1, }); }
// test exception
else if(status == 500){ throw new Exception("unexpected exception"); }
// test status code result
else if(status == 204){ return new StatusCodeResult(204); }
// test normal object result(200)
var raw = new ObjectResult(new XModel{
empId=1999,
empName = "Conroy, Deborah",
enrollmentStatus=true,
primaryFingerprintScore=65,
secondaryFingerprintScore=60,
primaryFingerprint = null,
secondaryFingerprint= null,
primaryFingerprintType=null,
secondaryFingerprintType=null
});
return raw;
}
Screenshot: