WCF service showing blank in browser

Question

I am new to WCF and I have added a sample WCF service to my project but when I try to access webservice method through browser it shows blank window. I searched google for the solution but on solving one issue another issue arises I want to know how to get value returned by service in my browser window in json format.

My code is like this:

[ServiceContract]

public interface IService
{   

    [OperationContract]
    [WebGet(UriTemplate = "DoWork", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare)]
        int DoWork();
}

Class is like this:

public class Service : IService
{
    private int counter=0;
    public int DoWork()
    {
        counter++;
        return counter;
    }
}

Web.config is like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
  For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433
  -->
<configuration>
    <connectionStrings>
        <add name="ApplicationServices" connectionString="data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnetdb.mdf;User Instance=true" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
    </connectionStrings>
    <system.web>
        <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"/>
        <authentication mode="Forms">
            <forms loginUrl="~/Account/Login.aspx" timeout="2880"/>
        </authentication>
        <membership>
            <providers>
                <clear/>
                <add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" applicationName="/"/>
            </providers>
        </membership>
        <profile>
            <providers>
                <clear/>
                <add name="AspNetSqlProfileProvider" type="System.Web.Profile.SqlProfileProvider" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/"/>
            </providers>
        </profile>
        <roleManager enabled="false">
            <providers>
                <clear/>
                <add name="AspNetSqlRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlRoleProvider" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/"/>
                <add name="AspNetWindowsTokenRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.WindowsTokenRoleProvider" applicationName="/"/>
            </providers>
        </roleManager>
    </system.web>
    <system.webServer>
        <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"/>
    </system.webServer>
    <system.serviceModel>

    <services >
      <service name="Service">
        <endpoint address ="http://localhost:1726/WcfSessionMgt/Service.svc" contract ="IService" binding ="basicHttpBinding"  listenUri="/" ></endpoint>
        <endpoint address="mex" contract="IMetadataExchange" binding="mexHttpBinding"/>
      </service>

    </services>


    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior>
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
    <serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="false" />
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

Answer 1

Solved by changing my web.config to this.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"/>
    </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"/>
  </system.webServer>
  <system.serviceModel>

    <serviceHostingEnvironment>
      <baseAddressPrefixFilters>
          <add prefix="http://localhost:1726/WcfSessionMgt/"/>
      </baseAddressPrefixFilters>
    </serviceHostingEnvironment>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="ServiceBehavior">
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
      <endpointBehaviors>
        <behavior name="JsonBehavior">
          <webHttp/>
        </behavior>
      </endpointBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
    <services>
      <service behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehavior" name="Service">
         <endpoint address="http://localhost:1726/WcfSessionMgt/Service.svc" binding="webHttpBinding" contract="IService" behaviorConfiguration="JsonBehavior">
          <identity>
            <dns value="http://localhost:1726"/>
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
        <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
      </service>
    </services>
  </system.serviceModel>
  <system.diagnostics>
    <sources>
      <source name="System.ServiceModel"
              switchValue="Information, ActivityTracing"
              propagateActivity="true">
        <listeners>
          <add name="traceListener"
              type="System.Diagnostics.XmlWriterTraceListener"
              initializeData= "c:\log\Traces.svclog" />
        </listeners>
      </source>
    </sources>
  </system.diagnostics>
</configuration>

Answer 2

Try to specify that you are using Json for the behaviour by adding a Json behaviour configuration. If you do not specify that you are expecting Json response/requests it defaults to XML which could be the issue you are seeing.

An example web.config is below :

  <system.serviceModel>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior>
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"/>
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
      <endpointBehaviors>
        <behavior name="JsonBehavior">
          <webHttp defaultOutgoingResponseFormat="Json"/>
        </behavior>
      </endpointBehaviors>  
    </behaviors>
    <services>
      <service name="Service.Service">
        <endpoint address="http://localhost/Service/Service.svc"
                  listenUri="/" binding="webHttpBinding"
                  contract="Service.Service" 
                  behaviorConfiguration="JsonBehavior"/>
      </service>
    </services>
  </system.serviceModel> 

If this doesn't work try adding the following to the web.config. It will output a detailed log that might allow you to further debug the issue:

  <system.diagnostics>
    <sources>
      <source name="System.ServiceModel"
              switchValue="Information, ActivityTracing"
              propagateActivity="true">
        <listeners>
          <add name="traceListener"
              type="System.Diagnostics.XmlWriterTraceListener"
              initializeData= "c:\log\Traces.svclog" />
        </listeners>
      </source>
    </sources>
  </system.diagnostics>

If you post the detailed log of the error from this dump you may get better responses.

Edit : Removed httpsGetEnabled="true"