How to handle Scala Play Framework 2 404 and 500 errors

To handle 404 and 500 errors in the Scala Play Framework 2 (2.3), you need to create a Global.scala object in your main app directory. The object should extend GlobalSettings, and override the necessary methods.

The following example Play Framework Global object, saved as app/Global.scala, demonstrates this:

import play.api._
import play.api.mvc._
import play.api.mvc.Results._

object Global extends GlobalSettings {

  // called when a route is found, but it was not possible to bind the request parameters
  override def onBadRequest(request: RequestHeader, error: String) = {
    BadRequest("Bad Request: " + error)
  } 

  // 500 - internal server error
  override def onError(request: RequestHeader, throwable: Throwable) = {
    InternalServerError(views.html.errors.onError(throwable))
  }

  // 404 - page not found error
  override def onHandlerNotFound(request: RequestHeader): Result = {
    NotFound(views.html.errors.onHandlerNotFound(request))
  }

}

The method views.html.errors.onError(throwable) refers to a Play template file I named onError.scala.html, and placed in my app/views/errors folder. A simple file looks like this:

@(throwable: Throwable)

@main("onError Happened") {

  <h1>onError Happened</h1>	
  <p>@throwable.getMessage</p>    

}

The method views.html.errors.onHandlerNotFound(request) refers to a Play template file I named onHandlerNotFound.scala.html, and is also in my app/views/errors folder. A simple version of that file looks like this:

@(request: RequestHeader)

@main("Handler Not Found") {

  <h1>Handler Not Found</h1>	
  <p>You requested: @request.path</p>
    
}

More information

For more information, see the following Play Framework pages:

• Application global settings
• GlobalSettings (Scala trait)
• GlobalSettings (java)

If you want to handle 404 "not found" and 500 "internal server error" errors in your Play Framework 2 application, I hope this post has been helpful.