asp.net-web-api

Difference between 'return object' and 'return Ok(object)'

(a)

var person = repository.GetPerson(id)
return person;

(b)

var person = repository.GetPerson(id)
return Ok(person);

According to the developer tools the result is the same and the status code is always 200. Is there a difference? If there is no difference, should I use the Ok() method or OkResult anyway?

Solution

  • Assuming both are examples are code inside an endpoint for an HTTP GET call, they are effectively the same.

    There might be a slight difference in implementation, but the net result will be the same: the payloads in either case are identical (e.g. JSON or some other representation), and the status code will be identical, 200.

    It's a good practice to be explicit though, and use return Ok(person) because this is both succinct and reveals the intent more obviously than return person. You could also do return new OkObjectResult(person), which is intention revealing but not succinct. (ref: OkObjectResult).

    Finally, OkResult should only be used when you don't want to return a payload. This is equivalent to return Ok().