WCF Endpoint. Multiple Clients

Question

I have an IIS hosted WCF webservice. It started with two consumers.

1) A WinForm test harness in the same solution to test the WCF contracts in the IDE.

2) An Asp.Net Web App that is consuming the published version.

All was working out of the box so to speak.

Then along came the 3rd consumer, an Android app. To get this consuming correctly had to decorate the WCF contracts with JSON WebGets and Webinvokes and alter the WCF Web.config to suit.

Now the original two consumers no longer work. So I need to alter Web.config and / or App.configs to get a configuration where all three work.

Focusing on the IDE first. I have the following service model section for the WCF service Web.Config.

<system.serviceModel>
  <client>
    <endpoint binding="webHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="JsonBinding"
              contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService" name="Json" 
              kind="" endpointConfiguration="">
      <identity>
        <certificateReference storeName="My" storeLocation="LocalMachine"
                              x509FindType="FindBySubjectDistinguishedName" />
      </identity>
    </endpoint>
    <endpoint address="http://localhost:8707/CouponParking.svc"
              binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService"
              name="BasicHttpBinding_ICouponService" />
  </client>
  <bindings>
    <basicHttpBinding>
      <binding name="basicHttp" />
    </basicHttpBinding>
    <webHttpBinding>
      <binding name="JsonBinding" />
    </webHttpBinding>
  </bindings>
  <services>
    <service name="CouponParkingWCF.CouponService">
      <endpoint behaviorConfiguration="JsonBehavior" binding="webHttpBinding"
                bindingConfiguration="" name="jsonEndPoint"
                contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService" />
    </service>
  </services>
  <behaviors>
    <endpointBehaviors>
      <behavior name="JsonBehavior">
        <webHttp />
      </behavior>
    </endpointBehaviors>
    <serviceBehaviors>
      <behavior name="">
        <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="true" />
        <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
      </behavior>
    </serviceBehaviors>
  </behaviors>
  <protocolMapping>
    <add binding="basicHttpsBinding" scheme="https" />
  </protocolMapping>    
  <serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true"
                             multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="false" />
</system.serviceModel>

The WinForm Test harness App.config has:

<system.serviceModel>
  <bindings>
    <basicHttpBinding>
      <binding name="BasicHttp" />
    </basicHttpBinding>
  </bindings>
  <client>
    <endpoint address="http://localhost:8707/CouponParking.svc"
              binding="basicHttpBinding"
              bindingConfiguration="BasicHttp" 
              contract="CouponParking.ICouponService"
              name="BasicHttpBinding_ICouponService" />
  </client>
</system.serviceModel>

I am not experienced at configuring endpoints and the above has been based on examples and guesswork.

When I run the Test Harness the wcf Client instantiates but a call on a contract fails with :

There was no endpoint listening at http://localhost:8707/CouponParking.svc 
that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address
or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details."

The inner exception is :

{"The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found."}
[System.Net.WebException]: {"The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found."}
Data: {System.Collections.ListDictionaryInternal}
HelpLink: null
HResult: -2146233079
InnerException: null
Message: "The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found."
Source: "System"
StackTrace: "   at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()\r\n   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory`1.HttpRequestChannel.HttpChannelRequest.WaitForReply(TimeSpan timeout)"
TargetSite: {System.Net.WebResponse GetResponse()}

I would appreciate some guidance on what I have got wrong.

Thanks

Answer 1

You basically just need two separate endpoints to provide both the basicHttpBinding (a SOAP binding) and the webHttpBinding for your Android client (a REST binding).

The "base" address of your service is defined by your IIS virtual directory and where the *.svc file lives (http://localhost:8707/CouponParking.svc) - so both services will be reachable at this "base" address plus any relative address defined

So you need to configure this something like this:

<services>
   <service name="CouponParkingWCF.CouponService">
      <!-- define the basicHttp (SOAP) endpoint at the base address -->
      <endpoint name="SoapEndpoint"
          address=""
          binding="basicHttpBinding" 
          contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService" />
      <!-- define the REST endpoint at (base)+"/rest" -->
      <endpoint name="RestEndpoint"
          address="rest"
          behaviorConfiguration="JsonBehavior" 
          binding="webHttpBinding" 
          contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService" />
   </service>
</services>

With this setup, you should be able to call your service using the basicHttpBinding (SOAP) at

http://yourServer:8707/CouponParking.svc

and you should be able to access the REST-based, JSON-enabled endpoint at

http://yourServer:8707/CouponParking.svc/rest

Both server-side endpoints will be handled by the same service code - it's just the endpoint (and the protocols that endpoints understands) that are different

Answer 2

At a glance, it appears that you've mixed up client endpoints with service endpoints in your service's config file. There's no reason for client endpoints to appear in the service's config file, unless that service is itself calling another service.

Your WinForm's config file is defining a client with basicHttpBinding, but you do not expose a service endpoint with BasicHttpBinding, which is most likely the reason for the error you're getting.

I would try deleting the client endpoints in your service's config file, and add them to the <services> section, like this:

<system.serviceModel>
  <bindings>
    <basicHttpBinding>
      <binding name="basicHttp" />
    </basicHttpBinding>
    <webHttpBinding>
      <binding name="JsonBinding" />
    </webHttpBinding>
  </bindings>
  <services>
    <service name="CouponParkingWCF.CouponService">
      <endpoint address="SOAP"
                binding="basicHttpBinding" 
                contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService"
                name="BasicHttpBinding_ICouponService" />
      <endpoint address="JSON"
                binding="webHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="JsonBinding"
                contract="CouponParkingWCF.ICouponService" name="Json" 
                kind="" endpointConfiguration="">
        <identity>
          <certificateReference storeName="My" storeLocation="LocalMachine"
                                x509FindType="FindBySubjectDistinguishedName" />
        </identity>
      </endpoint>
    </service>
  </services>

Remember the ABC's of WCF: A = Address, B = Binding and C = Contract - those three items define a service.

Since you added a client that needed a different binding then your test harness or your ASP.NET application, you need to expose a second endpoint with that binding.

EDITED

As @marc_s pointed out, you'll need two distinct relative addresses. I've updated the config file to reflect that.

I've not had an occasion to use multiple endpoints myself, but I believe you'd use them this way, with the base address being provided by the location of the *.svc file:

http://localhost:8707/CouponParking.svc/SOAP
http://localhost:8707/CouponParking.svc/JSON

With the first being for the BasicHttpBinding and the second being for the WebHttpBinding.