WCF Configuration Hell?

Question

I hate WCF setup with endpoints, behaviors etc. I believe all these things should be performed automatically. All I want to do is to return JSON result from my WCF service. Here

Answer 1

You are using the WebInvokeAttribute which tells WCF by default to accept POST as the verb. Since you are trying to access it via a GET action, it is being ignored.

Use WebGetAttribute instead.

Per MSDN:

If you want a service operation to respond to GET, use the WebGetAttribute instead.

Answer 2

I am using .net framework 4, VS2010. I made a dummy mistake in my global.asax.cs that instead of creating an instance of WebServiceHostFactory I punched WebScriptServiceHostFactory through intellSense. As a result I got the same error:

Endpoints using 'UriTemplate' cannot be used with 'System.ServiceModel.Description.WebScriptEnablingBehavior'.

I corrected the instance to WebServiceHostFactory in my global.asax.cs, I don't see the error anymore.

Answer 3

In your WebGet or WebInvoke Specify your BodyStyle to WrappedRequest, then remove the UriTemplate. When Invoking your service use the function name.

Hope it helps.

Example:

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "POST",
        BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.WrappedRequest,
        RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json,
        ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    void register(string name, string surname);

Answer 4

Take a look at this SO question.

Edit: Since you're not specifying an address for your service, try hitting: http://localhost:22059/ZombieService.svc/KnownZombies (with the .svc).

I also think you need the <webHttp /> behavior added to your specified endpoint behavior.

Edit: Try changing your endpoint definition to this:

<service 
  name="HighOnCodingWebApps.ZombieService"
  behaviorConfiguration="MyServiceTypeBehaviors">

  <endpoint 
    address="" 
    binding="webHttpBinding"
    behaviorConfiguration="SomeBehavior"
    bindingConfiguration="default"
    contract="HighOnCodingWebApps.IZombieService" />

</service>

Answer 5

I personally don't like all of the configuration options that WCF offers (I've ranted about it before), and in your case you don't need to use configuration at all. For a simple service to return JSON, you can use a service host factory, and there's one which does exactly that (set up a webHttpBinding/webHttp behavior endpoint), the System.ServiceModel.Activation.WebServiceHostFactory. In your case, you can:

• Remove everything from config (really, you don't need config at all)
• Update your .svc file to reference that factory (see below)

That's it. Here's what the .svc should look like:

<%@ ServiceHost Language="C#" Service="HighOnCodingWebApps.ZombieService" Factory="System.ServiceModel.Activation.WebServiceHostFactory" %>

One more thing: I noticed that your class isn't decorated with [ServiceContract], but you have a [WebGet] attribute in your method in the class. If the interface (IZombieService) is the one decorated with [ServiceContract], then the method in the interface should be the one decorated with [WebGet]. You can also bypass the interface completely and decorate the ZombieService class with `[ServiceContract] as well.

[ServiceContract]
public class ZombieService
{
    [WebGet(ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json,
            UriTemplate = "KnownZombies")]
    public Zombie GetZombie()
    {
       return new Zombie() { Name = "Mohammad Azam"};
    }
}

public class Zombie
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Answer 6

Just use ASP.NET Web API instead of WCF