Different Response(JSON and webpage) in API and Website for Laravel 404 and 500?

Question

I want to show the different response for API and website. In api response I want to show json response with 404 and 500 for type of exception mainly for routes.

If a user try to request a route and route not found I want to show a response in json response for API and webpage for website.

I know and try the code into app/Exceptions/Handler.php

public function render($request, Exception $exception)
{
    if ($exception instanceof NotFoundHttpException) {
        if ($request->expectsJson()) {
            return response()->json(['error' => 'Not Found'], 404);
        }
        return response()->view('404', [], 404);
    }
    return parent::render($request, $exception);
}

https://laravel.com/docs/5.4/errors#http-exceptions

but failed can anybody help me how can I set different responses for error pages.

Answer 1

Expects JSON is about headers, i do not like that solution for API errors, you can access the API through a browser. My solution is most of the times to filter by the URL route, because it starts with "api/...", which can be done like so $request->is('api/*').

If you have your routes that are not prefixes with /api, then this will not work. Change the logic to fit with your own structure.

public function render($request, Exception $exception)
{
    if ($exception instanceof NotFoundHttpException) {
        if ($request->is('api/*')) {
            return response()->json(['error' => 'Not Found'], 404);
        }
        return response()->view('404', [], 404);
    }
    return parent::render($request, $exception);
}