WCF service proxy doesn't refresh binding settings from config file - wcf

Question

My application changes end-point settings at run-time and persists the changes to config file. But when I create a new service proxy instance, the end-point settings are the ones that were before the update. How do I force the proxy to get new settings?

Answer 1

You will need to detect if your configuration file has been updated be it your main app.config / web.config or any external configuration file you are using via configSource.
If a change is detected you will need to refresh the system.serviceModel configuration section:
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("system.serviceModel/client");
Existing Channels and ChannelFactories will not pick up the changes so they will need to be closed and new ones created.
The following example shows this in action:
[TestFixture]
class When_trying_to_change_service_endpoints_on_the_fly
{
[Test]
public void Should_use_the_new_endpoint()
{
var someService1 = Substitute.For<ISomeWebService>();
var someService2 = Substitute.For<ISomeWebService>();
var serviceHost1 = CreateServiceHost(someService1, new Uri("http://localhost:50001"));
var serviceHost2 = CreateServiceHost(someService2, new Uri("http://localhost:50002"));
serviceHost1.Open();
serviceHost2.Open();
UpdateEndpointInConfig(new Uri("http://localhost:50001"));
var channelFactory = new ChannelFactory<ISomeWebService>("TestReloadConfig");
var channel1 = channelFactory.CreateChannel();
channel1.ServiceMethod();
((IChannel)channel1).Close();
channelFactory.Close();
UpdateEndpointInConfig(new Uri("http://localhost:50002"));
channelFactory = new ChannelFactory<ISomeWebService>("TestReloadConfig");
var channel2 = channelFactory.CreateChannel();
channel2.ServiceMethod();
((IChannel)channel2).Close();
serviceHost1.Close();
serviceHost2.Close();
someService1.Received(1).ServiceMethod();
someService2.Received(1).ServiceMethod();
}
private static void UpdateEndpointInConfig(Uri endpointAddress)
{
var configFile = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
configFile.ExeConfigFilename = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None).FilePath;
var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configFile, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
var serviceModelConfig = (ServiceModelSectionGroup) config.GetSectionGroup("system.serviceModel");
serviceModelConfig.Client.Endpoints[0].Address = endpointAddress;
config.Save();
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("system.serviceModel/client");
}
private ServiceHost CreateServiceHost<TService>(TService service, Uri baseUri)
{
var serviceHost = new ServiceHost(service, new Uri[0]);
serviceHost.Description.Behaviors.Find<ServiceDebugBehavior>().IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults = true;
serviceHost.Description.Behaviors.Find<ServiceBehaviorAttribute>().InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single;
serviceHost.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(TService), new BasicHttpBinding(), baseUri);
return serviceHost;
}
}
[ServiceContract]
public interface ISomeWebService
{
[OperationContract]
void ServiceMethod();
}
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<system.serviceModel>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://localhost:50000" binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="Junk.ISomeWebService" name="TestReloadConfig" />
</client>
</system.serviceModel>
</configuration>
If you managed the endpoint configurations another way you could update any ChannelFactory instance manually as you have access to the Endpoint and Binding properties.