How to properly send an HTTP message to the client

Question

I\'m working on a RESTful web service in Java. I need a good way to send error messages to the client if something\'s wrong.

According to the Javadoc, HttpServlet

Answer 1

I don't think any RESTful client would expect to look at the reason phrase to figure out what went wrong; most RESTful services I've seen/used will send the standard status info and an expanded message in the body of the response. sendError(int, String) is ideal for that situation.