WCF REST: What is it expecting my XML to look like in requests?

Question

I have the following method in my WCF service:

[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = \"POST\", BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, ResponseFormat = WebMessag         


        

Answer 1

Valid XML must have a single root element. Also there's no magic in WCF REST that maps XML elements to string parameters. You could take an XElement as your operation parameter.

[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "POST", BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml)]
public int GetOne(XElement content)
{
    string param1 = content.Elements().First(element => element.Name == "param1").Value;
    string param2 = content.Elements().First(element => element.Name == "param2").Value;

    return 1;
}

The data you send would be something like:

<parameters>
    <param1>something</param1>
    <param2>something</param2>
</parameters>

Answer 2

I don't think you can pass 2 parameters with a POST operation for the framework to deserialize it automatically. You have try some of the below approaches:

1. Define your WCF method to be as below:

   [OperationContract]
   [WebInvoke(Method = "POST", 
       BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, 
       ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml, 
       RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml, 
       URITemplate="/GetOne/{param1}")]
   public int GetOne(string param1, string param2)
   {
       return 1;
   }
   

   Your raw POST request would looks like as below:

   POST http://localhost/SampleService/RestService/ValidateUser/myparam1 HTTP/1.1
   User-Agent: Fiddler
   Content-Type: application/xml
   Host: localhost
   Content-Length: 86
   
   <string xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/">my param2</string>
   

2. Change your WCF REST method to be as below:

   [OperationContract]
   [WebInvoke(Method = "POST", 
       BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.WrappedRequest, 
       ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, 
       RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
   public int GetOne(string param1, string param2)
   {
       return 1;
   }
   

   Now your raw request should looks something like below:

   POST http://localhost/SampleService/RestService/ValidateUser HTTP/1.1
   User-Agent: Fiddler
   Content-Type: application/json
   Host: localhost
   Content-Length: 86
   
   {"param1":"my param1","param2":"my param 2"}
   

3. Change your WCF REST method to be as below:

   [OperationContract]
   [WebInvoke(Method="POST", 
       BodyStyle=WebMessageBodyStyle.WrappedRequest, 
       ResponseFormat=WebMessageFormat.Xml, 
       RequestFormat= WebMessageFormat.Xml)]
   public int GetOne(string param1, string param2)
   {
      return 1;
   }
   

   Now your raw request would look like something below:

   POST http://localhost/SampleService/RestService/ValidateUser HTTP/1.1
   User-Agent: Fiddler
   Content-Type: application/xml
   Host: localhost
   Content-Length: 116
   
   <ValidateUser xmlns="http://tempuri.org/"><Username>my param1</Username><Password>myparam2</Password></ValidateUser>