APIs - Controller-based APIs - Handle errors

Developer Exception Page

Running in the Development environment.
The app was created with the current templates, that is, by using WebApplication.CreateBuilder.

Warning Don't enable the Developer Exception Page unless the app is running in the Development environment. Don't share detailed exception information publicly when the app runs in production. For more information on configuring environments, see Use multiple environments in ASP.NET Core.

Stack trace
Query string parameters, if any
Cookies, if any
Headers
Endpoint metadata, if any

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Status: 500 Internal Server Error
Time: 9.39 msSize: 480 bytes
FormattedRawHeadersRequest
Body
text/plain; charset=utf-8, 480 bytes
System.InvalidOperationException: Sample Exception
   at WebApplicationMinimal.Program.<>c.<Main>b__0_0() in C:\Source\WebApplicationMinimal\Program.cs:line 12
   at lambda_method1(Closure, Object, HttpContext)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Diagnostics.DeveloperExceptionPageMiddlewareImpl.Invoke(HttpContext context)

HEADERS
=======
Accept: text/plain
Host: localhost:7267
traceparent: 00-0eab195ea19d07b90a46cd7d6bf2f

Add the following controller action to a controller-based API. The action throws an exception when the endpoint is requested.

[HttpGet("Throw")]
public IActionResult Throw() =>
    throw new Exception("Sample exception.");

Run the app in the development environment.
Go to the endpoint defined by the controller action.

Exception handler

In Program.cs, call UseExceptionHandler to add the Exception Handling Middleware:

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/error");
}

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

Configure a controller action to respond to the /error route:

[Route("/error")]
public IActionResult HandleError() =>
    Problem();

Warning Don't mark the error handler action method with HTTP method attributes, such as HttpGet. Explicit verbs prevent some requests from reaching the action method. For web APIs that use Swagger / OpenAPI, mark the error handler action with the [ApiExplorerSettings] attribute and set its IgnoreApi property to true. This attribute configuration excludes the error handler action from the app's OpenAPI specification:

Allow anonymous access to the method if unauthenticated users should see the error.

[ApiExplorerSettings(IgnoreApi = true)]

In Program.cs, register environment-specific Exception Handling Middleware instances: In the preceding code, the middleware is registered with:

if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/error-development");
}
else
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/error");
}

A route of /error-development in the Development environment.
A route of /error in non-Development environments.
Add controller actions for both the Development and non-Development routes:

[Route("/error-development")]
public IActionResult HandleErrorDevelopment(
    [FromServices] IHostEnvironment hostEnvironment)
{
    if (!hostEnvironment.IsDevelopment())
    {
        return NotFound();
    }

    var exceptionHandlerFeature =
        HttpContext.Features.Get<IExceptionHandlerFeature>()!;

    return Problem(
        detail: exceptionHandlerFeature.Error.StackTrace,
        title: exceptionHandlerFeature.Error.Message);
}

[Route("/error")]
public IActionResult HandleError() =>
    Problem();

Use exceptions to modify the response

Create a well-known exception type named HttpResponseException:

public class HttpResponseException : Exception
{
    public HttpResponseException(int statusCode, object? value = null) =>
        (StatusCode, Value) = (statusCode, value);

    public int StatusCode { get; }

    public object? Value { get; }
}

Create an action filter named HttpResponseExceptionFilter: The preceding filter specifies an Order of the maximum integer value minus 10. This Order allows other filters to run at the end of the pipeline.

public class HttpResponseExceptionFilter : IActionFilter, IOrderedFilter
{
    public int Order => int.MaxValue - 10;

    public void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context) { }

    public void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext context)
    {
        if (context.Exception is HttpResponseException httpResponseException)
        {
            context.Result = new ObjectResult(httpResponseException.Value)
            {
                StatusCode = httpResponseException.StatusCode
            };

            context.ExceptionHandled = true;
        }
    }
}

In Program.cs, add the action filter to the filters collection:

builder.Services.AddControllers(options =>
{
    options.Filters.Add<HttpResponseExceptionFilter>();
});

Validation failure error response

builder.Services.AddControllers()
    .ConfigureApiBehaviorOptions(options =>
    {
        options.InvalidModelStateResponseFactory = context =>
            new BadRequestObjectResult(context.ModelState)
            {
                ContentTypes =
                {
                    // using static System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames;
                    Application.Json,
                    Application.Xml
                }
            };
    })
    .AddXmlSerializerFormatters();

Client error response

Use the problem details service
Implement ProblemDetailsFactory
Use ApiBehaviorOptions.ClientErrorMapping

Default problem details response

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

[Route("api/[controller]/[action]")]
[ApiController]
public class Values2Controller : ControllerBase
{
    // /api/values2/divide/1/2
    [HttpGet("{Numerator}/{Denominator}")]
    public IActionResult Divide(double Numerator, double Denominator)
    {
        if (Denominator == 0)
        {
            return BadRequest();
        }

        return Ok(Numerator / Denominator);
    }

    // /api/values2 /squareroot/4
    [HttpGet("{radicand}")]
    public IActionResult Squareroot(double radicand)
    {
        if (radicand < 0)
        {
            return BadRequest();
        }

        return Ok(Math.Sqrt(radicand));
    }
}

The /api/values2/divide endpoint is called with a zero denominator.
The /api/values2/squareroot endpoint is called with a radicand less than zero.

{
  "type": "https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.5.1",
  "title": "Bad Request",
  "status": 400,
  "traceId": "00-84c1fd4063c38d9f3900d06e56542d48-85d1d4-00"
}

Problem details service

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers();
builder.Services.AddProblemDetails();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseExceptionHandler();
app.UseStatusCodePages();

if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
}

app.MapControllers();
app.Run();

[Route("api/[controller]/[action]")]
[ApiController]
public class Values2Controller : ControllerBase
{
    // /api/values2/divide/1/2
    [HttpGet("{Numerator}/{Denominator}")]
    public IActionResult Divide(double Numerator, double Denominator)
    {
        if (Denominator == 0)
        {
            return BadRequest();
        }

        return Ok(Numerator / Denominator);
    }

    // /api/values2 /squareroot/4
    [HttpGet("{radicand}")]
    public IActionResult Squareroot(double radicand)
    {
        if (radicand < 0)
        {
            return BadRequest();
        }

        return Ok(Math.Sqrt(radicand));
    }
}

An invalid input is supplied.
The URI has no matching endpoint.
An unhandled exception occurs.

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers()
    .ConfigureApiBehaviorOptions(options =>
    {
        options.SuppressMapClientErrors = true;
    });

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

Customize problem details with `CustomizeProblemDetails`

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers();

builder.Services.AddProblemDetails(options =>
        options.CustomizeProblemDetails = (context) =>
        {

            var mathErrorFeature = context.HttpContext.Features
                                                       .Get<MathErrorFeature>();
            if (mathErrorFeature is not null)
            {
                (string Detail, string Type) details = mathErrorFeature.MathError switch
                {
                    MathErrorType.DivisionByZeroError =>
                    ("Divison by zero is not defined.",
                                          "https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_by_zero"),
                    _ => ("Negative or complex numbers are not valid input.",
                                          "https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_root")
                };

                context.ProblemDetails.Type = details.Type;
                context.ProblemDetails.Title = "Bad Input";
                context.ProblemDetails.Detail = details.Detail;
            }
        }
    );

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

app.UseStatusCodePages();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllers();

app.Run();

[Route("api/[controller]/[action]")]
[ApiController]
public class ValuesController : ControllerBase
{
    // /api/values/divide/1/2
    [HttpGet("{Numerator}/{Denominator}")]
    public IActionResult Divide(double Numerator, double Denominator)
    {
        if (Denominator == 0)
        {
            var errorType = new MathErrorFeature
            {
                MathError = MathErrorType.DivisionByZeroError
            };
            HttpContext.Features.Set(errorType);
            return BadRequest();
        }

        return Ok(Numerator / Denominator);
    }

    // /api/values/squareroot/4
    [HttpGet("{radicand}")]
    public IActionResult Squareroot(double radicand)
    {
        if (radicand < 0)
        {
            var errorType = new MathErrorFeature
            {
                MathError = MathErrorType.NegativeRadicandError
            };
            HttpContext.Features.Set(errorType);
            return BadRequest();
        }

        return Ok(Math.Sqrt(radicand));
    }

}

// Custom Http Request Feature
class MathErrorFeature
{
    public MathErrorType MathError { get; set; }
}

// Custom math errors
enum MathErrorType
{
    DivisionByZeroError,
    NegativeRadicandError
}

The /divide endpoint is called with a zero denominator.
The /squareroot endpoint is called with a radicand less than zero.
The URI has no matching endpoint.

{
  "type": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_root",
  "title": "Bad Input",
  "status": 400,
  "detail": "Negative or complex numbers are not allowed."
}

Implement `ProblemDetailsFactory`

Client error responses
Validation failure error responses
ControllerBase.Problem and ControllerBase.ValidationProblem

builder.Services.AddControllers();
builder.Services.AddTransient<ProblemDetailsFactory, SampleProblemDetailsFactory>();

Use `ApiBehaviorOptions.ClientErrorMapping`

builder.Services.AddControllers()
    .ConfigureApiBehaviorOptions(options =>
    {
        options.ClientErrorMapping[StatusCodes.Status404NotFound].Link =
            "https://httpstatuses.com/404";
    });

Additional resources

How to Use ModelState Validation in ASP.NET Core Web API
View or download sample code
Hellang.Middleware.ProblemDetails

Ref: Handle errors in ASP.NET Core controller-based web APIs

Tags: Summary AspNetCore

APIs - Controller-based APIs - Handle errors

In this article

Developer Exception Page

Exception handler

Use exceptions to modify the response

Validation failure error response

Client error response

Default problem details response

Problem details service

Customize problem details with CustomizeProblemDetails

Implement ProblemDetailsFactory

Use ApiBehaviorOptions.ClientErrorMapping

Additional resources

Customize problem details with `CustomizeProblemDetails`

Implement `ProblemDetailsFactory`

Use `ApiBehaviorOptions.ClientErrorMapping`