HTML dumps in console some times when testing API endpoints.

[hmistry]

I'm filing this issue to bring to your attention in case no one else has... it might have been addressed but I couldn't find any in a quick search.

Steps to reproduce

I will update with more specific steps when I encounter it again. Sorry.

I'm using Rails 5rc1 to develop a mixed web and API rails app. Some times when things go wrong, I get html responses (some times there's even references to web-console) during testing the API only endpoints in development.

Have an API endpoint that returns json normally. Send a invalid request using curl in the console, and you'll receive a rails error html dump to your console.

Updated with steps:

• Rails 5rc1 app with mixed HTML and API responses.
• All HTML routes go to controllers that inherit from ApplicationController which inherits from ActionController::Base.
• All API routes go to controllers that inherit from ApiApplicationController which inherits from ActionController::API.
• HTML responses are HTML web pages, and API responses are JSON.

Use curl in a console to visit an invalid route and you'll see the HTML error page response in your console.

Expected behavior

I expect a plain text message with the error that is better formatted for the console.

Actual behavior

HTML web page dump response to console.

System configuration

Rails version: 5.0.0.rc1

Ruby version: 2.3.0

[maclover7]

cc @gsamokovarov

[prathamesh-sonpatki]

@hmistry c33bda8 should fix it for API-only apps.

For mixed apps, do give a try with config config.debug_exception_response_format = :api.

Let me know if it doesn't work and I will reopen.

[hmistry]

@prathamesh-sonpatki I tried your config setting. It sort of worked...

• For the API endpoint, I got a JSON response of the error and trace. This makes sense and its a good response for API, better than what I had in mind.
• For the HTML endpoint, I got a JSON response too. This doesn't makes sense to me, from a holistic application perspective. If I go to a HTML endpoint, I expect to be receiving HTML response unless I request otherwise. I also lost the ability to debug using the web console for the HTML endpoints.

I think the correct behavior is for Rails to give an error message with exception/traces in JSON response for API endpoints and a normal HTML response for HTML endpoints. Without knowing the internals of Rails, I think if some thing inherits from ActionController::API then use the JSON response and if it inherits from ActionController::Base then use the HTML response... just an idea but you guys know Rails internals way way better than me.

Looking at the API trace response, I see web-console middleware exists in the API stack. It would be nice if its bypassed or even better eliminated since you'll never use web-console in an API endpoint, but have it present for the HTML endpoint. This is an ideal nicety in reducing unnecessary overhead, but definitely not a showstopper. 😃

[prathamesh-sonpatki]

@hmistry For Rails 4.x the default behavior was to always show HTML responses for even JSON requests too.

With API apps, this got changed to JSON when config.debug_exception_response_format = :api and HTML for config.debug_exception_response_format = :default. But it introduced an issue for eg. when you have HTML endpoint alongside API endpoint and you set config.debug_exception_response_format = :api then you get JSON responses for your HTML endpoints too, as you found out. This issue was present in 5.0 RC1.

But it got fixed in c33bda8. So on master, if you use config.debug_exception_response_format = :api then you should get HTML response for HTML request and JSON response for JSON response. The config must be set to :api, otherwise you will get HTML responses for both endpoints. I am working on making this more useful for having the behavior of preserving request format for all requests not just depending on config.debug_exception_response_format.

Regarding web console, for API only apps web-console gem is not present in the Gemfile. But I think you have normal app, so you are getting it in the stack traces. Not sure how to include it based on request type. Also it might be surprising behavior for some cases.

[gsamokovarov]

We shouldn't be even trying to show the console in the JSON responses, if we detect such, so this shouldn't be a problem IMO. You'll get the console only for HTML error responses, where we can properly show it and it may be useful for you to diagnose the problem.

If we do show it in a JSON response, then please report it as a bug to rails/web-console and we'll look into it.

[hmistry]

@prathamesh-sonpatki I'm unable to verify your patch because I'm having trouble updating rails to that commit or master as bundler is failing to resolve compatible versions. I even tried to create a new app using Rails master without any luck.

Let me know if you have any ideas in how I can get around the gem compatibility issues, let me know, otherwise I'll have to wait to 5.0.0.rc2 release to verify it.

[hmistry]

@prathamesh-sonpatki Let's re-open this issue since you verified yesterday that the fix in c33bda8 does not give the appropriate response in a mixed app. This way the bug can be tracked.

[prathamesh-sonpatki]

Assigning to myself. Just a clarification, this is not a blocker for 5.0 release.

[hmistry]

Any update for a fix on this issue?

[rails-bot]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not been commented on for at least three months.
The resources of the Rails team are limited, and so we are asking for your help.
If you can still reproduce this error on the 5-1-stable branch or on master, please reply with all of the information you have about it in order to keep the issue open.
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