application/api-problem

A small framework for turning exceptions into good Rest responses in MVC WebApi (.net).

It is based on the recomendations in http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-nottingham-http-problem-03

It supports responses in json:

application/api-problem+json

and xml:

application/api-problem+xml

1. Install the package from nuget:

   PM > Install-Package WebApiProblem
   

2. Register the ResponseExceptionFilterAttribute (either in ApplicationStart or wherever you register your filters)

   GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters.Add(new WebApiProblem.ResponseExceptionFilterAttribute());
   

3. Throw an exception of type BasicApiProblemException

    // GET api/values/5
   public string Get(int id)
   {
        throw new BasicApiProblemException(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest, 
   		"That was a bad request", "http://www.api-problems.com/really-bad-request");
   }
   

4. View the well understood response and be happy

   400 - Bad request
   {
   	"problemType": "http://www.api-problems.com/really-bad-request",
   	"title": "That was a bad request",
   	"detail": "Please send me BETTER requests in the future"
   }
   

To create more elaborate problem message, inherit from ApiProblemException and define a serializable model that inherits from ApiProblem for T.