ASP.NET Core 6.0: How to implement pagination with Entity Framework and handle out-of-range page requests?
I just started working with I'm currently developing an ASP.NET Core 6.0 web application where I need to implement pagination for a large dataset retrieved using Entity Framework Core... I've set up pagination using the `Skip` and `Take` methods, but I've run into a question when the user requests a page number that exceeds the total number of available pages. Instead of returning an empty result or a specific behavior message, I want to handle this gracefully. Here's the code I've written so far: ```csharp public async Task<IActionResult> GetPagedItems(int pageNumber, int pageSize) { var totalItems = await _context.Items.CountAsync(); var totalPages = (int)Math.Ceiling(totalItems / (double)pageSize); if (pageNumber < 1 || pageNumber > totalPages) { return NotFound("Page number is out of range."); // This works but feels a bit abrupt. } var items = await _context.Items .Skip((pageNumber - 1) * pageSize) .Take(pageSize) .ToListAsync(); return Ok(new { TotalItems = totalItems, TotalPages = totalPages, CurrentPage = pageNumber, Items = items }); } ``` When the page number exceeds the range, the `NotFound` response is returned, but I'd like to provide a more user-friendly message, such as a JSON object indicating no items were found along with the total pages available. I already tried modifying the response to check if the page number is out of range and returning an empty array with a message instead, but I'm unsure about the best way to implement this. Could someone suggest the best practice for handling out-of-range pagination requests and how to structure the response properly? Also, is there a recommended way to set default values for `pageNumber` and `pageSize` if they are not provided? Thanks! Thanks in advance! I'm working on a CLI tool that needs to handle this. Has anyone else encountered this?