http - HTTP Header 或 Response Body 中的 Rest 错误消息？

Question

我有一个向 iPhone 和 Android 客户端公开的 REST 服务。目前我遵循 HTTP 代码 200、400、401、403、404、409、500 等。

我的问题是建议将错误的原因/描述/原因放在哪里？ REST API 始终像这样在 header 中包含自定义 Reason 是否更有意义？

< HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request - Missing Required Parameters.
< Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 01:09:06 GMT
< Server: Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)
< Connection: close
< Transfer-Encoding: chunked

还是通过 JSON 将其包含在响应主体中更好？

< HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
< Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2012 01:09:06 GMT
< Server: Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu)
< Connection: close
< Transfer-Encoding: chunked
< Content-Type: application/json
{ "error" : "Missing Required Parameters" }

Answer 1

引用 400.x 错误代码的 HTTP 规范:

The 4xx class of status code is intended for cases in which the client seems to have erred. Except when responding to a HEAD request, the server SHOULD include an entity containing an explanation of the error situation, and whether it is a temporary or permanent condition. These status codes are applicable to any request method. User agents SHOULD display any included entity to the user.

最佳做法是将错误消息作为一个实体包含在 HTTP 响应的正文中 - 无论是 JSON、纯文本、格式化 HTML 还是您可能想要使用的任何其他格式。