POST an invalid object: What HTTP STATUS Code do I have to return?

Question

I'm developing a REST service using WCF and I don't know which type of HTTP Status Code do I have to return when I POST an invalid Message. Note: A message here is like a chat message (a text and some data).

This is how I have implemented the WCF Service:

IServiceContract:

[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "POST",
    UriTemplate = "/messages",
    RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json,
    ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json,
    BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare)]
Message AddMessage(Message message);

Service Implementation:

public Message AddMessage(Message message)
{
    OutgoingWebResponseContext ctx =
        WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse;

    if (message == null)
    {
        ctx.StatusCode = System.Net.HttpStatusCode.RequestedRangeNotSatisfiable;
        ctx.StatusDescription = "message parameter is null";

        throw new ArgumentNullException("message", "AddMessage: message parameter is null");
    }

    using (var context = new AdnLineContext())
    {
        context.Entry(message).State = EntityState.Added;
        context.SaveChanges();
    }

    return message;
}

Now I use RequestedRangeNotSatisfiable (HTTP 416). But I don't know if this is the HTTP Status code to return when I POST an invalid Message.

What kind of HTTP Status code do I have to return when I POST an invalid object?

It pretty much comes down to the interpretation of "invalid". See the Client error 4xx section of the HTTP/1.1 RFC for a few options. — CodeCaster
– CodeCaster, Commented Aug 7, 2013 at 9:36

Joffrey Kern · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-07 09:24:12Z

3

Generally, you will use 4xx HTTP Status Code when you can manage an exception. Otherwise, you will generate a 5xx HTTP Status Code.

For your example, you can use the 400 Bad Request HTTP Status code.

10.4.1 400 Bad Request
The request could not be understood by the server due to malformed syntax. The client SHOULD NOT repeat the request without modifications.

From W3C

edited Aug 7, 2013 at 9:24

answered Aug 7, 2013 at 9:19

Joffrey Kern

6,4993 gold badges27 silver badges25 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2021-10-07 13:21:02Z

0

From RFC7231 ( https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7231#section-6.5.1 ):

6.5.1. 400 Bad Request

The 400 (Bad Request) status code indicates that the server cannot or will not process the request due to something that is perceived to be a client error (e.g., malformed request syntax, invalid request message framing, or deceptive request routing).

edited Oct 7, 2021 at 13:21

CommunityBot

11 silver badge

answered Feb 13, 2017 at 9:18

Witold Kaczurba

10.6k3 gold badges66 silver badges70 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

POST an invalid object: What HTTP STATUS Code do I have to return?

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related