Display content on http requests returned with error status (400, 500)

The content of web responses many times contain important information related to the error.

Fot the webread/webwrite functions an error is thrown for all responses with 400 or 500 status, with a generic error message. Is there a way to access the content of requests so that an error can be thrown with a more specific error message?

Answer 1

[Benjamin Kraus]

What version of MATLAB are you using? The specifics of this behavior have changed a little over the past few releases.

Even with the most recent version of MATLAB, I do not think the webread and webwrite functions provide this capability. I skimmed through the documentation for the weboptions function, and did not see a mechanism for changing error handling. It looks like the only information you get is in the actual text of the error message.

However, starting in R2016b there is a low-level HTTP API that you can use to access more detailed information about the error codes. This low-level HTTP API can definitely provide the information you are looking for.

Check out this documentation page for more information: HTTP Interface