How to Use ApiResponse Without a Return Type?

[sdepouw]

Hello. I have a simple scenario: Hit an endpoint that returns nothing, but be able to inspect the response code/etc.

If I didn't care about the response I'd do something like:

[Post("/foo")]
public Task Foo(RequestBody request, CancellationToken cancellationToken);

And if the HTTP hit returned some response, I'd model it with ApiResponse<T>:

[Post("/foo")]
public Task<ApiResponse<ResponseDTO>> Foo(RequestBody request, CancellationToken cancellationToken);

However, what if there is no response? ApiResponse (without type) is internal and cannot be used. I suppose technically there's always some content response (in the form of an empty string), but I think it'd be silly to have to define my endpoint/contract as "this returns a string" when one is never returned. So for now, my workaround is this:

[Post("/foo")]
public Task<ApiResponse<string>> Foo(RequestBody request, CancellationToken cancellationToken); // the string is always empty, but users of this client won't know that!

Is there a way to use ApiResponse so I can check the status code, ensure success, etc. without having to provide a type?

[glennawatson]

Use the non-generic IApiResponse as the return type. It is public and gives you status code, headers, success flags and error without forcing a content type.

[Post("/foo")]
Task<IApiResponse> Foo(RequestBody request, CancellationToken cancellationToken);

Then:

using var response = await api.Foo(request, ct);
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode) { ... }
var code = response.StatusCode;

Notes:

• IApiResponse (no type parameter) is the public, content-less response wrapper. It is verified as a supported return type (see ResponseTests.cs which uses Task<IApiResponse> and ValueTask<IApiResponse>).
• Dispose it (or use using) since it owns the underlying response.
• This avoids the ApiResponse<string> workaround entirely.