CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#visual-studio-2010wcf.net-4.0
Scott Chamberlain
Scott Chamberlain

Reputation: 127563

Is there a way to push NamepaceMappings programmatically from the WCF host?

I have a WCF service that requires me to add the folowing to Reference.svcmap

<NamespaceMappings>
  <NamespaceMapping TargetNamespace="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System.DirectoryServices" 
                    ClrNamespace="System.DirectoryServices" />
</NamespaceMappings>

If I don't have that line I get the following error:

Warning 1   Custom tool warning: Cannot import wsdl:portType
Detail: An exception was thrown while running a WSDL import extension:
 System.ServiceModel.Description.DataContractSerializerMessageContractImporter
Error: ISerializable type with data contract name 'DirectoryServicesCOMException' 
  in namespace 'http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System.DirectoryServices' 
  cannot be imported. The data contract namespace cannot be customized for
  ISerializable types and the generated namespace 
  'DomainManagement.Console.UserManagementProxy' does not match the required CLR 
  namespace 'System.DirectoryServices'. Check if the required namespace has been 
  mapped to a different data contract namespace and consider mapping it 
  explicitly using the namespaces collection. 
XPath to Error Source: 
 //wsdl:definitions[@targetNamespace='http://example.com/v1']/wsdl:portType[@name='IUserManagement']

I also know having a common DLL between the client and server will also solve the issue but I do not want to have to require any client to also have the accompanying DLL to communicate with the service.

I understand the issue, and the fix (both dll and editing the file). What I would like to know is: Is there anything I can do on the Host side so every client that subscribes to this service does not need to any extra configuration of the service after generating the proxy in visual studio? (i.e. Using SvcUtil and using the /n:http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/System.DirectoryServices,System.DirectoryServices parameter is not a preferred option)

Upvotes: 2

Views: 808

Answers (1)

Andrew Stephens
Andrew Stephens

Reputation: 10193

I think this is simply down to the fact that some types "don't serialize well". Trying to pass a NameValueCollection across WCF (prior to VS2010) produced exactly the same error as you are seeing, despite it being serializable. Another one that I've seen crop up from time to time is the SqlException (see here).

Alas I'm not aware of any server-side solutions. I find that providing clients with a "service interface" DLL to be the cleanest approach - it avoids having to generate client-side code via svcutil/add service reference, but you seem to have your reasons for not doing this. The alternative would be to refactor your server-side code to avoid passing around a DirectoryServicesCOMException. You could try Googling the "NameValueCollection WCF serialization" issue and see if any of the suggested workarounds from back then might be applicable to your scenario. I suspect not though, as this was caused by the way it implemented certain interfaces internally.

Upvotes: 2

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