HTTP bad request (400)

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Ok, using a .NET application I am POSTing web requests to an API which is poorly supported; will not mention Microsoft by name but it is theirs!

When I POST valid data all is good and I get a HTTP Created response as expected, yippee...

However, when I post invalid data I don't get a response back; instead it throws an HTTP Error 400 Bad request exception with no other messages. And when I say invalid data it could be an invalid date or something not a malformed request.

I have tried catching the exception and webwexception and studied the stack trace but cannot see the reason for the post failing.
If I try the same POST in Postman I do see the reason failing;

"error": {
    "code":"BadRequest",
    "message":"Cannot convert a value to target type 'Edm.Decimal' because of conflict between input format string/number and parameter 'IEEE754Compatible' false/true.  CorrelationId:  6fcac78c-7c2a-41c0-95fa-f1eb9908ca8b."}}

My question is, where does Postman get the error message from? I need to be able to trap this in code so I can determine what is wrong with the data.

Any help would be most appreciated.

What I have tried:

Catching and analysing the exception; googled everywhere.

Posted 23-Jan-20 22:07pm

dnibbo

Updated 23-Jan-20 22:43pm

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dnibbo 24-Jan-20 4:41am

Actually the above was a bad example as the JSON I posted was invalid.
However, if I try to create the same record twice I still get the Bad Request error with the below in Postman (still cant catch in code)

    
"error": {
   "code": "Unknown",
   "message": "The record already exists.  CorrelationId:  862fae85-f342-43a4-96e7-191f0fae561c."
    }
}

It just looks like the API throws the Bad Request exception if the request fails validation but I just cant see how to catch this in a .NET application.

F-ES Sitecore 24-Jan-20 5:27am

"I need to be able to trap this in code so I can determine what is wrong with the data."

You need to update your code to allow it to do that. Seeing as you didn't think it was relevant to post your code it's hard for us to give concrete advice.

dnibbo 24-Jan-20 7:27am

Thanks but that is the problem, I cannot trap it, the HTTP POST throws an exception and the exception does not contain the error.
The code works just fine, it is the API that is returning Bad Request when it fails validation, it is not a malformed request and not a coding error but a bad API.
As stated, my question is how does Postman get the error when it is not available in the .NET stack trace?
Code posted below but I am certain that is not where the problem is.

jimmson 24-Jan-20 6:00am

4XX errors are client-side errors. So the code would be quite useful to help you.

dnibbo 24-Jan-20 6:58am

Thanks Jimmson but Postman can see the error 'record already exists'.
Only the SERVER would know if the record already existed so it is the server not the client that has decided the request was bad.

dnibbo 24-Jan-20 7:03am

The code is below, the first time I POST the request it works, subsequent POST's fail as the record already exists.

 
Dim wrResult As HttpWebResponse 
Try  
'   post customer details  
Dim sURL As String = _baseURL & "Customer"
Dim WebRequest As WebRequest = HttpWebRequest.Create(sURL)
WebRequest.ContentType = "application/json"
WebRequest.Credentials = GetCredential(sURL)
WebRequest.PreAuthenticate = True
WebRequest.Method = "POST"
Dim sJson As New StringBuilder
sJson.Append("{")
sJson.Append("""No"": ""XXX"",")
sJson.Append("""Name"": ""FRED""")
sJson.Append("}")
Dim postData As Byte()
Dim utf As New UTF8Encoding
postData = utf.GetBytes(sJson.ToString)
WebRequest.ContentLength = sJson.Length
Using stream = WebRequest.GetRequestStream()
   stream.Write(postData, 0, postData.Length)  
End Using  
wrResult = WebRequest.GetResponse()  
' CODE DOES NOT GET HERE ON FAILING REQUEST  
If Not wrResult.StatusCode = HttpStatusCode.Created Then      
    Throw New Exception("Customer XXX not created in Dynamics.")  
End If  
wrResult.Close()
Catch wex As WebException  
' BAD REQUEST WEB EXCEPTION CAUGHT HERE BUT ERROR MESSAGE NOT EXPOSED aNYWHERE  ???? 
End Try

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HTTP bad request (400)

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