Partial success handling in Rest API - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the HTTP status code for partial success in REST APIs?

In REST API design, which HTTP status code best represents a partial success response?

A 207 Multi-Status

B 500 Internal Server Error

C 404 Not Found

D 200 OK

💡 Hint

Think about a status code that can represent multiple outcomes in one response.

The 207 Multi-Status code is used to convey information about multiple resources, often indicating partial success.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

What is the output of this partial success JSON response?

Given this JSON response from a REST API after batch processing, what is the value of results[1].status?

{
  "results": [
    {"id": 1, "status": "success"},
    {"id": 2, "status": "failed", "error": "Invalid input"},
    {"id": 3, "status": "success"}
  ]
}

A "failed"

B null

C "success"

D "pending"

💡 Hint

Look carefully at the second item in the results array.

The second item has a status field with the value "failed" indicating partial failure.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

Which approach best handles partial success in batch REST API calls?

When a batch REST API call partially succeeds, which approach is best to inform the client?

A Return HTTP 500 to indicate failure of the entire batch

B Return HTTP 404 if any item is not found

C Return HTTP 200 with a detailed body showing success and failure per item

D Return HTTP 204 No Content with no details

💡 Hint

Consider how to communicate both successes and failures clearly.

Returning HTTP 200 with detailed results allows clients to see which items succeeded or failed.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Identify the error in this partial success response handler code snippet

What error will this Python Flask code produce when handling partial success?

from flask import Flask, jsonify
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/batch', methods=['POST'])
def batch_process():
    results = [{"id": 1, "status": "success"}, {"id": 2, "status": "failed"}]
    if any(r['status'] == 'failed' for r in results):
        return jsonify(results), 207
    else:
        return jsonify(results), 200

if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run()

A RuntimeError because jsonify cannot serialize list of dicts

B No error; code runs and returns 207 status with JSON

C SyntaxError due to missing colon after if statement

D TypeError because 207 is not a valid HTTP status code in Flask

💡 Hint

Check if Flask supports status code 207 and if jsonify can handle the data.

Flask supports custom status codes like 207, and jsonify can serialize lists of dictionaries, so no error occurs.

🚀 Application

expert

How many items are in the final success list after partial success filtering?

Given this Python code that filters partial success results, how many items remain in success_items?

responses = [
    {"id": 1, "status": "success"},
    {"id": 2, "status": "failed"},
    {"id": 3, "status": "success"},
    {"id": 4, "status": "failed"},
    {"id": 5, "status": "success"}
]
success_items = [r for r in responses if r['status'] == 'success']
print(len(success_items))

A 0

B 2

C 5

D 3

💡 Hint

Count how many items have status 'success'.

There are three items with status 'success' (id 1, 3, and 5), so the length is 3.