How can I return a custom HTTP status code from a WCF REST method?

Question

If something goes wrong in a WCF REST call, such as the requested resource is not found, how can I play with the HTTP response code (setting it to something like HTTP 404, for example) in my OperationContract method?

Answer 1

There is a WebOperationContext that you can access and it has a OutgoingResponse property of type OutgoingWebResponseContext which has a StatusCode property that can be set.

WebOperationContext ctx = WebOperationContext.Current; ctx.OutgoingResponse.StatusCode = System.Net.HttpStatusCode.OK; 

Answer 2

If you need to return a reason body then have a look at WebFaultException

For example

throw new WebFaultException<string>("Bar wasn't Foo'd", HttpStatusCode.BadRequest );