[SOLVED] Return HTTP code for GAE ProtoRPC

Return HTTP code for GAE ProtoRPC

How do I control the HTTP Status Code in the protoRPC response?

Let's say I have the following service:

class ApiService(remote.Service):

    @remote.method(ApiRequestContextCreate, ApiResponseContextCreate)
    def context_create(self, request):
        cid = helpers.create_context(request.name)
        return ApiResponseContextCreate(cid=cid)

Looks to me that the protoRPC API is lacking semantics: either the request can be fulfilled and returns a 200 or an exception is raised yielding to a 404. Of course of could craft an error response in the RPC method but that seems kludgy.

Update: I have found I can raise ApplicationError too for a 400.

Solution

The HTTP status code is not part of the specification for ProtoRPC because ProtoRPC is meant to support protocols besides HTTP. It therefore cannot have specific-to-HTTP return codes. Instead, errors are returns by raising ApplicationError, using the error_name field to specify application specific error conditions.