ErrorResponse

Namespace: RA.Utilities.Api.Response

The ErrorResponse class creates a standardized 500 Internal Server Error response. It derives from Response<T> with T = ErrorResult and is the catch-all model for unexpected failures.

🎯 Purpose

Use ErrorResponse when an unhandled exception or an unexpected state occurs. The parameterless constructor returns a safe generic message so internal details do not leak to clients.

• Standard envelope: ResponseCode = 500, ResponseType = ResponseType.Error, ResponseMessage = "Something happened on our end."
• Optional payload: Result can be null or an ErrorResult with a machine-readable code and message.
• Safe default: new ErrorResponse() carries no internal exception details.

Constructors

Constructor	Result	ResponseCode	ResponseMessage
ErrorResponse()	null	500	"Something happened on our end."
ErrorResponse(int responseCode, string responseMessage)	null	responseCode	responseMessage
ErrorResponse(ErrorResult? result)	result	500	"Something happened on our end."
ErrorResponse(ErrorResult? result, int? responseCode, string responseMessage = "")	result	responseCode ?? 500	responseMessage ?? standard (the "" default is used as-is)

ResponseType is always ResponseType.Error (JSON 11).

Empty message on the all-argument overload

new ErrorResponse(result, null) compiles, but it produces an empty ResponseMessage because the optional message defaults to "". Pass BaseResponseMessages.Error explicitly, or use new ErrorResponse(result) when the standard message is fine.

Usage

Return a generic server error:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using RA.Utilities.Api.Response;

[HttpPost]
public IActionResult ProcessProduct(Product product)
{
    try
    {
        _service.Process(product);
        return Ok(new SuccessResponse<string>("Processed"));
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        // Safe, generic 500 — no exception details in the response
        return StatusCode(500, new ErrorResponse());
    }
}

Include a structured error result:

return StatusCode(500, new ErrorResponse(new ErrorResult
{
    ErrorCode = "PROCESSING_ERROR",
    ErrorMessage = "An unexpected error occurred while processing the product."
}));

Example JSON Output

{
  "responseCode": 500,
  "responseType": 11,
  "responseMessage": "Something happened on our end.",
  "result": {
    "errorCode": "PROCESSING_ERROR",
    "errorMessage": "An unexpected error occurred while processing the product."
  }
}

With new ErrorResponse() the result property is null. With JsonStringEnumConverter, responseType is "Error".