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I'm trying to build a C# service in .NET 3.5 that supports both SOAP - and shows the WSDL - and REST.
The SOAP service and WSDL generation was easy enough to do using the ServiceHost and a BasicHttpBinding classes. Got that working and the client was happy.
Because the SOAP calls all used simple parameters, the client developers requested a REST interface for some of the commands. So I changed the ServiceHost class to a WebServiceHost, added necessary WebInvoke and WebGet attributes, added a WebHttpBinding class, and bingo - REST and SOAP were both working out of one service. Way cool, change one interface and both REST and SOAP got the new stuff.
But one problem - the WSDL no longer gets generated. I couldn't browse to http://server/service?wsdl and get the WSDL file. Checking the MSDN docs, that appears to be behavior for a default WebServiceHost.
Question: can I override this behavior so that the WSDL could be obtained? Doesn't have to the same URL as before - it can change - but I just need to have some URL into service to get the WSDL for those SOAP developers.
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Normally, a WCF service will use SOAP, but if you build a REST service, clients will be accessing your service with a different architectural style (calls, serialization like JSON, etc.). Exposing a WCF service with both SOAP and REST endpoints, requires just a few updates to the codebase and configuration.
SOAP services: in WCF programming model support interoperability between systems that are built with Java, other platforms, and those that use messaging standards that are supported by Microsoft®. These also support transports such as HTTP, TCP, named pipes, and MSMQ.
STEP 1: Create a new WCF service application. STEP 2: Let us create two service contracts . One for SOAP and one for REST Service. I have created a Service Contract IService1 for SOAP and Service Contract IService2for REST as shown below, IService1.cs [ServiceContract] publicinterfaceIService1 [OperationContract]
Click the “Service1.svc” service file. Now, let us call the REST service. We have successfully executed the Greeting method using REST. In this post, we have created a WCF service application and executed the default SOAP Service in the client application.
When you say "added a WebHttpBinding class", it sounds like you are doing a lot of the configuration in code as opposed to in configuration files.
If this is the case, you could try moving the configuration to the configuration file. Then create 2 endpoints for the contract one REST and one SOAP, with 2 different addresses and bindings.
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But one problem - the WSDL no longer gets generated. I couldn't browse to http://server/service?wsdl and get the WSDL file. Checking the MSDN docs, that appears to be behavior for a default WebServiceHost.
Yes - that's one of the drawbacks of REST - no more WSDL, no more machine-readable service description. You need to hope the service provider gives you a usable and up to date documentation on what you can do.
There's no WSDL for REST - period. Can't be turned on or anything - it just doesn't exist.
There are some efforts under way to provide something similar - called WADL (Web Application Description Language), but as far as I know, it's still far from an established standard by any means. Also see: Do we need WADL?
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