How to return HttpProblemDetails from an ASP.NET Core 8 Minimal API when using [AsParameters]?

Question

I'm trying to create an ASP.NET Core 8 Minimal API endpoint and I'm trying to get it to return HttpProblemDetails when the query string parameters are invalid. Of course, I can implement my own validation, but I'm trying to leverage the framework for this.

Basically, if I have a query string parameter (for example an integer) and the input is not a valid integer, then I do get back a 'bad request', but without any body. This makes it difficult for the consumer to understand what exactly is wrong.

Here's a repro as a C# unit test (I'm using TestServer, but I get the same result when I use kestrel):

using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net;
using System.Reflection;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.TestHost;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
using Shouldly;

namespace TestProject1
{
    public class HttpProblemDetailsTests
    {
        [Fact]
        public async Task Should_return_problem_details_if_querystring_not_provided()
        {
            var (host, testClient) = await SetupWebApp();

            var response = await testClient.GetAsync("/problem");
            response.StatusCode.ShouldBe(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
            var text = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            
            // Fails on this line
            text.ShouldNotBeEmpty();

            await host.StopAsync();
        }
        
        [Fact]
        public async Task Returns_ok_if_querystring_provided()
        {
            var (host, testClient) = await SetupWebApp();

            var response = await testClient.GetAsync("/problem?abc=123");

            response.StatusCode.ShouldBe(HttpStatusCode.OK);
            await host.StopAsync();
        }

        private async Task<(IHost host, HttpClient testClient)> SetupWebApp()
        {
            var b = new HostBuilder()
                .ConfigureWebHost(c =>
                {
                    c.UseTestServer();
                    c.ConfigureServices(services =>
                    {
                        services.AddProblemDetails(); 
                        services.AddRouting();
                    });
                    c.Configure(app =>
                    {
                        app.UseExceptionHandler();

                        app.UseRouting();
                        app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
                        {
                            endpoints.MapGet("/problem", Problem);
                        });
                    });
                });

            var host = await b.StartAsync();

            var testClient = host.GetTestClient();
            testClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Accept", "application/json");
            return (host, testClient);
        }

        public class MyParameters
        {
            public int Abc { get; set; }
        }

        private async Task<IResult> Problem([AsParameters] MyParameters p)
        {
            return Results.Text("Hello, World!");
        }
    }
}

I have tried several other things:

Add my own IProblemDetailsWriter implementation, but it doesn't seem to hit this
Use [FromQuery] and not [AsParameters]. This produces the same result
I've followed the example here, but that also produces the exact same result: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/minimal-apis/handle-errors?view=aspnetcore-8.0#problem-details

You can configure routing middleware to throw on bad request. This will allow you to carch the exception and add a body. — beautifulcoder
– beautifulcoder, Commented Aug 22, 2024 at 15:21
@beautifulcoder, how would you do that? I don't see any options for that on the RouteOptions class, nor if I look in the EndpointMiddleware. — Erwin van der Valk
– Erwin van der Valk, Commented Aug 23, 2024 at 6:00

beautifulcoder · Accepted Answer · 2024-08-24 19:49:52Z

1

You'll need to throw on a bad request first:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.Configure<RouteHandlerOptions>(options =>
{
    options.ThrowOnBadRequest = true;
});

Then, once an exception is thrown. You should be able to wire an exception handler using middleware.

app.UseExceptionHandler("/error");

app.Map("/error", (HttpContext context) =>
{
    var exception = context.Features.Get<IExceptionHandlerFeature>()?.Error;
    if (exception is BadHttpRequestException badRequestException)
    {
        return Results.BadRequest(new ErrorResponse
        {
            Error = "Invalid Parameter",
            Details = badRequestException.Message
        });
    }

    return Results.Problem("An unexpected error occurred.");
});

The idea is to capture as much detail as you can and return a response with a body.

answered Aug 24, 2024 at 19:49

beautifulcoder

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2 Comments

Erwin van der Valk Over a year ago

Thanks. I ended up solving the handling of the error this way: ''' services.AddProblemDetails(opt => opt.CustomizeProblemDetails = context => { if (context.Exception is BadHttpRequestException ex) { context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = 400; context.ProblemDetails.Detail = ex.Message; context.ProblemDetails.Status = 400; } }); '''

Erwin van der Valk Over a year ago

but the 'ThrowOnBadRequest' was definetly the trick. Should be more prominent in the documentation.

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