Table Valued Function in Entity Model Not Visible Through WCF - wcf

I have successfully imported a Table Valued Function into our entity model using EF5, which we expose via WCF DataServices.
From within the project that houses the model and WCF service, we can access and the imported TVF function no problem. But from within our client applications that consume the service, the TVF is nowhere to be found in code or the object browser.
How can we expose the TVF through the WCF service so we can call it from our client apps?

It seems you have to manually register TVFs as methods on your service, and then manually toss some service operation access rights to that method in the static config/init routine, like so:
[WebGet]
public IQueryable<LongJohns> GetFancyPants(Nullable<int> size)
{
return this.CurrentDataSource.FancyPantsTVF(size).AsQueryable();
}
...and hook it up somewhere in the service initializer:
// This method is called only once to initialize service-wide policies.
public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config)
{
config.SetServiceOperationAccessRule("GetFancyPants", ServiceOperationRights.All);
}
Now I don't know if this is because I'm still clinging to EF5 or something, but oddly enough it took longer than I hoped for to find hints and get this to work. After doing the above, it instantly worked for me anyway.

Related

.NET Core Service Layer or DAO Scoped, or both?

When creating a .NET application where the controller calls a service, then the service calls a DAO for the database work, and I'm using Entity Framework Core 6.0 for the database services, do I also add the service layer objects in ConfigureServices, or just the data layer, and pass them in to constructors?
I'm not sure this is exactly a preference, rather I'm worried about multithreading, specifically.
The scheme is: API -> Controller -> Service -> DAO -> Database then back for the result.
Sample code:
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
services.AddDbContext<CRM_MSCRMContext>();
services.AddScoped<HomeService>();
}
See above, I've added both the service that calls the context, as well as the context.
I'm injecting the DAO using the constructor:
Sample code:
public CRMDAO(CRM_MSCRMContext crmContext)
{
_crmContext = crmContext;
}
And I could be injecting the service into the controller, if I add to Scoped. Otherwise I think I'm just instantiating new in the constructor anyway:
public HomeController(HomeService homeService)
{
_homeService = homeService;
}
or I could use a constructor and forget injection here:
public HomeController()
{
_homeService = new HomeService();
}
Why would one be better than the other from a multithreading or database connection standpoint? I understand that this is going to be scoped per-request, so maybe it's no different than using the constructor to New the service object on every request anyway from the controller?
Thank you,
Dan Chase
OK so after reading documentation and experimenting, I found it seems to be all or nothing. I had to add everything in ConfigureServices, all DAO's and all Services, as well as all Contexts. Otherwise I kept getting "Unable to resolve while attempting to activate" errors. I also had to move everything to an Interface, or it doesn't seem to work at all.
If anyone has any tips let me know, but I figured best to answer my own question than to delete, because someone might be able to fill in more info.

ASP.NET, WCF and per-operation static variables - how to use them safely?

I have a WCF service and I have the following (simplified) class:
public class PerOperationSingleton : IDisposable
{
private static bool _hasInstance = false;
public PerOperationSingleton()
{
if(_hasInstance)
throw new InvalidOperationException("Cannot have multiple instances during a single WCF operation");
_hasInstance = true;
}
public void Dispose()
{
_hasInstance = false;
}
}
I guess, it's pretty self explanatory piece of code. I don't need a singleton for entire WCF service but only during a single operation call. If one instance of the PerOperationSingleton is disposed, it should be safe to create a new instance during the same WCF operation.
The problem is that I don't know how to make the _hasInstance variable to be effective only for one WCF operation. I know about [ThreadStatic], but I've heard that ASP.NET and WCF do not guarantee that an operation will be executed on a single thread - it might be transferred to another thread.
I definitely don't want my _hasInstance = true to move to thread pool and get incorrectly detected if some other operation picks that thread from the pool.
If WCF operation moves to another thread, I would like the _hasInstance variable to keep the "true" value if it was set.
And I don't want to change some global settings for my WCF service to avoid affecting the performance or get into some problems which will be hard to debug and solve later (I don't feel proficient enough in advanced ASP.NET and WCF topics).
I cannot store _hasInstance in session either because my client requested to disable .NET sessions for various reasons.
I would like the class PerOperationSingleton actually to be environment agnostic. It shouldn't really know anything about WCF or ASP.NET.
How do I make _hasInstance variable static during entire call of my WCF operation and don't affect other WCF operations?
I would consider using OperationContext to make you data "static" during the operation call.
Here is a similar discussion Where to store data for current WCF call? Is ThreadStatic safe?

WCF Calling C# Methods

I used to code only in databases enviroments. Recent changes in the corp. made me start developing in whole new worlds.
This new project is something like SQL - C# - PHP.
The class I've been working on in VS2008 is almost dnoe. It calls all the SQL SPs I need and the info is there in the DataReaders.
When It came to read that info from PHP so I could populate the website I found out it wasn't that easy. I was recommended into trying several options, the one that suits the best for the project is to create a Web Service and then consume it (please be patient, As I just stated I'm new to most web related programming)
So, I'm trying to WCF/Rest and then consume it from PHP but I haven't got there yet.
I've read and watched several tutorials on WCF and It seems to be smooth, but all I've read is:
. Create Interface with its OperationContracts.
. Create Service with DataMembers etc and define the Methods listed in the Interface.
Ok, but what I'd like to do is not to specify any methods there, since all I want is to call C# method I've already written.
Should I do that in the Service or in the Interface? And first of all, is this the right the way to approach it?
You would want to write service methods that implement an operation contract interface. The service methods can call the C# code that you've already written.
For example, here is a simple service interface:
[ServiceContract]
public interface IYourService
{
[OperationContract]
int GetCountOfTransactions(string filter);
}
And then you would implement this interface in your service class:
public class YourService : IYourService
{
public int GetCountOfTransactions(string filter)
{
// Call your existing code
YourClass yourClass = new YourClass();
return yourClass.GetCountOfTransactions(filter);
}
}
There are plenty of examples out there for setting this up as a REST service, but I think you're on the right track.
The trickiest part is usually setting up the binding configuration to make sure all of your consuming client applications can connect.
Hopefully this helps.

WCF Callback implementation function never gets called

I am designing a WCF service with callback, but my implementation of the callback function never gets called. And I am confused about the generated service proxy, so please help.
Here is the scenario: in the server side, I defined the service interface IMyService and callback interface IMyServiceCallback, I also implemented the IMyService in the server project. Besides the server project, I surely have another client project, to which I added the service reference in VS. And I implemented the IMyServiceCallback interface on the client side. So here comes the problem: when I am debugging it, the function never goes into my implementation of IMyServiceCallback and of course the desired result never comes out.
And this is I where I got confused: when I added the service reference in the client side, it actually generated three interfaces on the local: IMyService, IMyServiceCallback, and IMyServiceChannel plus the client proxy class. And in my local implementation of IMyServiceCallback, I declared the class to implement the local IMyServiceCallback interface, not the one from service side. Could this be the problem? Why is there two declarations of the interface under different projects(and hence different namespaces)? The reason I implement the client side interface is, if I implemented from the server side interface, it would give the error: "InstanceContext provided to the ChannelFactory contains a UserObject that does not implement the CallbackContractType error" when I tried to call the service. And another confusing part is, on the server side if I declare the callback interface name as IMyCallback, or anything else, instead of IMyServiceCallback, the generated interface on the client side would still be IMyServiceCallback, which is the name of the service interface plus the suffix "Callback". And in this situation I also got the "InstanceContext provided to the ChannelFactory contains a UserObject that does not implement the CallbackContractType error".
I guess there is something that I misunderstood about the "add service reference" and how I should implement the interface(which one to implement). Could anyone help me? Thanks!
Updated:
I somehow fixed the problem. Firstly, the two declarations is fine is desired. The local client will need to implement the local interface, which is generated when adding the service reference. And my problem was that I also defined a DataContract but the generated reference file didn't have it. It could either because I had added the assembly of the service project as reference(somebody said in this case add service reference will not generate the Datacontract) or because I was missing DataMember attribute. But anyway, after I fixed both parts, the function is working now.
When you "Add Service Reference" and generate a proxy, it is totally separate from your service implementation. Remember, you may be consuming a service that you have not written and do not have access to the service source code.
The client code should use the client generated interfaces. If you change your service, you need to regenerate the proxy.
If you find this too messy, and you know you will always control both ends, you can share the service interfaces in a common assembly and generate a proxy class at runtime using DuplexChannelFactory.CreateChannel().
As for your problem, I can only assume you are not registering your callback properly. This is covered here.
if you want publish , you must implement IMyServiceCallback and IMyService together in same project.
if only subscribe , you must implement IMyServiceCallback interface
I fixed the issue when my callback instruction was embedded in a function call.
I learned that placing the callback in just a method that does not return a result works fine.
However, when the callback instruction is placed within a function I ran into timeout issue.
I resolved it by using a backgroundworker thread within the function being invoked:
public static IMyServiceCallback Callback;
.
.
.
TaskStateData taskStateData = GetSomeData();
BackgroundWorker backgroundWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
backgroundWorker.DoWork += (se, ev) =>
{
Tuple<OperationContext, TaskStateData> data = ev.Argument as Tuple<OperationContext, TaskStateData>;
var operationContext = data.Item1;
if (operationContext != null)
{
Callback = operationContext.GetCallbackChannel<IMyServiceCallback>();
Callback.OnCallBack();
}
};
Tuple<OperationContext, TaskStateData> payload = new Tuple<OperationContext, TaskStateData>(OperationContext.Current, taskStateData);
backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync(payload);

How to create a trimmed service in WCF

I've got a WCF service with lots of method and DataContracts. It is usually consumed by large application "A". I want to create a tiny application "B" which will use the very same server but only a few methods from the service. I want to reduce the size of the XAP, and since the client is using a fraction of all methods exposed by the service, I'd like to have a smaller service reference file than the one automatically created by Visual Studio. I can remove methods which are not used manually but then I cannot really use update service command.
Any solutions?
Many thanks,
Karol
OK, so you have a complete IGreatService interface with lots of methods, which are implemented on a MyGreatService class.
How about this: you create a new, second interface IMyServiceB which has only those few methods you want to expose to the second group of users. You make it so your service implements both IGreatService and IMyServiceB (that's absolutely possible, no problem):
public class MyGreatService : IGreatService, IMyServiceB
{
..
}
Service B basically then just calls those few methods in the service implementation that you want to expose - let's say, you have MethodA on IGreatService that you want to expose on IMyServiceB as well (as MethodB) - implement it like that:
public class MyGreatService : IGreatService, IMyServiceB
{
....
// as defined on IGreatService
public void MethodA (....)
{
}
....
public void MethodB (.....) // as defined on IMyServiceB
{
MethodA();
}
}
That way, you get two separate interfaces (= services), but basically you write your code only once.
You can then expose IMyServiceB on a distinct and separate endpoint, so that users who are supposed to only see IMyServiceB can just connect to that separate endpoint, and they'll only get whatever they need to use your service-B operations.
Could that work?
Marc