Question

Im writing an OData webservice with C# and I need some advice on how to handle invalid requests? An example of an error would be if a customer requested a service on an item they no longer own. I would idealy like to report back to the customer exactly why it is invalid as there are multiple possible reasons.

Many thanks

Answer 1

I would recommend using FaultContracts as part of the OperationContract. You can define them just like DataContracts, and handle exceptions just like a custom exception.

[OperationContract]
[FaultContract(typeof(ItemNotOwned))]
Item GetItem(int ItemId);

You would define ItemNotOwned as a seperate contract definition.

Check it out on MSDN: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733841.aspx#Y323