.NET throw exception with JSON content type

Question

I'm working on a web API project that uses the .NET MVC 4 framework. My API is focused around returning JOSN objects, and works perfectly except for when I want to return exceptions in a JSON format.

The code I have below is what I am using to try and force a JSON return, but the response generated from this code is the default HTML content type. I'm looking for a way to return an exception using the "application/json" content type. Any suggestions?

public static void ThrowHttpException(HttpStatusCode code, string content)
{
    string message = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new { message = content });
    var resp = new HttpResponseMessage(code)
    {
        Content = new StringContent(message),
        ReasonPhrase = null
    };
    throw new HttpResponseException(resp);
}

`throw new HttpResponseException(resp);` are you catching this exception? — faby, Jul 12 '14 at 09:56
Shouldn't you be returning an [HttpStatusCodeResult](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg416534(v=vs.118).aspx) in the first place? — rene, Jul 12 '14 at 09:57
This thing doesn't look like action at all. It throws exception rather than returning ActionResult — Dima, Jul 12 '14 at 10:03
This is a function that is called when an exception is caught within an ApiController. — miken.mkndev, Jul 12 '14 at 10:07
The point of this is to be called when an exception is thrown. — miken.mkndev, Jul 12 '14 at 10:10
Have you looked at this thread: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10732644/best-practice-to-return-errors-in-asp-net-web-api? — PermaFrost, Jul 12 '14 at 11:11

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 12 '14 at 20:21

You should probably create action like this:

public IHttpActionResult ThrowHttpException(HttpStatusCode code, string content)
{
    string message = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new { message = content });
    var resp = new HttpResponseMessage(code)
    {
        Content = new StringContent(message),
        ReasonPhrase = null
    };
    return resp;
}

Instead of throwin an exception you should return from the action the response object.

.NET throw exception with JSON content type

1 Answers1