CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.net-web-api
TheAnonymousModeIT
TheAnonymousModeIT

Reputation: 923

Difference between 'return object' and 'return Ok(object)'

(a)

var person = repository.GetPerson(id)
return person;

(b)

var person = repository.GetPerson(id)
return Ok(person);

According to the developer tools the result is the same and the status code is always 200. Is there a difference? If there is no difference, should I use the Ok() method or OkResult anyway?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2274

Answers (2)

Nathan
Nathan

Reputation: 6531

Another difference is caused by the two implicit conversions on ActionResult<T>.

One is from the regular ActionResult. Ok("string) is an ActionResult (more specifically an OkObjectResult). So a method that returns ActionResult<User> will allow return Ok("string").

The second implicit conversion is from T. So return new User() will also be implicitly converted to ActionResult<User>.

This means that, while Ok(object) is very useful and arguably more explicit, the compiler is more likely to surface a type error if you avoid using Ok() and stick to returning the actual object.

Upvotes: 4

Kit
Kit

Reputation: 21729

Assuming both are examples are code inside an endpoint for an HTTP GET call, they are effectively the same.

There might be a slight difference in implementation, but the net result will be the same: the payloads in either case are identical (e.g. JSON or some other representation), and the status code will be identical, 200.

It's a good practice to be explicit though, and use return Ok(person) because this is both succinct and reveals the intent more obviously than return person. You could also do return new OkObjectResult(person), which is intention revealing but not succinct. (ref: OkObjectResult).

Finally, OkResult should only be used when you don't want to return a payload. This is equivalent to return Ok().

Upvotes: 5

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