Override 204 status code message

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

I am not sure if hacking will help, most of the clients will not expect any message body when receiving 204 response, they will just ignore it (although I am not sure about this). — Ernest
@Ernest ..yaa i agree with you but the in my case they expect and that's what has laid me here... — Bijendra

Ernest Ernest · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-03T11:46:43

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/

Override 204 status code message

1 Answers