Question

I am writing a REST API and currently testing some things. I am trying to make it send an error response when it does not find anything in the database.

The part that is running (because i am testing currently by just entering the url into my browser) is below:

    else if ($request->getHttpAccept() === 'xml')  
    {  
        if(isset($data['s']) && isset($data['n'])) {
            $id = $db->getAlcoholIDByNameSize($data['n'], $data['s']);
            $prices = $db->pricesByAlcohol($id);
        }
        if(isset($id)) {
            $resData = array();
            if(!empty($prices)) {
                foreach($prices as $p) {
                    $store = $db->store($p['store']);
                    array_push($resData, array('storeID' => $p['store'], 'store_name' => $store['name'], 'store_gps' => $store['gps'], 'price' => round($p['price'], 2)));
                }
                RestUtils::sendResponse(200, json_encode($resData), 'application/json'); 
            } else {
                RestUtils::sendResponse(204, 'error', 'application/json'); 
            }
        } else {
            RestUtils::sendResponse(204, 'error', 'application/json'); 
        }
        //RestUtils::sendResponse(501, "xml response not implemented", 'application/xml');  
    }  

everything works fine if the queries return something to be stored in $id and $prices. If they do not exist in the database, however, it tries to load the page, and then goes back to the previous page you were on. You can see the behavior by going to:

http://easyuniv.com/API/alc/coorsa/2   <-- works
http://easyuniv.com/API/alc/coors/3    <-- works
http://easyuniv.com/API/alc/coorsa/5   <-- doesn't work(or anything else, the two above are the only ones)

here is my sendResponse function:

   public static function sendResponse($status = 200, $body = '', $content_type = 'text/html')  
    {  
        $status_header = 'HTTP/1.1 ' . $status . ' ' . RestUtils::getStatusCodeMessage($status);  
        // set the status  
        header($status_header);  
        // set the content type  
        header('Content-type: ' . $content_type);  

        // pages with body are easy  
        if($body !== '')  
        {  
            $temp = json_decode($body);
            $body = json_encode(array('result' => array('status' => $status, 'message' => RestUtils::getStatusCodeMessage($status)), 'data' => $temp));
            // send the body  
            echo $body;  
            exit;  
        }  
        // we need to create the body if none is passed  
        else  
        {           
            $body = "else".json_encode(array('result' => array('status' => $status, 'message' => RestUtils::getStatusCodeMessage($status))));

            echo $body;  
            exit;  
        }  
    } 

I have tried debugging using echos but I cant seem to narrow down what the issue is. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

The problem is that when there is no appropriate data found in the data base you are returning HTTP 204 which is telling the browser there is absolutely nothing for it to display. This is not true in your case.

You still want to output the message that there was nothing found.

To fix you need to replace the two instances of 204 in your code with 200.

I modified tested your code using: Note, nothing will display as is. To get the message to display change 204 to 200 in the $status_header variable.

<?php
        $status_header = 'HTTP/1.1 204';

        // set the status  
        header($status_header);  
        // set the content type  
        header('Content-type: text/html');

        echo "Can you see me???";
?>

Note: When testing this always close the tab and use a fresh tab for each call or else it will look like it is loading data from the previous call, like you have explained.