API API Error Handling and Debugging

Question 1

What is a 400 Bad Request status code used for?

Accepted Answer

The client sent a malformed or invalid request

Answer

400 Bad Request indicates the server cannot process the request due to client-side errors like invalid syntax, missing parameters, or malformed JSON.

Question 2

What does a 422 Unprocessable Entity response typically indicate?

Accepted Answer

The request is well-formed but contains semantic errors or validation failures

Answer

422 Unprocessable Entity means the request was syntactically correct but semantically invalid — validation rules were violated.

Question 3

What is the recommended structure for API error response bodies?

Accepted Answer

A structured object with error code, message, and details

Answer

Best practice error responses include a structured object with a machine-readable error code, human-readable message, and optional details for debugging.

Question 4

What does a 503 Service Unavailable response indicate?

Accepted Answer

The server is temporarily unable to handle the request

Answer

503 Service Unavailable indicates the server is temporarily unable to handle the request, often due to maintenance or overload.

Question 5

Which tool can be used to inspect raw HTTP API request and response traffic?

Accepted Answer

Charles Proxy or Wireshark

Answer

Charles Proxy and Wireshark are tools for capturing and inspecting raw HTTP/HTTPS traffic, invaluable for debugging API communication.

API - Testing Practice Test

API - Testing Practice Test

API API Error Handling and Debugging