I am trying to call an IIS hosted WCF web service that simply returns the current date from a BizTalk orchestration. There are no input parameters to this service.
Please ignore the First Receive_1 and the Last Send_1 shapes as I just used them to get started with this orchestration. My Orchestration looks like:
I used the "Add Generated Items..." wizard to add the generated reference to the web service in the Orchestration. My web service definition looks like:
[ServiceContract]
public interface ICalculator
{
[OperationContract]
DateTime GetLastExecutionDate();
}
public class CalculatorService : ICalculator
{
public DateTime GetLastExecutionDate()
{
return DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-6);
}
}
After I added the generated reference to the BizTalk project, the wizard created a set of ports and Multi Part Messages like below:
I have also created local messages to transport data between these calls like below:
Now, I have read everywhere I could that I will need to construct the InputMessage in order to call a web service with no parameters.
Some forums/website say that I need to simply created a blank ConstructMessage shape with the MessageType of dateRequest Message. While doing so the project doesn't compile and I get the following error message:
And the other suggested item is to do a MessageAssignment for a blank Document. So the MessageAssginment shape in my Orchestration has the following:
xDoc = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();
xDoc.LoadXml("<GetLastExecutionDate/>");
dateRequest.parameters = xDoc;
While this compiles and get's deployed, my BizTalk instance get's suspended with the following exception:
There was a failure executing the send pipeline:
"Microsoft.BizTalk.DefaultPipelines.XMLTransmit,
Microsoft.BizTalk.DefaultPipelines, Version=3.0.1.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Source: "XML assembler" Send Port:
"REDACTED_1.0.0.0_REDACTED.ExportData_WCFPort_dace989afd9cd9c5"
URI: "http://localhost/COMPANYNAME/WCFService/Service.svc" Reason: This
Assembler cannot retrieve a document specification using this type:
"GetLastExecutionDate".
And the parameter data passed into the service is:
So my question is: How do I call a WCF Service that does not expect any input parameters.
Go to your service request message schema file from within visual studio.
Right click -> Generate Instance.
Grab the XML instance generated and replace all the double quotes with single quotes.
Then paste this into your LoadXml() in your assignment
You probably need an XML namespace in the string used in the message assignment shape. I suggest you validate your XML string against the web service schema to make sure it makes a valid message.
You could also use xsd.exe to create .NET classes from your web service schema.
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa547985(BTS.20).aspx for a complete list of ways to contruct a message in an orchestration.
You use the XMLTransmit pipeline and there could be multiple root causes for it throwing error message
"Reason: This Assembler cannot retrieve a document specification using this type: xxx"
The most likely cause is that you do not have a schema deployed matching the message you are transmitting.
But the good news is that there is no need for the XMLTransmit pipeline in this scenario. Just change the send-pipeline to PassThruTransmit and it will most likely solve at least that problem.
Related
I'm consuming a WCF service in my project for which I've added the reference using 'Add Service Reference...'. I expected it to generate a clean proxy with a ServiceClient entity and the Interface. Instead, I see that it has created a MethodNameRequest, MethodNameRequestBody, MethodNameResponse, MethodNameResponseBody entities for each OperationContract method.
So while invoking the service methods, the proxy passes to the service method an instance of MethodNameRequest with the input parameters of the method as the properties of the RequestBody. See below an example of a call to AboutInformationGet() method which doesn't accept any parameters.
public WCFDynamicInvocation.PostingService.AboutModel AboutInformationGet() {
WCFDynamicInvocation.PostingService.AboutInformationGetRequest inValue = new WCFDynamicInvocation.PostingService.AboutInformationGetRequest();
inValue.Body = new WCFDynamicInvocation.PostingService.AboutInformationGetRequestBody();
WCFDynamicInvocation.PostingService.AboutInformationGetResponse retVal = ((WCFDynamicInvocation.PostingService.IMIGQPosting)(this)).AboutInformationGet(inValue);
return retVal.Body.AboutInformationGetResult;
}
I believe this behavior is what one would expect to see in a Webservice Proxy. Hence I suspect that the WCF service is not properly configured.
Did someone here face this issue? What would be the change to be done at the service so that the proxy generated is similar to the WCF service.
Cheers.
There is a similar post here.
Right click your service reference -> Configure service reference... -> Check if "Always generate message contracts" check box is checked. Uncheck it and hit OK to regenerate the proxy to see if you get a normal proxy.
After struggling with this for some time, I've finally found that the cause for the message contracts in the proxy was the service interface had the following attribute:
[XmlSerializerFormat(Use = OperationFormatUse.Literal, Style = OperationFormatStyle.Document)]
As I understand, I could decorate the DataContracts with the following attribute to avoid wrapping
[MessageContract(IsWrapped = false)]
but the response still gets wrapped as the OperationContract hasn't been modified.
As there were no particular need to use XMLSerializer in place of WCF's default DataContractSerializer, we would remove the XmlSeralizerFormat decoration.
My use-case:
I already have a working ASP.NET application
I would like to implement a new Web Service as part of that application
I am supposed to use a WCF service (*.svc), not an ASP.NET web service (*.asmx)
The service needs to have one operation, let’s call it GetInterface(), which returns instance of an interface. This instance must reside on the server, not be serialized to the client; methods called on that interface must execute on the server.
Here’s what I tried (please tell me where I went wrong):
For the purpose of testing this, I created a new ASP.NET Web Application project called ServiceSide.
Within that project, I added a WCF Service using “Add → New Item”. I called it MainService. This created both a MainService class as well as an IMainService interface.
Now I created a new Class library project called ServiceWorkLibrary to contain only the interface declaration that is to be shared between the client and server, nothing else:
[ServiceContract]
public interface IWorkInterface
{
[OperationContract]
int GetInt();
}
Back in ServiceSide, I replaced the default DoWork() method in the IMainService interface as well as its implementation in the MainService class, and I also added a simple implementation for the shared IWorkInterface. They now look like this:
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMainService
{
[OperationContract]
IWorkInterface GetInterface();
}
public class MainService : IMainService
{
public IWorkInterface GetInterface()
{
return new WorkInterfaceImpl();
}
}
public class WorkInterfaceImpl : MarshalByRefObject, IWorkInterface
{
public int GetInt() { return 47; }
}
Now running this application “works” in the sense that it gives me the default web-service page in the browser which says:
You have created a service.
To test this service, you will need to create a client and use it to
call the service. You can do this using the svcutil.exe tool from the
command line with the following syntax:
svcutil.exe http://localhost:59958/MainService.svc?wsdl
This will generate a configuration file and a code file that contains
the client class. Add the two files to your client application and use
the generated client class to call the Service. For example:
So on to the client then. In a separate Visual Studio, I created a new Console Application project called ClientSide with a new solution. I added the ServiceWorkLibrary project and added the reference to it from ClientSide.
Then I ran the above svcutil.exe call. This generated a MainService.cs and an output.config, which I added to the ClientSide project.
Finally, I added the following code to the Main method:
using (var client = new MainServiceClient())
{
var workInterface = client.GetInterface();
Console.WriteLine(workInterface.GetType().FullName);
}
This already fails with a cryptic exception in the constructor call. I managed to fix this by renaming output.config to App.config.
I notice that the return type of GetInterface() is object instead of IWorkInterface. Anyone know why? But let’s move on...
Now when I run this, I get a CommunicationException when calling GetInterface():
The underlying connection was closed: The connection was closed unexpectedly.
How do I fix this so that I get the IWorkInterface transparent proxy that I expect?
Things I’ve tried
I tried adding [KnownType(typeof(WorkInterfaceImpl))] to the declaration of WorkInterfaceImpl. If I do this, I get a different exception in the same place. It is now a NetDispatcherFaultException with the message:
The formatter threw an exception while trying to deserialize the message: There was an error while trying to deserialize parameter http://tempuri.org/:GetInterfaceResult. The InnerException message was 'Error in line 1 position 491. Element 'http://tempuri.org/:GetInterfaceResult' contains data from a type that maps to the name 'http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/ServiceSide:WorkInterfaceImpl'. The deserializer has no knowledge of any type that maps to this name. Consider using a DataContractResolver or add the type corresponding to 'WorkInterfaceImpl' to the list of known types - for example, by using the KnownTypeAttribute attribute or by adding it to the list of known types passed to DataContractSerializer.'. Please see InnerException for more details.
The InnerException mentioned is a SerializationException with the message:
Error in line 1 position 491. Element 'http://tempuri.org/:GetInterfaceResult' contains data from a type that maps to the name 'http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/ServiceSide:WorkInterfaceImpl'. The deserializer has no knowledge of any type that maps to this name. Consider using a DataContractResolver or add the type corresponding to 'WorkInterfaceImpl' to the list of known types - for example, by using the KnownTypeAttribute attribute or by adding it to the list of known types passed to DataContractSerializer.
Notice how this seems to indicate that the system is trying to serialize the type. It is not supposed to do that. It is supposed to generate a transparent proxy instead. How do I tell it to stop trying to serialize it?
I tried adding an attribute, [ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.PerSession)], to the WorkInterfaceImpl class. No effect.
I tried changing the attribute [ServiceContract] on the IWorkInterface interface (declared in the shared library ServiceWorkLibrary) to [ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Required)]. Also no effect.
I also tried adding the following magic system.diagnostics element to the Web.config in ServerSide:
<system.diagnostics>
<!-- This logging is great when WCF does not work. -->
<sources>
<source name="System.ServiceModel" switchValue="Information, ActivityTracing" propagateActivity="true">
<listeners>
<add name="traceListener" type="System.Diagnostics.XmlWriterTraceListener" initializeData="c:\traces.svclog" />
</listeners>
</source>
</sources>
</system.diagnostics>
This does generate the c:\traces.svclog file as promised, but I’m not sure I can make any sense of its contents. I’ve posted the generated file to pastebin here. You can view this information in a more friendly UI by using svctraceviewer.exe. I did that, but frankly, all that stuff doesn’t tell me anything...
What am I doing wrong?
The use-case I am describing is not directly supported by WCF.
The accepted work-around is to return an instance of EndpointAddress10 which points to the service for the “other” interface. The client must then manually create a Channel to access the remote object. WCF doesn’t properly encapsulate this process.
An example that demonstrates this is linked to from the MSDN article “From .NET Remoting to the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)” (find the text that says “Click here to download the code sample for this article”). This example code demonstrates both .NET Remoting as well as WCF. It defines an interface that looks like this:
[ServiceContract]
public interface IRemoteFactory
{
IMySessionBoundObject GetInstance();
[OperationContract]
EndpointAddress10 GetInstanceAddress();
}
Notice that the interface-returning method is not part of the contract, only the one that returns an EndpointAddress10 is marked with [OperationContract]. The example calls the first method via Remoting, where it correctly creates a remote proxy as one would expect — but when using WCF it resorts to the second method and then instantiates a separate ChannelFactory with the new endpoint address to access the new object.
What is MainServiceClient()? It is the class marshaling the client messages to the server.
You should take a look at a related SO post on returning interfaces as parameters in WCF. ServiceKnownTypeAttribute may be helpful.
Sessions may also be what you're looking for MarshalByRef as it relates to .NET Remoting behaviors.
Another approach (as mentioned on MSDN Forums) is to return the EndpointAddress of the service interface instead of the interface itself.
WCF does serialize everything - regardless of the binding. The best approach you should take if you need to communicate with the service on the same system is to use IPC transport binding (net.pipe).
What you are trying to do is a direct violation of the SOA Tenet: "Services share schema and contract, not class". What this means it that you don't actually pass implementation code from the service to its consumers, just the return values that are specified in the contract itself.
The main focus of WCF and SOA in general is interoperability, meaning services should be accessible to clients of any platform. How would a Java or C++ consumer be able to use this service you are designing? Short answer is that it couldn't, which is why you will find it difficult if not impossible to serialize this code over messaging standards like SOAP.
A more appropriate way to structure this code would be to host each implementation of IWorkerInterface as its own service (it has been defined as a service contract, after all), and expose each service on a different endpoint. Instead of MainService behaving as remote factory for proxies to an IWorkerInterface, it could act a as an endpoint factory to the different services you have set up. Endpoint metadata could easily be serialized and provided to the client by IMainService. The client could then take that metadata and construct a proxy to the remote implementation, either through some custom IServiceProxy implementation, or even through the objects already provided to you by WCF (such as the ChannelFactory).
Microsofts's WCF is easy to work with when you create Web services where each message has it's own Web method. WCF generates all of the WSDL and everything is easy.
What I want to do is have one Web method that accepts multiple different messages (I don't want to add a mew method every time I add a new message type). The messages themselves will have header information that identify the message type. Once I know the message type, I'll know the structure of the rest of the message.
The only way I've found to do this with WCF is to have the method accept a string, which I parse in as XML and and use. However, I can see no clear way to publish the various message types in the WSDL; so, the whole service is essentially undocumented.
Anyone know of a technique to use in WCF?
You can write an operation contract that accepts any message by setting the Action to * and having it take in a Message object:
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMessageContract
{
[OperationContract(Action = "*", ReplyAction = "*")]
Message ProcessRequest(Message request);
}
The Message object gives you access to the headers and has methods to deserialize the body.
To export your own WSDL, you will need to implement IWsdlExportExtension on a contract behavior or operation behavior and attach it to your service. This will give you access to a WsdlExporter, and you can create a ContractDescription yourself and call ExportContract to have it appear in the generated WSDL.
I have the following service contract:
using System.Windows.Forms.DataVisualization.Charting;
...
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMyService
{
[OperationContract]
bool Print(Chart chart);
}
When I run attempt to host the service (in Visual Studio under the WCFTestClient) I get the following exception:
Failed to add a service. Service metadata may not be accessible. Make sure your service is running and exposing metadata.
It seems to be an issue with the Chart type itself as changing this to something else works fine.
Any ideas?
Most likely this is due to the Chart type not being serializable.
Try sending over an object containing the chart data instead.
You can also check out the Chart Serializer
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.datavisualization.charting.chartserializer(VS.100).aspx
It helps handle the serialization for you, which I suspect is probably the reason why you may be getting the message posted.
I am trying to design an Picture Upload feature into a web site.
I am using ASP.NET 3.5, C#, and WCF.
I have been asked to accomplish the following:
1) Make the Uploader a Web Service
2) Return progress updates to the user as files are uploaded.
3) Log other relevant user-selected options in the database.
So, I have started off by creating a WCF web client with the
below service contract:
IService.UploadPictures(HttpRequest request);
private UploadServiceClient upload;
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
upload = new UploadServiceClient();
upload.UploadPictures(Request.Files);
}
When I compile, I get the below error:
Type 'System.Web.HttpRequest' cannot
be serialized. Consider marking it
with the DataContractAttribute, and
marking all of its members you want
serialized with the
DataMemberAttribute attribute.
So, I went back into my service contract and
changed [OperationContract] to [DataContract]
but the change produced the same error.
Can somebody kindly tell me what I am doing wrong
and provide examples as to how to best move forward?
Thanks for your time.
You cannot use something like a HttpRequest as a WCF parameter. The error messages says it all - the HttpRequest is not serializable, and in order to work with WCF, types have to be serializable.
Also, you need to remember: you're not just passing an object instance to a method here - what you're really doing is having the WCF runtime serialize your request (the method name to call plus all the parameters passed in) into a message (think: e-mail or xml file), sending it to the server, deserialising there and building up a new copy of the given datatype (as defined in your DataContract), and doing something with it.
Your WCF service could well be self-hosted, e.g. running in a NT Service or console app - no HttpRequest available in those circumstances!
You need to definitely rearchitect your solution - you need to either check into WCF streaming to upload files to WCF (google for it - you'll find plenty of hits) or you'll need to find another way to pass the relevant info (e.g. list of filenames) to the WCF service without use of a HttpRequest object.
Marc
You are submitting a request as a parameter to a request. This is not what you want to do. I'm assuming that "Request.Files" is an array of files. This is what you want to upload. So something like:
IService.UploadPictures(List<SomeFileType> request);