Using Swagger with WCF REST - wcf

Question

I have a WCF REST based service that I would like to add Swagger to. I have installed Swagger.NET package, my project is using .NET 4.0. I have also enabled XML documentation, etc... but now I am not sure the best route from here.
When i launch http://localhost/SwaggerUI/index.html I get the default page with the http://YOUR-URL-HERE:PORT/api/swagger. I am not sure what url should go here. I did enable help of the service via: <standardEndpoint name="" helpEnabled="true" /> which does give me the ugly page here: http://localhost/api/help -- when i plug that into Swagger i just get the result:
200 : OK http://localhost/api/help
What is the best way to proceed, i am not using WebApi but have many of the features available if that helps.

Answer 1

As of December 2015, there is an implementation of Swagger for Wcf now. You should check this out - Swagger for WCF - SwaggerWcf

Answer 2

Currently there are no implementations of Swagger for WCF. You will either need to implement your own by following the spec from https://github.com/wordnik/swagger-core/wiki, or wait patiently for someone to implement one for you.
I currently have an implementation in progress, but it's not quite ready for primetime. The basic spec is deceptively simple, but fitting it to WCF is a definite challenge.

Answer 3

I tried to implement swagger for WCF in my application as the implementation is different as we implanted for web API(simpler). I will tell you how its different and how it works step by step:-
**1. Why Swagger4Wcf**
----------------------
•Manually writing yaml description for swagger and maintain it especially WCF services are boring.
•There is a nuget package called Swagger4WCF that automatically generates yaml description for swagger 2.0 for each interface matching attributes used by WCF (ServiceContract/OperationContract/WebGet/WebInvoke).
2. How Swagger Works in the Background
--------------------------------------
Swagger4WCF uses NuPack post build pattern to trigger at build time.
https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/1190360/How-to-setup-a-managed-postbuild-without-scripting
3.At build time, it will detect assemblies present in output directory, open them with mono.cecil (to reflect assemblies) to generate expected yaml description for swagger 2.0.
Swagger4WCF detects **WebGet/WebInvoke** to provide Verb/Method in serialization style in yaml.
Steps to implement Swagger in your application:-
1. Install SwaggerWcf package
2. Configure WCF routes
We have to add the route in the Application_Start method inside Global.asax
protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
RouteTable.Routes.Add(new ServiceRoute("v1/rest", new WebServiceHostFactory(), typeof(BookStore)));
RouteTable.Routes.Add(new ServiceRoute("api-docs", new WebServiceHostFactory(), typeof(SwaggerWcfEndpoint)));
}
Note: Edit Web.config and add the following (if it doesn't exist yet) inside the system.serviceModel block
<serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true" multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true"/>
3. Configure WCF response auto types (optional)
We have to add the following to Web.config. This will allow the WCF service to accept requests and send replies based on the Content-Type headers.
<behavior name="webHttpBehavior">
<webHttp defaultOutgoingResponseFormat="Json" automaticFormatSelectionEnabled="true"/>
</behavior>
</endpointBehaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior>
<!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information, set the values below to false before deployment -->
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="true"/>
<!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes, set the value below to true. Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing exception information -->
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
</behavior>
4. Decorate WCF services interfaces
For each method, we have to configure the WebInvoke or WebGet attribute, and add a SwaggerWcfPath attribute.
[SwaggerWcfPath("Get book", "Retrieve a book from the store using its id")]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "/books/{id}", BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json,
ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
[OperationContract]
Book ReadBook(string id);
5. Decorate WCF services class
• Add the SwaggerWcf and AspNetCompatibilityRequirements attributes to the class providing the base path for the service.
• For each method, add the SwaggerWcfTag to categorize the method and theSwaggerWcfResponse for each possible response from the service.
[SwaggerWcfTag("Books")]
[SwaggerWcfResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, "Book found, value in the response body")]
[SwaggerWcfResponse(HttpStatusCode.NoContent, "No books", true)]
public Book[] ReadBooks()
{
}
6. Decorate data types used in WCF services
[DataContract]
[Description("Book with title, first publish date, author and language")]
[SwaggerWcfDefinition(ExternalDocsUrl = "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book", ExternalDocsDescription = "Description of a book")]
public class Book
{
[DataMember]
[Description("Book ID")]
public string Id { get; set; }
[DataMember]
[Description("Book Title")]
public string Title { get; set; }
[DataMember]
[Description("Book First Publish Date")]
public int FirstPublished { get; set; }
[DataMember]
[Description("Book Author")]
public Author Author { get; set; }
[DataMember]
[Description("Book Language")]
public Language Language { get; set; }
}
That's it wcf for Swagger implemented.
Please free if you face any issue.
Thanks,
Abhi