web service error best practices
I know...another best practices thread ;-) I'm wondering how others out there are handling argument types for web services? Typically if an argument is meant to be numeric you would code it as such. Now if someone calling the webservice were to pass in a string instead of a number and error would be thrown. I'm guessing depending on the langauge consuming the web service the error they get will differ?? Will that error likley tell them they passed an invalid typed argument? or would it be tough to determine what went wrong? Would it be better/worse to simply make that argument accept a string and then in the method make sure it's a number and if not return a meaningful error message (so no real error occurs)? or is it better to leave it up to the web service consumers to try/catch errors in their own dang app and read the web service specs to know what kind of arguments are to be passed? ;-) thoughts?? TIA Cheers Bryan Stevenson B.Comm. VP Director of E-Commerce Development Electric Edge Systems Group Inc. phone: 250.480.0642 fax: 250.480.1264 cell: 250.920.8830 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.electricedgesystems.com ~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:214602 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
Re: web service error best practices
Let them deal with it. I suspect that CF will automatically convert string arguments to numeric, just like it does internally, but I don't know for sure. Either way, it's up to the WS client to make sure they're calling the service in the right way. The error message should come from the type-checker on their end, not from your server, at least if they're using a strongly typed language. If not, then they'll get a type error from CF, and it should be equally communicative of what went wrong. cheers, barneyb On 8/11/05, Bryan Stevenson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I know...another best practices thread ;-) I'm wondering how others out there are handling argument types for web services? Typically if an argument is meant to be numeric you would code it as such. Now if someone calling the webservice were to pass in a string instead of a number and error would be thrown. I'm guessing depending on the langauge consuming the web service the error they get will differ?? Will that error likley tell them they passed an invalid typed argument? or would it be tough to determine what went wrong? Would it be better/worse to simply make that argument accept a string and then in the method make sure it's a number and if not return a meaningful error message (so no real error occurs)? or is it better to leave it up to the web service consumers to try/catch errors in their own dang app and read the web service specs to know what kind of arguments are to be passed? ;-) thoughts?? TIA Cheers -- Barney Boisvert [EMAIL PROTECTED] 360.319.6145 http://www.barneyb.com/ Got Gmail? I have 50 invites. ~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. Start tracking and documenting hours spent on a project or with a client with Logware today. Try it for free with a 15 day trial account. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=67 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:214607 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
Re: web service error best practices
Let them deal with it. I suspect that CF will automatically convert string arguments to numeric, just like it does internally, but I don't know for sure. Either way, it's up to the WS client to make sure they're calling the service in the right way. The error message should come from the type-checker on their end, not from your server, at least if they're using a strongly typed language. If not, then they'll get a type error from CF, and it should be equally communicative of what went wrong. cheers, barneyb Thank Barney...I was leaning the same waymake the service function as advertisedif they don't pay attention then kablooey ;-) Cheers Bryan Stevenson B.Comm. VP Director of E-Commerce Development Electric Edge Systems Group Inc. phone: 250.480.0642 fax: 250.480.1264 cell: 250.920.8830 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.electricedgesystems.com ~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:214610 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
