WCF: parameters handled in custom channel not present in generated WSDL - wcf

I have some special parameters to all my wcf service methods that are handled inside a custom channel and are not exposed in the service method parameter list. This works fine for json/xml endpoints, but the I don't know how to use a SOAP endpoint with this setup because the generated WSDL doesn't include fields that are not in the service call parameter list.
Is there a way I can centralize the handling of the special parameters that apply to all service methods (authentication, locale and other contextual information) and provide a SOAP endpoint that Just Works (tm)?
Hand editing wsdl files is not an option.

Provide something that implements IWsdlExportExtension to modify the WSDL as it is generated to contain the extra information you want. (Your custom channel BindingElement might be a good place to do this).

Related

Using WCF Extensibility at Client Side

I am using a web application as a client to invoke WCF methods using proxy.
For each request being made by client object, I need to populate few properties (declared inside request class)
Is it possible to hook a method, just before making the actual web service call.
I can't modify service code right now, Can WCF extensibility points could be leveraged in this case?
Thanks for your help.
If you want to change the properties of the method parameters, you can use an IParameterInspector to do that, since at that point you'll get an array with all parameters to be sent to the server.
If you need to change other parts of the request (such as transport or SOAP headers), an IClientMessageInspector may be the best way to go.
For more information on many extensibility points at the client side, you can check the blog series at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/carlosfigueira/archive/2011/03/14/wcf-extensibility.aspx.

Accessing .NET WCF services from Android

I have a .NET WCF service (not a web service) with many methods, some accepting and returning complex data types. I use these services from my Windows Phone 7 apps. It all works great and it's easy.
Now I'm evaluating the feasibility of porting some of my apps to Android, but I can't figure out how to invoke my WCF services from an Android client.
I have a working example I found in Invoke webservices from Android.
But this looks to be accessing a "Web Service", not a WCF Service.
My service is at http://www.deanblakely.com/Service2.svc, and it contains a simple method named "SimpleTest" that just returns the string "Alive".
Using the code in the linked article, I put http://www.deanblakely.com/Service2.svc in SOAP_ADDRESS and SimpleTest in OPERATION_NAME. But I have no idea what to put in SOAP_ACTION and WSDL_TARGET_NAMESPACE. I don't even know if this approach is valid.
In .NET, Visual Studio builds us a "Service Reference" and everything just works.
I also don't understand the following two lines of code...
httpTransport.call(SOAP_ACTION, envelope);
Object response = envelope.getResponse();
With WCF services, the call is async so we make the call to SimpleTestAsync and leave a callback for the async return. These two lines of code appear to be synchronous, no?
When communicating with WCF services from a non-Windows client, you are basically treating it as an XML Web Service. If you configure your WCF service to use a basicHttp binding, it will act just like any other web service, as far as Java is concerned.
Normally, to call a WCF service from Java, you use wsimport to create a custom set of proxy and data classes, similar to the way a service reference works. Android doesn't have all the libraries needed for those classes, but I did find this URL:
http://code.google.com/p/androidclientgenerator-wsimport/
That is a proxy class generator specifically for Android. Instead of using the code on that web page, you may want to download this proxy generator; you simply have to pass it the URL to your service's WSDL page and it will create typed Java classes for everything. If you have complex types being passed back and forth, this is probably a much better option.
However, if you want to continue with the sample code, you'll need to fill in those variables you've identified. The variables are just the typical parameters for a SOAP envelope. These are defined in the WSDL for your service, and are primarily based on the namespace that you have defined for your service. (They are largely independent of the actual URL that your service lives at, with one exception). You specify the namespace in the WCF service contract:
[ServiceContract(Namespace = "http://namespaces.deanblakely.com/wcf")]
Note that the namespace URL doesn't need to point to a real resource, though frequently they do. It doesn't even need to be a URL (I often use urns); it just needs to be a unique string of characters. For now lets assume you assigned the above namespace to your service.
The WSDL_TARGET_NAMESPACE is just the namespace, exactly as above. The OPERATION_NAME is the name of the method you want to call, for example SimpleTest. The SOAP_ACTION is the combination of namespace an operation; in your case that would be http://namespaces.deanblakely.com/wcf/SimpleTest. In your WSDL you would see this described in an operation tag:
<wsdl:operation name="SimpleTest">
<soap:operation soapAction="http://namespaces.deanblakely.com/wcf/SimpleTest" style="document"/>
The SOAP_ADDRESS is the only one that actually points to your service file, e.g. http://www.deanblakely.com/Service2.svc.
Hopefully that will get you started calling in to your web service; if not feel free to stop back and get more assistance.
EDIT: Missed the part about async calls.
Yes, the method described on that web page is synchronous. WCF service methods are synchronous by default, with the option to include asynchronous calls when generating a service reference in Visual Studio. wsimport generates async-ready proxies, so using the Android client generate may also help you out in this area.

How to add REST support in existing server ?

I wrote some WCF server that support SOAP.
Now, i need to add some new request ... to add support in REST in some of the method that are supported SOAP.
I don't know how to do it.
Actually one of those method need to change to support REST.
How to do it ?
Add WebHttpBinding and a new service contract interface with the relevant REST methods annotated with UriTemplate. Encapsulate your business logic in a class that is used by soap service class and the rest service class both.

How does WCF Decide which Operation to Dispatch To?

I'm building a WCF SOAP application. The WSDL file has numerous operations of which many have the same argument type. The WSDL file defines all soapAction attributes as "''". When I try to start such a service WCF throw an exception saying that soapActions have to be unique.
After some googling I'm even more puzzled than before. I used SOAPUI to create a mock service with two operations which take the same input type and without the soapActions defined it always chooses the same operation. When the actions are defined it works fine.
My questions are:
Can you make a WCF SOAP service without unique soapActions (actually leaving the soapActions "''" as defined in the original WSDL)?
How can a service choose the right operation without the soapAction defined?
Edited:
I'm not in control of the WSDL. I'm using the WSCF.Blue tool to create a service stub from the WSDL file. I might be able to modify the WSDL, but I want to see if there is some possibility to leave it as it is.
It is not very clear from your question but I suggest you are building service based on some defined WSDL, aren't you? WCF by default uses SOAP action because it is required part of WS-I Basic Profile 1.1 offered by WCF services with BasicHttpBinding. WSDLs with empty SOAP actions are used when the action is defined by root body element.
WCF samples provides example of custom DispatchOperationSelector which is able to route messages to operations by their root body element. This is probably what you need to add to your service so that clients based on provided WSDL can call it.

WCF - how to add additional data to each call

I want to add a complex poco that will pass itself within each wcf call. Whats the bast practice for this case?
Typically, the best way to do something like this is passing such "meta-information" in a WCF header. You can easily create a message inspector to extend WCF (it's really not that scary and hard to do!) which would inject the POCO class (or what of it is necessary) into every outgoing request from the client, and retrieve it from the header and validate it on the server side.
There are a number of pretty good blog post out there showing you how to create a message inspector:
Richard Hallgren's WCF postings
Writing a WCF message inspector
Automatic Culture Flowing with WCF by using Custom Behaviour
Check out the two relevant interfaces to implement:
IClientMessageInspector on the client side, which has a BeforeSendRequest and AfterReceiveReply message to implement
IDispatchMessageInspector on the server side, which has a AfterReceiveRequest and BeforeSendReply method to implement
Here you go, check this out...
https://kinnrot.github.io/passing-complex-type-through-wcf/