I have a WPF application in VS 2008 with some web service references. For varying reasons (max message size, authentication methods) I need to manually define a number of settings in the WPF client's app.config for the service bindings.
Unfortunately, this means that when I update the service references in the project we end up with a mess - multiple bindings and endpoints. Visual Studio creates new bindings and endpoints with a numeric suffix (ie "Service1" as a duplicate of "Service"), resulting in an invalid configuration as there may only be a single binding per service reference in a project.
This is easy to duplicate - just create a simple "Hello World" ASP.Net web service and WPF application in a solution, change the maxBufferSize and maxReceivedMessageSize in the app.config binding and then update the service reference.
At the moment we are working around this by simply undoing checkout on the app.config after updating the references but I can't help but think there must be a better way!
Also, the settings we need to manually change are:
<security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
<transport clientCredentialType="Ntlm" />
</security>
and:
<binding maxBufferSize="655360" maxReceivedMessageSize="655360" />
We use a service factory class so if these settings are somehow able to be set programmatically that would work, although the properties don't seem to be exposed.
Create a .Bat file which uses svcutil, for proxygeneration, that has the settings that is right for your project. It's fairly easy. Clicking on the batfile, to generate new proxyfiles whenever the interface have been changed is easy.
The batch can then later be used in automated builds. Then you only need to set up the app.config (or web.config) once. We generally separate the different configs for different environments, such as dev, test prod.
Example (watch out for linebreaks):
REM generate meta data
call "SVCUTIL.EXE" /t:metadata "MyProject.dll" /reference:"MyReference.dll"
REM making sure the file is writable
attrib -r "MyServiceProxy.cs"
REM create new proxy file
call "SVCUTIL.EXE" /t:code *.wsdl *.xsd /serializable /serializer:Auto /collectionType:System.Collections.Generic.List`1 /out:"MyServiceProxy.cs" /namespace:*,MY.Name.Space /reference:"MyReference.dll"
:)
//W
Rather than changing the generated endpoint, uou could add a second endpoint and binding definition with the configuration you need, then in your code just put the name of the new endpoint in your service client constructor.
Somehow I prefer using svcutil.exe directly than to use the "Add Service Reference" feature of Visual Studio :P This is what we're doing on our WCF projects.
I take your point, svcutil is definetly the more advanced way of adding and updating service references. Its just a fair bit more manual work when "right click, update reference" is so close to just working in a single step.
I guess we could create some batch files or something to just output the reference code. Even then, manually checking out and updating the service code with svcutil will probably be more work than just undoing the check out on the config.
Thanks for the advice in any case.
What we do is we check out (from source control) the app.config and *.cs files that are autogenerated by the svcutil.exe utility, then we run a batch file that runs svcutil.exe to retrieve the service metadata. When it's done, we recompile the code, make sure it works, then check the updated app.config and *.cs files back in. It's a whole lot more reliable than using the oft-buggy "Add Service Reference" with Visual Studio.
Related
The question is a follow up to this one: Generate Web.Debug config which could be debugged](Generate Web.Debug.config which could be debugged)
I have defined a transformation for web.debug.config. During compilation I see the following:
Transformed Web.config using C:\data\Main\WebRole\Web.Debug.config into
C:\data\Main\obj\obj\x64\Debug\WebRole.csproj\TransformWebConfig\ [...]
transformed\Web.config.
Checked Web.config in the specified location - it is correct (transformation succeeded)
But when I start the service in the azure emulator I get an alert that
Why does it happen? Looks that incorrect web.config is taken. Where should I specify the location of correct (transformed) file?
The key thing to realise with web.config Transforms (and is mentioned in the answer to your linked question) is that they are only part of the story.
When you build your sources, the transformed web.config file is built into the /obj/ folder, ready for deployment.
It is only the act of deploying your solution somewhere that puts the transformed config file into use - as noted in the docs:
When you deploy the Web application by using the selected build configuration and by using either a deployment package or one-click publish, the Web.config file is transformed according to your specifications.
How are you running the application after you build it? You need to publish or deploy it using one of the built in mechanisms that support web transforms to see those changes on your site.
If you are running the emulator against the original source files, they won't see the transformed web.config file - which is why typically the debug build doesn't have any transforms and you then turn off debugging with your Release build which is then deployed to production.
As you're trying to test this in the emulator you should be able to do the following:
In the Solution Explorer, ensure you've selected a file within the project that runs in the emulator.
From the Build menu, select "Publish [Project Name".
In the Publish Wizard, create a new "Profile" using the "Custom" publish target.
In the "Connection" pane select "File System" as the publish method, and give it a suitable target location.
In the "Settings" pane choose the appropriate configuration (in your case probably "Debug"), and set any other options that you'd like.
Then press "Publish", and the project should be built, and then deployed to the new file location.
You should then be able to start the emulator from this newly published location, which will be using your transformed web.config.
I have found this solution and it works perfectly
https://translate.google.co.il/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sascha-dittmann.de%2Fpost%2FWebConfig-Transformation-im-Windows-Azure-Compute-Emulator.aspx&anno=2
I have inhherited a vs2010 c# web project (asp.net). It has a web reference to a web service. There's been a slight change to the service - a new operation has been added. I'd like to update the proxy class so that i can call the new operation but i can't find the class. I seem to remember there used to be a "show all files" button in solution explorer that would reveal the proxy class but i can see no sign of that. Unfortunately, i'm not able to refresh the proxy by pointing it at the web service metadata wsdl because vs is no longer installed on any pc that can reach the web service. Anyone know where i can find the proxy class?
It doesn't matter you can't find it in Visual Studio - you can always locate a proper file in your filesystem, under the project directory.
Problem was, the app was running - doh!
Yes, you are right. There is a "Show all files" icon in the tool bar. It will only be available when you have a project selected, so you want to select the web service's parent project:
Expand the service reference and under it the file called Reference.cs is the proxy class.
You should NOT be hand editing this though. You should make the changes to the service and then regenerate the proxy using the Update Service Reference right click option. But then if you really can't do that as you say, then just hand edit the file. But beware that any changes you make will be lost if someone does regenerate it again in the future. Very Risky! (I prey you are using source control)
There is a WSDL.exe command line tool.
Copy and execute this command line tool in the PC where you can have access to the WebService, it will generates the proxy again and you can replace them with the files in your project.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7h3ystb6(v=vs.80).aspx
Is there some sort of configuration settings in FlashBuilder 4.5 where you can easily switch between webservice urls? Right now I have to delete and recreate the web service every time I switch from local to production and vice versa.
The need/requirement is this – Since I work in a startup, we keep changing servers, and their IP addresses. And being a service oriented application – I need to be able to edit the webservice endpoints in my Flex application in a easy manner every time this happens.
My Solution for this -
Assumption is that my webservice endpoint looks like this -
http:////ListAllServices/
1) Create a file config.xml in a folder named “settings” that sits in the root folder of your Flex application – outside the “src” folder. And the config.xml will be a simple xml file of the following format -
localhostTestFlexApp
At the end of this exercise the directory structure of your flex source code will look like this -
flex_src(root of the source code)
-com(some source folder)
–testapp
—view
—
-images
-settings
–config.xml
-appName.mxml
2) Now in your application code, setup a HTTPService object either in mxml or action script. Set the url of that object to this value- “settings/config.xml” – And the above xml fiel containing the current settings will be loaded into memory .
Now you can store these values in a singleton object and construct your Webservice call at runtime.
And whenever you want to move this to a new server in production, edit the tag of your config.xml and you should be good to go.
And this can be automated as well via the EnvGen ant task.
This is not the best way but yes it is very helpful while switching among servers.
Alrighty... The way I was doing it before in fact worked. The problem was browser caching.
For the benefit of others I modified the subsclass for the generated service and replace the wsdl variable with whatever endpoint I need.
I'm struggling to get web.config transformations working with automated builds.
We have a reasonably large solution, containing one ASP.NET web application and eight class libraries. We have three developers working on the project and, up to now, each has "published" the solution to a local folder then used file copy to deploy to a test server. I'm trying to put an automated build/deploy solution in place using TFS 2010.
I created a build definition and added a call to msdeploy.exe in the build process template, to get the application deployed to the test server. So far, so good!
I then tried to implement web.config transforms and I just can't get them to work. If I build and publish locally on my PC, the "publish" folder has the correct, transformed web.config file.
Using team build, the transformation just does not happen, and I just have the base web.config file.
I tried adding a post-build step in the web application's project file, as others have suggested, similar to:
<target name="AfterBuild">
<TransformXml Source="Web.generic.config"
Transform="$(ProjectConfigTransformFileName)"
Destination="Web.Config" />
</target>
but this fails beacuse the source web.config file has an "applicationSettings" section. I get the error
Could not find schema information for the element 'applicationSettings'.
I've seen suggstions around adding arguments to the MSBuild task in the build definition like
/t:TransformWebConfig /p:Configuration=Debug
But this falls over when the class library projects are built, presumably because they don't have a web.config file.
Any ideas? Like others, I thought this would "just work", but apparently not. This is the last part I need to get working and it's driving me mad. I'm not an msbuild expert, so plain and simple please!
Thanks in advance.
Doug
I just went through this. Our build was a bit more complicated in that we have 8 class libraries and 9 web applications in one solution. But the flow is the same.
First off get rid of your after build target. You won't need that.
You need to use the MSDeployPublish service. This will require that it be installed and configured properly on the destination server. Check the following links for info on this part:
Note that the server in question MUST be configured properly with the correct user rights. The following sites helped me get that properly set up.
http://william.jerla.me/post/2010/03/20/Configuring-MSDeploy-in-IIS-7.aspx
http://vishaljoshi.blogspot.com/2010/11/team-build-web-deployment-web-deploy-vs.html
How can I get TFS2010 to run MSDEPLOY for me through MSBUILD?
The next part requires that your build definition have the correct MSBuild parameters set up to do the publish. Those parameters are entered in the Process > 3.Advanced > MS Build Arguments line of the build definition. Here's a hint:
(don't change the following for any reason)
/p:DeployOnBuild=True
/p:DeployTarget=MsDeployPublish
/p:CreatePackageOnPublish=False
/p:MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSVC
/p:SkipExtraFilesOnServer=True
/p:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True
(These control where it's going)
/p:MSDeployServiceUrl="https://testserver.domain:8172/msdeploy.axd"
/p:UserName=testserver\buildaccount
/p:Password=buildacctpassword
/p:DeployIisAppPath="MyApp - TESTING"
Obviously the user will have to be configured in IIS on the target server to be allowed access to that axd (see previous links). And the IisAppPath is the name of the website on the target server.
You won't have to do anything special for the config transformations as the build itself will take care of that for you. Just have the correct setting in the line at Process > 1. Required > Items to Build > Configurations To Build.
Instead of trying to do the deploy by adding tasks myself into the build process template, I followed advice in Vishal Joshi's blog post here.
Now the entire project is built and deployed and the web.config transformations work also. Brilliant!
I now have another problem to solve! The web application references web services and the build process results in an XmlSerializers dll. However, although this is built OK, it does not get deployed to the web host. I think this needs a new post!
Doug
I'm developing a web application (ASP.NET 3.5) that will consume a number of web services. I have created a separate dll-project for each web service: these projects contains the service reference and client code.
However, the calling website MUST have the <system.serviceModel> information (the <bindings> and <client> nodes) in it's web.config, even though this information is also in the dll's app.config file! I have tried copying the serviceclass.dll.config over to the bin directory of the website, but this didn't help.
Is there any way to centralize the configuration of a WCF client?
I've only limited WCF experience, all with BasicHTTP bindings. But I'm allergic to WCF's xml files and have managed to avoid them thus far. I don't recomend this generally but I put the configuration details in my apps existing configuration store and then apply them programatically. E.g. With a Web service proxy I use the constructor for the Client that takes 'bindings'and 'endpoint' and programatically apply the settings to the bindings & endpoint.
A more elegent solution appears to be descibed here: Reading WCF Configuration from a Custom Location, but I haven't tried it yet.
From my experience, library projects never read app.config.
So you can really delete the file because it is not used. The library's host configuration is read instead, so that is the only place the endpoint and binding configuration should be.
It's possible to forgo xml config and build up the Binding and Endpoint classes associated with the service in the constructor or a custom "Service Factory". iDesign has some good information on this:
http://www.idesign.net/idesign/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=5&tabid=11
(See In Proc Factory)
In their approach, you set attributes on your services to specify at a high level how they should work (ie [Internet], [Intranet], [BusinessToBusiness]), and the service factory configures the service according to best practices for each scenario. Their book describes building this sort of service:
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-WCF-Services-Juval-Lowy/dp/0596526997
If you just want to share configuration XML config, maybe use the configSource attribute to specify a path for configuration: http://weblogs.asp.net/cibrax/archive/2007/07/24/configsource-attribute-on-system-servicemodel-section.aspx
Remember that a configuration file is is read by an executable that has an entry point. A library dll does not have an entry point so it is not the assembly that will read it. The executing assembly must have a configuration file to read.
If you would like to centralize your web configs then I would suggest you look into nesting them in IIS with virtual directories. This will allow you to use the configuration inheritance to centralize whatever you need.
There are 2 options.
Option 1. Working with channels.
If you are working with channels directly, .NET 4.0 and .NET 4.5 has the ConfigurationChannelFactory. The example on MSDN looks like this:
ExeConfigurationFileMap fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = "Test.config";
Configuration newConfiguration = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(
fileMap,
ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
ConfigurationChannelFactory<ICalculatorChannel> factory1 =
new ConfigurationChannelFactory<ICalculatorChannel>(
"endpoint1",
newConfiguration,
new EndpointAddress("http://localhost:8000/servicemodelsamples/service"));
ICalculatorChannel client1 = factory1.CreateChannel();
As pointed out by Langdon, you can use the endpoint address from the configuration file by simply passing in null, like this:
var factory1 = new ConfigurationChannelFactory<ICalculatorChannel>(
"endpoint1",
newConfiguration,
null);
ICalculatorChannel client1 = factory1.CreateChannel();
This is discussed in the MSDN documentation.
Option 2. Working with proxies.
If you're working with code-generated proxies, you can read the config file and load a ServiceModelSectionGroup. There is a bit more work involved than simply using the ConfigurationChannelFactory but at least you can continue using the generated proxy (that under the hood uses a ChannelFactory and manages the IChannelFactory for you.
Pablo Cibraro shows a nice example of this here: Getting WCF Bindings and Behaviors from any config source
First of all class libraries (DLLs) do not have their own configuration, however they can read the configuration of their host (Web/Executable etc.). That being said, I still maintain an app.config file on the library projects as a template and easy reference.
As far as the service configuration itself is concerned, WCF configuration can make somebody easily pull their hair out. It is an over-engineered over-complicated piece. The goal of your applications should be to depend least on the configuration, while maintaining flexibility of deployment scenarios your product is going to come across.