C# mvc - Controller returns either partial view or json data

Question

I am making an ajax call to the controller. The controller will return a string if the execution is successful or it will return a partial view if an error is found. I am forcing it to fail, but it still goes into the success event in the ajax.

How do I go about getting it to display the partial view when failed OR just alert the string value when successful?

Ajax call:

$.ajax({
    url: '@Url.Action("GetItem","Home")',
    data: { },
    success: function (result) {
        alert(result);
    },
    error: function (result) {
        $(".MyDiv").html(result);
    }
})

Controller:

public ActionResult GetItem([DataSourceRequest]DataSourceRequest request)
{
    try
    {
        throw new Exception("ERROR");

        //return Json("Success", JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        AlertMessage alertMessage = new AlertMessage();
        alertMessage.MessageText = "A critical error has occurred, please contact your administrator.";
        alertMessage.ErrorMessageText = ex.ToString();
        alertMessage.MessageHeading = "Critical Error";

        return PartialView("~/Views/Common/ErrorMessageDisplay.cshtml", alertMessage);
    }
}

Andrey Korneyev · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-20 16:09:45Z

1

Function you've provided as error argument of ajax call will be called if the request fails. This means response status code is one of 40* or 50* codes.

But when you're returning PartialView from your controller, actually response has status code 200 that is "OK" - that's why success function is being called.

You can modify your controller code by adding Response.StatusCode = 500; just before return PartialView(..., and this should do the trick.

answered Jan 20, 2016 at 16:09

Andrey Korneyev

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5 Comments

ataravati Over a year ago

Or another option, a better one in my opinion, is to return a success flag (success = true in case of success), and use it in the success event of the ajax call, and use the error event only for unexpected errors.

Chris Pratt Over a year ago

Definitely. It is 100% inappropriate to both return a response body and 500 status.

Andrey Korneyev Over a year ago

@ChrisPratt According to W3C specification - there is nothing wrong for 500 status code response to have a body. See w3.org/Protocols/HTTP/HTRESP : "The body section may contain a document describing the error in human readable form."

dvs Over a year ago

within the above controller code, how would I implement the Response.StatusCode OR the success flag?

Andrey Korneyev Over a year ago

@dvs As I've already said it in the third paragraph of the answer. Just add Response.StatusCode = 500; before returning partial view.

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