C# – Web API Best Approach for returning HttpResponseMessage

asp.net-mvcasp.net-web-apichttpresponsejson

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?

Best Answer

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.

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Asp.net-mvc – Returning binary file from controller in ASP.NET Web API

Try using a simple HttpResponseMessage with its Content property set to a StreamContent:

// using System.IO;
// using System.Net.Http;
// using System.Net.Http.Headers;

public HttpResponseMessage Post(string version, string environment,
    string filetype)
{
    var path = @"C:\Temp\test.exe";
    HttpResponseMessage result = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK);
    var stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
    result.Content = new StreamContent(stream);
    result.Content.Headers.ContentType = 
        new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream");
    return result;
}

A few things to note about the stream used:

You must not call stream.Dispose(), since Web API still needs to be able to access it when it processes the controller method's result to send data back to the client. Therefore, do not use a using (var stream = …) block. Web API will dispose the stream for you.
Make sure that the stream has its current position set to 0 (i.e. the beginning of the stream's data). In the above example, this is a given since you've only just opened the file. However, in other scenarios (such as when you first write some binary data to a MemoryStream), make sure to stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin); or set stream.Position = 0;
With file streams, explicitly specifying FileAccess.Read permission can help prevent access rights issues on web servers; IIS application pool accounts are often given only read / list / execute access rights to the wwwroot.

Best Answer

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