How to change the status code of your response in a Flask API
When creating a Flask API, it is important to be able to control the status codes of your responses. Status codes provide information about the success or failure of a request, and are an important part of the HTTP protocol. In this article, we will discuss how to change the status code of your response in a Flask API.
Using the Flask framework
Flask is a popular web framework for Python that is used to build RESTful APIs. With Flask, you can easily create routes and define how your API should respond to different types of requests. Changing the status code of your response is simple in Flask, and can be done using the status_code parameter of the make_response function.
Example
Let’s say you have a route in your Flask API that is supposed to return a user’s profile information. If the user is not found, you may want to return a 404 status code to indicate that the resource was not found. Here’s how you can do that:
from flask import Flask, jsonify, make_response
app = Flask(__name)
@app.route('/user/')
def get_user(user_id):
user = find_user(user_id)
if user is None:
return make_response(jsonify({'error': 'User not found'}), 404)
return jsonify(user)
In this example, the make_response function is used to create a response with a JSON body and a status code of 404. If the user is found, the API will return the user’s information as expected. However, if the user is not found, the API will return a 404 status code along with an error message.
Conclusion
Controlling the status codes of your API responses is an important aspect of building a reliable and user-friendly API. With Flask, you can easily change the status code of your responses using the make_response function. By using the appropriate status codes, you can provide meaningful information to clients about the success or failure of their requests.
