Correct way to write invalid behavior of user

Question

i.e. I have a controller action:

    public ActionResult Details(int? id)
    {
        telemetryClient.TrackEvent("CompanyDetailPage");
        if (id == null)
        {
            return RedirectToAction("Error", "Error", new { Text = "id is not specified" });
        }
        var company = _companyService.CompanyDetail(id.Value);
        if (company == null)
        {
            return RedirectToAction("Error", "Error", new { Text = "Invalid company id" });

        }

        // create model here and return to client view
        return View(model);
    }

Now I want to add a notification when:

User calls method without id
User passes invalid id

what is correct way to do it?

Add event (metric) like "CompanyDetailPageNullId", "CompanyDetailPageInvalidId"? But for CompanyDetailPageInvalidId I need to pass id also.

Add event (metric) like "CompanyDetailPageError" and pass in parameters what is a problem?

Or, probably, track a trace?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 02 '18 at 23:26

there's always going to be lots of ways to do this, none "more correct" than the others. it all depends on how you want to do it.

one would be to add those 2 pieces of information to the 1 event you're already sending as custom properties.
another would be to set those 2 pieces of information on the already existing request telemetry context for the request that is in progress via

var requestTelemetry = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.GetRequestTelemetry();

After that, there are many ways to set up various kinds of alerts, either using azure alerts on failed requests, or something like Microsoft Flow and the Application Insights connector

Correct way to write invalid behavior of user

1 Answers1