Question

When we get a no content response as 204, it comes with a message “No Content” and displays a response

      Response : #<Net::HTTPNoContent 204 No Content  readbody=true>

while i want the response like :

 <response>
   <request_id>4ccf18f0-e83d-012e-29f7-042b2b8686e6</request_id>
   <status_code>204</status_code>
   <message>No Offers were found</message>
</response>

Can i override the default message of 204 error.The method which is being called to create the response.

def generate_success_response_without_data(format, request_id, message)
  status_code = 204
  format_type_method, options_hash, content_type = get_format_method(format)
  data = {
    "request_id" => request_id,
    "status_code" => status_code,
    "message" => message
  }
  data = generate_data_format(format, data)
  resp = [status_code, {"Content-Type" => content_type}, data.send(format_type_method, options_hash)]
  # Convert rack response to action controller response           
  generate_active_controller_response_format(resp)
  resp
end

EDIT:
As stated in http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html

The 204 response MUST NOT include a message-body, and thus is always terminated by the first empty line after the header fields.

Can we hack somehow and show a message body

Answer 1

HTTP 204 is NOT error response. 204 is used when response was successful and content body is intentionally empty.

From: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html

The server has fulfilled the request but does not need to return an
entity-body, and might want to return updated metainformation. The
response MAY include new or updated metainformation in the form of
entity-headers, which if present SHOULD be associated with the
requested variant.

If the client is a user agent, it SHOULD NOT change its document view
from that which caused the request to be sent. This response is
primarily intended to allow input for actions to take place without
causing a change to the user agent’s active document view, although
any new or updated metainformation SHOULD be applied to the document
currently in the user agent’s active view.

The 204 response MUST NOT include a message-body, and thus is always
terminated by the first empty line after the header fields.

In this particular situation, 404 looks like more suitable.

More here: http://benramsey.com/archives/http-status-204-no-content-and-205-reset-content/