Exposing a WCF Service REST-fully - wcf

Question

I have created a brand new WCF Service. I created this service by just saying Add New Item... -> WCF Service in Visual Studio. I then edited the contract slightly to look like the following:
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMyService
{
[OperationContract]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "/Authenticate/{username}/{password}", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
bool Authenticate(string username, string password);
}
My operations looks like the following:
[AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Required)]
[ServiceBehavior(IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults = false)]
public class MyService : IMyService
{
public bool Authenticate(string username, string password)
{
try
{
return false;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException("Unknown exception");
}
}
}
When I visit: http://localhost:80/MyService.svc/Authenticate/someUserName/somePassword in my browser window, an empty screen appears. I was expecting "false" to appear in JSON syntax. What am I doing wrong?
Thank you!

Answer 1

Use a tool like Fiddler to see the actual HTTP messages. Helps with debugging.
Second, you're request URL is wrong. Try this:
http://localhost:80/MyService.svc/Authenticate/someUserName/somePassword
You do have a SVC file, correct? You'll need that if you're hosting this in IIS. If you're self hosting it in a WebServiceHost object, then you don't need them.
using( WebServiceHost host = new WebServiceHost( typeof( MyService) ) )
{
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine( "Service is running" );
Console.WriteLine( "Press enter to quit..." );
Console.ReadLine();
host.Close();
}