How to report error to $.ajax without throwing exception in MVC controller?

Question

I have a controller, and a method as defined...

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult UpdateUser(UserInformation model){

   // Instead of throwing exception
   thr         


        

Answer 1

This is a class I wrote the sends exceptions back to ajax requests as JSON

public class FormatExceptionAttribute : HandleErrorAttribute
    {
        public override void OnException(ExceptionContext filterContext)
        {
            if (filterContext.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.IsAjaxRequest())
            {
                filterContext.Result = new JsonResult()
                                        {
                                            ContentType = "application/json",
                                            Data = new
                                                    {
                                                        name = filterContext.Exception.GetType().Name,
                                                        message = filterContext.Exception.Message,
                                                        callstack = filterContext.Exception.StackTrace
                                                    },
                                            JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet
                                        };

                filterContext.ExceptionHandled = true;
                filterContext.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = 500;
                filterContext.HttpContext.Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors = true; 
            }
            else
            {
                base.OnException(filterContext);
            }
        }
    }

It gets registered with MVC in your application's Global.asax.cs file like so:

GlobalFilters.Filters.Add(new FormatExceptionAttribute());

Answer 2

Best way I have found is as follows:

// Return error status and custom message as 'errorThrown' parameter of ajax request
return new HttpStatusCodeResult(400, "Ajax error test");

Answer 3

I use this Particular class for Ajax errors

public class HttpStatusCodeResultWithJson : JsonResult
{
    private int _statusCode;
    private string _description;
    public HttpStatusCodeResultWithJson(int statusCode, string description = null)
    {
        _statusCode = statusCode;
        _description = description;
    }
    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        var httpContext = context.HttpContext;
        var response = httpContext.Response;
        response.StatusCode = _statusCode;
        response.StatusDescription = _description;
        base.JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet;
        base.ExecuteResult(context);
    }
}

Status code is a custom HTTP Status Code and in a global Ajax Error Function I test it like:

MyNsp.ErrorAjax = function (xhr, st, str) {
        if (xhr.status == '418') {
            MyNsp.UI.Message("Warning: session expired!");
            return;
        }
        if (xhr.status == "419") {
            MyNsp.UI.Message("Security Token Missing");
            return;
        }
        var msg = 'Error: ' + (str ? str : xhr.statusText);
        MyNsp.UI.Message('Error. - status:' + st + "(" + msg + ")");
        return;
    };

Answer 4

Based on what BigMike posted, this was what I did in my NON MVC/WEBAPI webproject.

Response.ContentType = "application/json";
Response.StatusCode = 400;
Response.Write (ex.Message);

For what it is worth (and thanks BigMike!) It worked perfectly.

Answer 5

Description

What about returning an object back to your page and analyse that in your ajax callback.

Sample

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult UpdateUser(UserInformation model)
{
    if (SomethingWentWrong)
        return this.Json(new { success = false, message = "Uuups, something went wrong!" });

    return this.Json(new { success=true, message=string.Empty});
}

jQuery

$.ajax({
  url: "...",
  success: function(data){
    if (!data.success) 
    {
       // do something to show the user something went wrong using data.message
    } else {
       // YES! 
    }
  }
});

Answer 6

This is where HTTP status codes come into play. With Ajax you will be able to handle them accordingly.

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult UpdateUser(UserInformation model){
    if (!UserIsAuthorized())
        return new HttpStatusCodeResult(401, "Custom Error Message 1"); // Unauthorized
    if (!model.IsValid)
        return new HttpStatusCodeResult(400, "Custom Error Message 2"); // Bad Request
    // etc.
}

Here's a list of the defined status codes.