WCF Call Result

What would be a better approach when providing a wcf client with the call result.

1. Wrapping the result in an object

   public enum DefinedResult : short {
      Success = 0,
      TimeOut = 1,
      ServerFailure = 2,
      UserNotFount = 3,
      Uknown = 4,

      //etc.
   }

   [DataContract]       
   public class ServiceResult {

       readonly DefinedResults dResult;

       public ServiceResult(DefinedResult result) {

            this.dResult = result;
      }
      [DataMember]
      public bool IsSuccess 
      {
          get {return this.dResult == DefinedResult.Success;}
      }

   }



  //Client:

  WcfClient client = new WcfClient();
  ServiceResult result = client.DoWork();

2. Throwing a custom Exception:

  [Serializable]
  public UserNotFoundException: Exception {

        public UserNotFoundException(string message): base(message) {}

  }


  //client:
  WcfClient client = new WcfClient();
  try {
    result = client.DoWork();
  }
  catch(FaultException<ExceptionDetail> ex) {

      switch(ex.Detail.Type) 
      {
          case "MyCompany.Framework.Exceptions.UserNotFound":
             //handle
             break;
          case "MyCompany.Framework.Exceptions.ServerError":
             //handle
             break;
      }
  }

Now, the client can be another .net process (server side) or the same service can be called by java script, hence the question - which one of these (or may be there is something better) is a better approach to let the client know of what happened with the 开发者_Python百科call?

First of all, it depends: if you want to return a condition which is not exceptional, then use a result value. Otherwise, use exceptions. In WCF, it goes like this:

Create a custom exception class:

[DataContract] 
class MyException : FaultException<mydetails>

Define that your service throws it:

[FaultContract(...)] 
void mymethod()...

throw MyException in your service method

Then you can catch your exception in the service method like catch FaultException<mydetails>

This is the nicest way there is.

FaultExceptions are swallowed by WebHttpBinding (required for JSON/REST services). In this case, if you want to provide detailed infos to your client, Option 1 is better.

If JSON is not in the way, I would recommend Option 2.