Setting HTTP Status in ASP.NET MVC controller results does not render view

Question

I have a custom ActionResult for returning certain HTTP Errors, like NotFoundResult and ForbiddenResult, they all derive from ViewResult.

I use them for instances like short circuiting actions with a 404 if an entity was not found in the database during the course of an action.

Within these result objects, I set the HTTP Status to the appropriate number. When I do that, the view that these ViewResults reference does not render. I have to leave the status as 200 OK in order for my view to be rendered.

How do I set an appropriate status AND render a view in ASP.NET MVC 2.0?

Answer 1

I have a custom ActionResult for returning certain HTTP Errors, like NotFoundResult and ForbiddenResult, they all derive from ViewResult.

Allow me to suggest you an alternative error handling:

Start by creating an error controller and the corresponding views:

public class ErrorController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult General()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult HttpError404()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult HttpError500()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

In Global.asax define the Application_Error method:

protected void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var exception = Server.GetLastError();
    // TODO: Log the exception with your favorite logging framework

    Response.Clear();
    var httpException = exception as HttpException;

    var routeData = new RouteData();
    // Take the ErrorController
    routeData.Values.Add("controller", "error");

    if (httpException == null)
    {
        // Use the General action for any unhandled error
        routeData.Values.Add("action", "general");
    }
    else
    {
        switch (httpException.GetHttpCode())
        {
            case 404:
                routeData.Values.Add("action", "httpError404");
                break;
            case 500:
                routeData.Values.Add("action", "httpError500");
                break;
            default:
                routeData.Values.Add("action", "general");
                break;
        }
    }

    // Add the exception to route data so that the error controller 
    // could use it with RouteData.Values["error"]
    routeData.Values.Add("error", exception);

    Server.ClearError();
    IController errorController = new ErrorController();
    errorController.Execute(new RequestContext(new HttpContextWrapper(Context), routeData));
}

Finally throw appropriate exceptions:

public class HomeController: Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index(int id)
    {
        var model = _repository.GetModel(id);
        if (model == null)
        {
            throw new HttpException(404, "Model not found with id = " + id);
        }
        return View(model);
    }
}