How do you return status 401 from WebAPI to AngularJS and also include a custom message?

Question

In my WebAPI class, an ApiController, I make a call such as:

string myCustomMessage = .....;

throw new HttpResponseException(
    new HttpRespo         


        

Answer 1

I use a response interceptor for that. A response interceptor is pretty much a "filter" where all responses pass through and I can ask about there status code and perform logic.

Something like this:

myModule.factory('responseInterceptor', function ($q) {
    return {
        response: function (res) {
           switch(res.status){
             case 401:
                     // do what you want
           }
           return res;
        },
        responseError: function (res) {
            return $q.reject(res);
        }
    };
});

myModule.config(function ($httpProvider) {
    $httpProvider.interceptors.push('responseInterceptor');
});

About your custom message, you can add it in a http header. In my case, when I get a 401, I add a location header with a url and redirect to it.

Answer 2

Try returning HttpResponseMessage like this.

public HttpResponseMessage Get()
{
    return Request.CreateErrorResponse(
              HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized, "You are not authorized");
}

This should produce an HTTP response message like this.

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Server: Microsoft-IIS/8.0
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 07:12:54 GMT
Content-Length: 36

{"Message":"You are not authorized"}