How can I return a custom HTTP status code from a WCF REST method?

Question

If something goes wrong in a WCF REST call, such as the requested resource is not found, how can I play with the HTTP response code (setting it to something like HTTP 404, for example) in my OperationContract method?

Answer 1

There is a WebOperationContext that you can access and it has a OutgoingResponse property of type OutgoingWebResponseContext which has a StatusCode property that can be set.

WebOperationContext ctx = WebOperationContext.Current;
ctx.OutgoingResponse.StatusCode = System.Net.HttpStatusCode.OK;

Answer 2

For 404 there is a built in method on the WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse called SetStatusAsNotFound(string message) that will set the status code to 404 and a status description with one call.

Note there is also, SetStatusAsCreated(Uri location) that will set the status code to 201 and location header with one call.