Using query string parameters to disambiguate a UriTemplate match

Question

I am using WCF 4.0 to create a REST-ful web service. What I would like to do is have different service methods called based on query string parameters in the UriTemplate<

Answer 1

According to This post, it is not possible, you would have to do something like:

[OperationContract]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "people/driversLicense/{driversLicense}")]
string GetPersonByLicense(string driversLicense);

[OperationContract]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "people/ssn/{ssn}")]
string GetPersonBySSN(string ssn);

Answer 2

I also ran into this problem and eventually came up with a different solution. I didn't want to have a different method for each property of an object.

What I did was as follows:

Define the URL Template in the service contract not specifying any query string parameters:

[WebGet(UriTemplate = "/People?")]
[OperationContract]
List<Person> GetPersonByParams();

Then in the implementation access any valid query string parameters:

public List<Person> GetPersonByParms()
    {
        PersonParams options= null;

        if (WebOperationContext.Current != null)
        {
            options= new PersonParams();

            options.ssn= WebOperationContext.Current.IncomingRequest.UriTemplateMatch.QueryParameters["ssn"];
            options.driversLicense = WebOperationContext.Current.IncomingRequest.UriTemplateMatch.QueryParameters["driversLicense"];
            options.YearOfBirth = WebOperationContext.Current.IncomingRequest.UriTemplateMatch.QueryParameters["YearOfBirth"];
        }

        return _repository.GetPersonByProperties(options);
    }

You can then search by using URL's such as

/PersonService.svc/People 

/PersonService.svc/People?ssn=5552

/PersonService.svc/People?ssn=5552&driversLicense=123456

It also enables you to mix and match query string parameters so just use what you want and omit any other params you're not interested in. It has the advantage of not restricting you to just one query parameter.

Answer 3

Alternatively, if you want to keep the query string format, adding a static query string parameter to the beginning of the UriTemplate would work. For example:

[OperationContract]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "people?searchBy=driversLicense&driversLicense={driversLicense}")]
string GetPersonByLicense(string driversLicense);

[OperationContract]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "people?searchBy=ssn&ssn={ssn}")]
string GetPersonBySSN(string ssn);