CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.net-web-api
NullReference
NullReference

Reputation: 4484

What's the difference between returning HttpResponseMessage and direct viewmodels from the webapi?

I've seen viewmodels returned from webapi methods in two different ways. What's the difference and which is standard?

         [HttpGet]
         public List<UserViewModel> Get()
         {
            //stuff here

             return usersViewModels;
         }


         [HttpGet]
         public HttpResponseMessage Get()
         {
             //stuff here

              return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, usersViewModels);
         }

Upvotes: 1

Views: 488

Answers (2)

Pablo Romeo
Pablo Romeo

Reputation: 11396

I personally use HttpResponseMessage whenever actual manipulation of Status Codes (error handling, and the such) or headers is necessary. If not, I return common objects. I find it more legible and easier to assert through Unit Tests.

This mostly applies when you implement error handling as a cross-cutting concern (through aspects for example) and your Controller code doesn't actually handle that manually. In that case it's safe to return other objects.

Upvotes: 1

Rafa Paez
Rafa Paez

Reputation: 4860

Basically both will return the same data, but working with the HttpResponseMessage is more flexible and provides you the opportunity to change values of the returned Http response.

For example, the first method returns the data with a fixed HttpStatusCode.OK (200) if not exception is raised. In the second method you can choose the HttpStatusCode that you want to return. Also will be able to change HTTP Headers like ContentType, ContentDisposition, etc.

Check out this concise and helpful article about this topic http://soabubblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/web-api-httpresponsemessage/

Also this one from the official asp.net website explains the different types of results that a Web API controller can return, indicating the advantages of each one http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/web-api-routing-and-actions/action-results

Upvotes: 4

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