StatusPartialContent is better since we need to result to see.

pkg/restheadspec/handler.go

@@ -662,6 +662,14 @@ func (h *Handler) handleRead(ctx context.Context, w common.ResponseWriter, id st
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Check if a specific ID was requested but no record was found
+	resultCount := reflection.Len(modelPtr)
+	if id != "" && resultCount == 0 {
+		logger.Warn("Record not found for ID: %s", id)
+		h.sendError(w, http.StatusNotFound, "not_found", "Record not found", nil)
+		return
+	}
+
 	limit := 0
 	if options.Limit != nil {
 		limit = *options.Limit
@@ -676,7 +684,7 @@ func (h *Handler) handleRead(ctx context.Context, w common.ResponseWriter, id st
 
 	metadata := &common.Metadata{
 		Total:    int64(total),
-		Count:    int64(reflection.Len(modelPtr)),
+		Count:    int64(resultCount),
 		Filtered: int64(total),
 		Limit:    limit,
 		Offset:   offset,
@@ -2099,14 +2107,20 @@ func (h *Handler) sendResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{}, metada
 
 // sendResponseWithOptions sends a response with optional formatting
 func (h *Handler) sendResponseWithOptions(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{}, metadata *common.Metadata, options *ExtendedRequestOptions) {
+	w.SetHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
+	if data == nil {
+		data = map[string]interface{}{}
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusPartialContent)
+	} else {
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+	}
 	// Normalize single-record arrays to objects if requested
 	if options != nil && options.SingleRecordAsObject {
 		data = h.normalizeResultArray(data)
 	}
 
 	// Return data as-is without wrapping in common.Response
-	w.SetHeader("Content-Type", "application/json")
-	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+
 	if err := w.WriteJSON(data); err != nil {
 		logger.Error("Failed to write JSON response: %v", err)
 	}
@@ -2116,7 +2130,7 @@ func (h *Handler) sendResponseWithOptions(w common.ResponseWriter, data interfac
 // Returns the single element if data is a slice/array with exactly one element, otherwise returns data unchanged
 func (h *Handler) normalizeResultArray(data interface{}) interface{} {
 	if data == nil {
-		return nil
+		return map[string]interface{}{}
 	}
 
 	// Use reflection to check if data is a slice or array
@@ -2125,18 +2139,41 @@ func (h *Handler) normalizeResultArray(data interface{}) interface{} {
 		dataValue = dataValue.Elem()
 	}
 
-	// Check if it's a slice or array with exactly one element
-	if (dataValue.Kind() == reflect.Slice || dataValue.Kind() == reflect.Array) && dataValue.Len() == 1 {
-		// Return the single element
-		return dataValue.Index(0).Interface()
+	// Check if it's a slice or array
+	if dataValue.Kind() == reflect.Slice || dataValue.Kind() == reflect.Array {
+		if dataValue.Len() == 1 {
+			// Return the single element
+			return dataValue.Index(0).Interface()
+		} else if dataValue.Len() == 0 {
+			// Return empty object instead of empty array
+			return map[string]interface{}{}
+		}
 	}
 
+	if dataValue.Kind() == reflect.String {
+		str := dataValue.String()
+		if str == "" || str == "null" {
+			return map[string]interface{}{}
+		}
+
+	}
 	return data
 }
 
 // sendFormattedResponse sends response with formatting options
 func (h *Handler) sendFormattedResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{}, metadata *common.Metadata, options ExtendedRequestOptions) {
 	// Normalize single-record arrays to objects if requested
+	httpStatus := http.StatusOK
+	if data == nil {
+		data = map[string]interface{}{}
+		httpStatus = http.StatusPartialContent
+	} else {
+		dataLen := reflection.Len(data)
+		if dataLen == 0 {
+			httpStatus = http.StatusPartialContent
+		}
+	}
+
 	if options.SingleRecordAsObject {
 		data = h.normalizeResultArray(data)
 	}
@@ -2155,7 +2192,7 @@ func (h *Handler) sendFormattedResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{
 	switch options.ResponseFormat {
 	case "simple":
 		// Simple format: just return the data array
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		w.WriteHeader(httpStatus)
 		if err := w.WriteJSON(data); err != nil {
 			logger.Error("Failed to write JSON response: %v", err)
 		}
@@ -2167,7 +2204,7 @@ func (h *Handler) sendFormattedResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{
 		if metadata != nil {
 			response["count"] = metadata.Total
 		}
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		w.WriteHeader(httpStatus)
 		if err := w.WriteJSON(response); err != nil {
 			logger.Error("Failed to write JSON response: %v", err)
 		}
@@ -2178,7 +2215,7 @@ func (h *Handler) sendFormattedResponse(w common.ResponseWriter, data interface{
 			Data:     data,
 			Metadata: metadata,
 		}
-		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		w.WriteHeader(httpStatus)
 		if err := w.WriteJSON(response); err != nil {
 			logger.Error("Failed to write JSON response: %v", err)
 		}