Contact Search By Email Web Response Clarification

[JeffryP]

Assumption: From the API Doc snipit, " ...the API will return either a 500 error (Server Error) code or will return an empty feed (i.e. a feed with no entries)...".

If I search for a non-existent emailAddress in my profile, mushymush@mycoinc.com, I receive "Ok". I'm currently checking the response for the missing "Contact" tag/table and not 500.

Question: Do I/should I, check for a 500 code rather than just for the "Contact" tag/table?

Followup: Are there any conditions for getting either response?

Followup: Is the 500 a StatusCode or a WebException/Server Error code?

FYI: This is an SSIS project, so I should handle/log as many possible errors so as to not hang the process, just log & march on.

[DaveBerard · Accepted solution]

Any of our API features could return a 500 error if something happens on our server that is an error we can't catch.  The 500 is the HTTPS status code for the response and the body will be "Internal Server Error".  You should probably check for this on any API request in general, but the expectation would be that you get this error very infrequently, if at all, and when you do it's likely that there is an error in the request.