What are the standard ways to return API HTTP Status Code for Warning

Question

Hi,

What are the standard ways to return HTTP status codes for validation errors?

I am doing the following pattern in my ASP.NET Web API

Success	200	OK
Data Validation Error	200	OK
Exception	500	Internal Server Error

Sachin Singh · Answer

I will use 409 that is Conflict() in that situation.

Sachin Singh · Answer

No, it is perfectly fine to use your own implementation, with Ok(result), as a developer I don't think it is not acceptable or a violation. Yes, we should try to follow the Rest principles, which say that respect the HTTP protocol means sending the appropriate status code with the response. There are many HTTP status codes like 303 that the result of a post request matches with any existing representation. 422 unprocessable entity etc. but 200 is also a status code at the end, so is fine as long as the response clearly describes the problem.

Sachin Singh · Answer

if you are using IHttpActionResult instead of HttpResponseMessage then we already have helper methods for necessary status codes as BadRequest() Conflict() Created() InternalServerError() Redirect() Unauthorized() public IHttpActionResult Get() { var empList= db.Employees.ToList(); return Ok(empList); } public IHttpActionResult Get(int id) { var employee = FetchFromDB().FirstOrDefault(e => e.Id == id); if (employee == null) { //return NotFound(); return Content(HttpStatusCode.NotFound, "employee not found"); } return Ok(employee); }

Praveen Kumar · Answer

In the case of data validation error, I want to return HTTP status code 200 (OK) with my own error description code. Following is my sample error response JSON. HttpStatusCode : 200 Response JSON { "isError" : true , "resultInfo" : { "resultCode" : "801" , "resultMessage" : "Order(s)-RNSIN000001 is already exists!!" }, "orderStatus" : null } Can I go with this pattern or It will be a violation of the API response pattern?

Praveen Kumar · Answer

Hi Sachin, I am using IHttpActionResult, in this case, what will be the appropriate status code for the data validation message. Example: Error Message: Record already exists.