IHttpResponse::SetErrorDescription Method

Article
06/14/2022

Specifies the custom error description.

Syntax

virtual HRESULT SetErrorDescription(  
   IN PCWSTR pszDescription,  
   IN DWORD cchDescription,  
   IN BOOL fHtmlEncode = TRUE  
) = 0;

Parameters

pszDescription
[IN] A pointer to a string that contains the custom error description.

cchDescription
[IN] A DWORD that contains the length, in characters, of the string in pszDescription.

fHtmlEncode
[IN] true if the string in pszDescription should be encoded for HTML; otherwise, false.

Return Value

An HRESULT. Possible values include, but are not limited to, those in the following table.

Value	Description
S_OK	Indicates that the operation was successful.
ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER	Indicates that an invalid value was passed in one of the parameters.

Remarks

Developers use the SetErrorDescription method to specify the custom error description. IIS displays the custom error description as part of the detailed information that is sent to a Web client when IIS returns an error message.

Example

The following code example demonstrates how to create an HTTP module that performs the following tasks:

Retrieves a pointer to an IHttpResponse interface by using the IHttpContext::GetResponse method.
Retrieves the current HTTP status code by using the IHttpResponse::GetStatus method.
If the current HTTP status code is a 404.0 error, retrieves the current custom error description by using the IHttpResponse::GetErrorDescription method.
If no custom error description is currently defined, sets the custom error description by using the SetErrorDescription method.

#define _WINSOCKAPI_
#include <windows.h>
#include <sal.h>
#include <httpserv.h>

// Create the module class.
class MyHttpModule : public CHttpModule
{
public:

    REQUEST_NOTIFICATION_STATUS
    OnSendResponse(
        IN IHttpContext * pHttpContext,
        IN ISendResponseProvider * pProvider
    )
    {
        UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER( pProvider );

        // Retrieve a a pointer to the current response.
        IHttpResponse * pHttpResponse = pHttpContext->GetResponse();

        // Test for errors.
        if (NULL != pHttpResponse)
        {
            USHORT uStatusCode = 0;
            USHORT uSubStatus = 0;

            // Retrieve the current HTTP status code.
            pHttpResponse->GetStatus(&uStatusCode,&uSubStatus);

            // Process only 404.0 errors.
            if (uStatusCode==404 && uSubStatus==0)
            {
                DWORD cchDescription = 0;
                
                // Retrieve the current error description.
                PCWSTR pwszErrorDescription =
                    pHttpResponse->GetErrorDescription(&cchDescription);

                // Process only if no error description is currently defined.
                if (cchDescription==0)
                {
                    // Define the new error description.
                    PCWSTR wszNewDescription =
                        L"The file that you requested cannot be found.";
                    // Configure the new error description.
                    pHttpResponse->SetErrorDescription(
                        wszNewDescription,wcslen(wszNewDescription),TRUE);               
                }
            }
        }
        // Return processing to the pipeline.
        return RQ_NOTIFICATION_CONTINUE;
    }
};

// Create the module's class factory.
class MyHttpModuleFactory : public IHttpModuleFactory
{
public:
    HRESULT
    GetHttpModule(
        OUT CHttpModule ** ppModule, 
        IN IModuleAllocator * pAllocator
    )
    {
        UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER( pAllocator );

        // Create a new instance.
        MyHttpModule * pModule = new MyHttpModule;

        // Test for an error.
        if (!pModule)
        {
            // Return an error if the factory cannot create the instance.
            return HRESULT_FROM_WIN32( ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY );
        }
        else
        {
            // Return a pointer to the module.
            *ppModule = pModule;
            pModule = NULL;
            // Return a success status.
            return S_OK;
        }            
    }

    void Terminate()
    {
        // Remove the class from memory.
        delete this;
    }
};

// Create the module's exported registration function.
HRESULT
__stdcall
RegisterModule(
    DWORD dwServerVersion,
    IHttpModuleRegistrationInfo * pModuleInfo,
    IHttpServer * pGlobalInfo
)
{
    UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER( dwServerVersion );
    UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER( pGlobalInfo );

    // Set the request notifications and exit.
    return pModuleInfo->SetRequestNotifications(
        new MyHttpModuleFactory,
        RQ_SEND_RESPONSE,
        0
    );
}

Your module must export the RegisterModule function. You can export this function by creating a module definition (.def) file for your project, or you can compile the module by using the /EXPORT:RegisterModule switch. For more information, see Walkthrough: Creating a Request-Level HTTP Module By Using Native Code.

You can optionally compile the code by using the __stdcall (/Gz) calling convention instead of explicitly declaring the calling convention for each function.

Requirements

Type	Description
Client	- IIS 7.0 on Windows Vista - IIS 7.5 on Windows 7 - IIS 8.0 on Windows 8 - IIS 10.0 on Windows 10
Server	- IIS 7.0 on Windows Server 2008 - IIS 7.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2 - IIS 8.0 on Windows Server 2012 - IIS 8.5 on Windows Server 2012 R2 - IIS 10.0 on Windows Server 2016
Product	- IIS 7.0, IIS 7.5, IIS 8.0, IIS 8.5, IIS 10.0 - IIS Express 7.5, IIS Express 8.0, IIS Express 10.0
Header	Httpserv.h