Exposing a same class twice using WCF

Question

I have a 2 WCF services that are exposing the same object. Lets say the first service (SerA) exposes a class (classA) and the second service (SerB) which adds the filled classA also exposes this class (as this class is included in the parameters) Now when I retrieve the classA from SerA, it is concatenated with a namespace SerA.classA and when I add this using the second service, it requires a class like SerB.ClassA. Is there a way to specify that both classes are the same. I tried changing the namespace in reference.vb and it works but it would be real problem when the service reference is updated. Can anyone help me out in this? Thanks

Answer 1

You can put your ClassA (and other data contracts) definition into a class library and reference it from both services. That way, both should be using the same DataContracts.ClassA definition.

It's always a good idea to separate your service stuff into separate projects:

• the services (service, operation, data and possibly message contracts) into one class library ("Contracts") - possibly even into multiple libraries
• the service implementation(s) into a class library
• the service host(s) - if needed (not using IIS) - into a separate assembly (console app)

This way, you can reuse certain parts of your service contracts and possibly implementations, too.

MArc