Custom Client MessageInspector recording requests but not responses - wcf

Question

I have a Custom ClientMessageInspector that records requests but not replies to my service.
The code is:
namespace MessageListener.Instrumentation
{
public class MessageInspector : IClientMessageInspector
{
private Message TraceMessage(MessageBuffer buffer)
{
// Must use a buffer rather than the original message, because the Message's body can be processed only once.
Message msg = buffer.CreateMessage();
using (RREM_GilbaneEntities3 entities3 = new RREM_GilbaneEntities3())
{
SOAPMessage soapMessages = new SOAPMessage
{
SOAPMessage1 = msg.ToString(),
created = DateTime.Now,
source = "Interface12",
sourceIP = "Interface12"
};
entities3.SOAPMessages.Add(soapMessages);
entities3.SaveChanges();
}
//Return copy of origonal message with unalterd State
return buffer.CreateMessage();
}
public void AfterReceiveReply(ref System.ServiceModel.Channels.Message reply, object correlationState)
{
reply = TraceMessage(reply.CreateBufferedCopy(int.MaxValue));
}
public object BeforeSendRequest(ref System.ServiceModel.Channels.Message request, System.ServiceModel.IClientChannel channel)
{
request = TraceMessage(request.CreateBufferedCopy(int.MaxValue));
return null;
}
}
}
What seems to be happening is both AfterRecievReply and BeforeSendRequest are being called. In AfterRecieveReply before I call TraceMessage, I can see the whole reply. Inside TraceMessage, when I do:
// Must use a buffer rather than the original message, because the Message's body can be processed only once.
Message msg = buffer.CreateMessage();
it turns the reply into junk:
msg {<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<soap:Header />
<soap:Body>... stream ...</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>}
What's going on?

Answer 1

The reply isn't a junk message - it's just when you call ToString on it that it doesn't show the body of the message. Remember that a message can only be consumed once; once its body is read, it cannot be read again. Since many places (including the watch window of debuggers) will call ToString on an object, this method is implemented in a way that if it doesn't know for sure that a message body can be read multiple times, then it won't, which seems to be your case. If you want to really write out the message, try using this code:
public string MessageToString(Message message) {
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream()) {
XmlWriterSettings ws = new XmlWriterSettings();
ws.Encoding = new UTF8Encoding(false);
using (XmlWriter w = XmlWriter.Create(ms)) {
message.WriteMessage(w);
w.Flush();
return ws.Encoding.GetString(ms.ToArray());
}
}
}