Tracing the SOAP envelope that is being sent by a .NET web service client possible?

Question

A C# client application we developed calls an external SOAP web service of a third party company.

Now I want to trace the exact SOAP request envelopes that are being generated by the VS.NET-generated SOAP proxy in our application and transfered to the external SOAP web service.

The method of using a network monitor like Wireshark (as described here) or using Microsoft Network Monitor is no option since the externl SOAP web service only provides an SSL/HTTPS URL, so the payload of the HTTP packages are encrypted and not viewable.

My question is:

Is there a way of configuring the .NET-built-in web service client classes to output/trace/log their underlying HTTP requests and responses that are being generated/received? (or maybe some kind of event to subscribe to?)

Answer 1

If you're using a standard web service (not WFC), you can extend the SoapExtension class as described here:

http://www.blog.encoresystems.net/articles/how-to-capture-soap-envelopes-when-consuming-a-web-service.aspx

If you're using WFC, then you can implement IEndpointBehavior and IClientMessageBehavior as described here:

http://weblogs.asp.net/paolopia/archive/2007/08/23/writing-a-wcf-message-inspector.aspx

I use both, depending on whether I'm using web or service references.

Answer 2

You can use fiddler, perhaps, as a proxy and thus monitor HTTP/HTTPS requests. This won't require you to write any code on your part.

Fiddler Web Debugger

It is worth noting that there are caveats to debugging HTTPS requests with Fiddler. This page explains how it can be done.

Fiddler Web Debugger - Debugging HTTPS traffic with Fiddler2