ELMAH and API controller in MVC4 not logging errors

Question

Using an API controller in MVC4, when the controller action throws an exception, ELMAH does not log the error.

I think the problem is that MVC4 sets the HTTP status code to 500, and it returns the exception details in a JSON object, but it does not throw an unhandled exception so ELMAH never sees it.

How can I get ELMAH to capture all responses where the status code is not 200?

It's probably worth noting that API controllers are in Web API, not MVC. The separate execution paths for each is often the cause of incompatibility of an MVC-targeted library with Web API. Each request either goes MVC, or it goes Web API. The two are side-by-side and don't interact (Web API is not a feature inside MVC execution). They have different contexts, different route tables, different configs, all different, all separate. — StarTrekRedneck
– StarTrekRedneck, Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 15:32

julianox · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-07 06:50:38Z

22

The anwser described before doesn't work. I've tried on my test server and received an error ("The given filter instance must implement one or more of the following filter interfaces: IAuthorizationFilter, IActionFilter, IResultFilter, IExceptionFilter.")

Then I realized what happened .... you are trying to add the custom filter to the MVC Global Filter (filters.Add(new ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter());)

To fix that, I've split the filter registration in GlobalFilter and HttpFilter

FilterConfig.cs

    public static void RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilterCollection filters)
    {
        filters.Add(new HandleErrorAttribute());
    }

    public static void RegisterHttpFilters(HttpFilterCollection filters)
    {
        filters.Add(new ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter());
    }

Global.asax

    FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
    FilterConfig.RegisterHttpFilters(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters);

;-)

answered Nov 7, 2012 at 6:50

julianox

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3 Comments

Josh C Over a year ago

With the current scaffolding of Web API the filter should be registered in App_Start/WebApiConfig.cs. config.Filters.Add(new ElmahExceptionFilter());

bkwdesign Over a year ago

I just installed via nuget Elmah.MVC. super easy to get going, but, not logging 500 errors. I understand the answer above, but, don't see the ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter (shown in the code snippet above) in my Elmah.* or Elmah.Mvc.* spaces EDIT: oops, I see now.. it's a class that you write yourself.. and it's shown in O.P.'s code snippet. Sorry! ;)

Yasser Shaikh Over a year ago

Hi. This works and error gets logged to elmah, but no mail is being sent for all api 500s. What could be the solution to this ?

Greg Ennis · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-11 15:49:06Z

16

UPDATE: This answer does not work in latest versions. Use julianox's answer.

Answer found from information here: http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/web-api-routing-and-actions/exception-handling

Where the exception filter logs to elmah:

public class ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter : ExceptionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnException(HttpActionExecutedContext actionExecutedContext)
    {
        base.OnException(actionExecutedContext);

        ErrorSignal.FromCurrentContext().Raise(actionExecutedContext.Exception);
    }
}

but you also have to add the error filter to the GlobalConfiguration filters:

    public static void RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilterCollection filters)
    {
        GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters.Add(new ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter());
        filters.Add(new ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter());
        filters.Add(new HandleErrorAttribute());
    }

edited May 11, 2014 at 15:49

answered Apr 9, 2012 at 1:04

Greg Ennis

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4 Comments

Magnus Johansson Over a year ago

Great stuff. I struggled with this and hadn't added the Elmah filter to the GlobalConfiguration.

JustinP8 Over a year ago

When I did this, it didn't work at all unless I added the GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters.Add(new ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter()); in the RegisterGlobalFilters method. Shouldn't the filters.Add(new ElmahHandledErrorLoggerFilter()); line have done it? What's the point of having both?

WooWaaBob Over a year ago

@JustinP8 WebApi has almost completely recreated some of the things that were already in MVC. Although this is frustrating you can see that WebApi and MVC are different characters - one UI orientated the other software orientated. If you check out the types returned by GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.Filters (HttpFilterCollection) and GlobalFilters.Filters (GlobalFilterCollection) you can see they are different beasts.

Yasser Shaikh Over a year ago

This does not worked for me. I got this error

The given filter instance must implement one or more of the following filter interfaces: IAuthorizationFilter, IActionFilter, IResultFilter, IExceptionFilter.

The other answer above (stackoverflow.com/a/13264550/1182982) worked for me.

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