Implementing WCF Service Part 2 - Client

I will consume the Customer WCF Service which I developed in Part 1 on WS* Http Binding, you can implement the best security, transactions and many more things using this way. However, I will consume in a very simplistic way in this post. I assume that you have already deployed the WCF Service under IIS and have a working URL ready to be referenced and you are planning to use the customer WCF service in ASPX web Page.

Create a Test Web Site Project using Visual Studio 2008/5 and focus on following 3 files

1.       Web.Config

2.       CustomerWcfServiceTest.aspx – The page you added for testing the WCF Service

3.       CustomerWcfServiceTest.aspmx.vb – Code behind file for WCF Service Test Page

Steps: Right Click on the project and click add the Customer WCF Service using Add Service Reference. Let’s say you give it a name called CustomerWcfService.

 

Web.Config

After adding the above service, verify the web.config file that binding and endpoint information is added to it. This information gets automatically added or removed when you add or remove a service reference. The address will vary as per your machine. You should be able to see like

 

<system.serviceModel>

   <bindings>

    <wsHttpBinding>

    <bindingname="WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService"closeTimeout="00:01:00"

     openTimeout="00:01:00"receiveTimeout="00:10:00"sendTimeout="00:01:00"

     bypassProxyOnLocal="false"transactionFlow="false"hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"

     maxBufferPoolSize="524288"maxReceivedMessageSize="65536"messageEncoding="Text"

     textEncoding="utf-8"useDefaultWebProxy="true"allowCookies="false">

     <readerQuotasmaxDepth="32"maxStringContentLength="8192"maxArrayLength="16384"

      maxBytesPerRead="4096"maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />

     <reliableSessionordered="true"inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"

      enabled="false" />

     <securitymode="Message">

      <transportclientCredentialType="Windows"proxyCredentialType="None"

       realm="" />

      <messageclientCredentialType="Windows"negotiateServiceCredential="true"

       algorithmSuite="Default"establishSecurityContext="true" />

     </security>

    </binding>

   </wsHttpBinding>

</bindings>

<client>

   <endpointaddress="http://vishwa/ExampleService/CustomerService.svc"

    binding="wsHttpBinding"bindingConfiguration="WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService"

    contract="CustomerWcfService.ICustomerService"name="WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService">

    <identity>

     <dnsvalue="localhost" />

    </identity>

   </endpoint>   

</client>

</system.serviceModel>

Remember, you will be using binding Name WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService for consuming this service in code behind file.

 CustomerWCFServiceTest.aspx: Add the following code inside the body of this page

<form id="form1" runat="server">                

                <table>

                <tr>

                    <td colspan="2"><b>Through Server Side Service Reference</b></td>

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td >Customer ID :</td>

                    <td><asp:TextBox ID="txtCustID" runat="server" Text="12345"></asp:TextBox></td>

                </tr>     

                <tr>

                    <td>Customer Name :</td>

                <td>

                    <asp:TextBox ID="txtCustName" runat="server" Text="Joe Smith"></asp:TextBox>

                </td>

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td>Customer DOB (yyyy-mm-dd):</td>

                    <td><asp:TextBox ID="txtCustDOB" runat="server" Text="1988-08-08"></asp:TextBox></td>

                </tr>

               <tr>

                    <td>Customer Address:</td>

                    <td><asp:TextBox ID="txtCustAddress" runat="server" Text="unknown"></asp:TextBox></td>

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td><asp:Button ID="btnGetCustomer" runat="server" Text="Get Customer" /></td>

                    <td><asp:Button ID="btnAddCustomer" runat="server" Text="Add Customer" /></td>

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td><asp:Button ID="btnUpdateCustomer" runat="server" Text="Update Customer" /></td>

                    <td><asp:Button ID="btnDeleteCustomer" runat="server" Text="Delete Customer" /></td>

                </tr>

                <tr>

                    <td>

                    <asp:Button id="btnGetCustomers" runat="server" Text="Get All Customers"/></td>

                    <td><asp:Label ID="lblStatus" runat="server" Text="Status" 

                            ForeColor="#CC3300" style="font-weight: 700"></asp:Label></td>

                </tr>                

               </table>         

           </form>

            <br />

            <form id="frmCustomerS" method="post" action="CustomerWcfServiceTest.aspx">

            <div>    

                <table>

                <tr><td colspan="2"><b>Through Client Side SOAP/XML HTTP POST</b></td></tr>

                <tr><td>Customer ID :</td><td><input name="ID" id="ID" type="text" value="12345" /> </td></tr>

                <tr><td>Customer Name :</td><td><input name="Name" id="Name" type="text" value="Chris Clark" /> </td></tr>

                <tr><td>Customer DOB (yyyy-mm-dd):</td><td><input name="DOB" id="DOB" type="text" value="1988-08-08"/> </td></tr>

                <tr><td>Customer Address:</td><td><input name="Address" id="Address" type="text" value="unknown"/> </td></tr>

                 <tr>

                    <td><input type="button" name="btnGetCustomer" value="Get Customer" onclick="GetCustomerSOAP()" /></td>

                    <td><input type="button" name="btnAddCustomer" value="Add Customer" onclick="AddCustomerSOAP()" /></td>

                </tr>

                 <tr>

                    <td><input type="button" name="btnUpdateCustomer" value="Update Customer" onclick="UpdateCustomerSOAP()" /></td>

                    <td><input type="button" name="btnDeleteCustomer" value="Delete Customer" onclick="DeleteCustomerSOAP()"/></td>

                </tr>     

                <tr>

                    <td colspan="2"><input type="button" name="btnGetAllCustomers" value="Get All Customers" onclick="GetCustomersSOAP()"/></td>

                </tr>    

                </table>                

            </div>   

            </form>

CustomerWCFServiceTest.aspx.vb: Add the following code to handle the events

Partial Class CustomerServiceTest

   Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

   Protected Sub btnGetCustomer_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGetCustomer.Click

       Dim wcfSrv As New CustomerWcfService.CustomerServiceClient("WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService")

       Dim cust As CustomerWcfService.Customer = wcfSrv.GetCustomer(CInt(Me.txtCustID.Text))

       If cust.ID > 0 Then

           Me.txtCustID.Text = cust.ID

           Me.txtCustName.Text = cust.Name

           Me.txtCustDOB.Text = cust.DOB

           Me.txtCustAddress.Text = cust.Address

           Me.lblStatus.Text = "Customer found."

       Else

           Me.lblStatus.Text = "Customer not found."

           Me.txtCustName.Text = ""

           Me.txtCustDOB.Text = ""

       End If

       wcfSrv.Close()

   End Sub

   Protected Sub btnAddCustomer_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnAddCustomer.Click

       Dim wcfSrv As New CustomerWcfService.CustomerServiceClient("WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService")

       Dim cust As New CustomerWcfService.Customer

       cust.Name = Me.txtCustName.Text

       cust.DOB = CDate(Me.txtCustDOB.Text)

       cust.Address = Me.txtCustAddress.Text

       Dim rtn As Integer = wcfSrv.AddCustomer(cust)

       lblStatus.Text = "Cust ID: " & rtn.ToString

       wcfSrv.Close()

   End Sub

   Protected Sub btnUpdateCustomer_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnUpdateCustomer.Click

       Dim wcfSrv As New CustomerWcfService.CustomerServiceClient("WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService")

       Dim cust As New CustomerWcfService.Customer

       cust.ID = CInt(Me.txtCustID.Text)

       cust.Name = Me.txtCustName.Text

       cust.DOB = CDate(Me.txtCustDOB.Text)

       cust.Address = Me.txtCustAddress.Text

       Dim rtn As Boolean = wcfSrv.UpdateCustomer(cust)

       lblStatus.Text = "Update Status is : " & rtn.ToString

       wcfSrv.Close()

   End Sub

   Protected Sub btnDeleteCustomer_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnDeleteCustomer.Click

       Dim wcfSrv As New CustomerWcfService.CustomerServiceClient("WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService")

       Dim rtn As Boolean = wcfSrv.DeleteCustomer(CInt(Me.txtCustID.Text))

       lblStatus.Text = "Delete Status is : " & rtn.ToString

       wcfSrv.Close()

   End Sub

   Protected Sub btnGetCustomers_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnGetCustomers.Click

       Dim wcfSrv As New CustomerWcfService.CustomerServiceClient("WSHttpBinding_ICustomerService")

       Dim custArr() As CustomerWcfService.Customer

       custArr = wcfSrv.GetCustomers()

       For Each cust As CustomerWcfService.Customer In custArr

           Response.Write("ID: " & cust.ID.ToString & " Name: " & cust.Name & "<br/>")

       Next

       lblStatus.Text = "No of Customer Records found: " & custArr.Length.ToString

       wcfSrv.Close()

   End Sub

End Class

 

You are done. Run the project and test the page, you should be able to Add, Modify, Delete and Get Customer records.

 

Implementing WCF Service Part 1 - Service

You must be wondering, that in WCF era ASMX Web Service! I wrote the first one 5 years ago and now trying to move them to WCF Service, but lot of companies have not even adopted the web service and some have only started adopting it recently, and now they realized that a new era has come. I will discuss my experiments & experiences with WCF in later posts. However, I would like to post a simple Customer ASMX Web Service and then consume it by a ASP.NET Web Page via Server Side and then Client Side using direct SOAP based XML through HTTP Post. Later, I will create a similar WCF Service with exactly same methods and will access the data exactly same way. Remember this is not a simple HelloWorld Example, this Web Service deals with primitive data type as well as complex one. How far you would like to dive deep into it, will be up to you.

          In order to keep the example sweet and simple and close to real world, I will be using a Customers XML data file and will perform CRUD operations.  I created this project using Visual Studio 2008 and wrote code using VB.NET.

           You can also use Visual Studio 2005 for this project.

This project basically contains 5 file, you can create them in following order.

1.       Web.Config

2.       Customer.vb - Customer class

3.       ServiceHelper.VB – Collection of CRUD Methods

4.       CustomerWebService.asmx – ASMX Web Service Page

5.       CustomerWebService.asmx.vb – Code behind file of the .asmx file

 

My Project Name is – Vishwa.Example.WebService

 

Web.Config

If you are planning to deploy this web service for HTTP GET and POST uses, add the following lines under <system.web> section. By default they will only work if you are running locally.

<webServices>

           <protocols>

                     <add name="HttpPost" />

                     <add name="HttpGet" />

            </protocols>

</webServices>

 

Customer.vb - Add this class in your project with following code. This class is a Data Transfer Object.

Namespace Example.WebService

    Public Class Customer

        <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement(ElementName:="ID", Order:=0)> _

        Public CustID As Integer = 0

        <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement(ElementName:="Name", Order:=1)> _

        Public CustName As String = String.Empty

        <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement(ElementName:="DOB", Order:=2)> _

        Public CustDOB As DateTime = DateTime.MinValue

        <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement(ElementName:="Address", Order:=3)> _

        Public CustAddress As String = String.Empty

        <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement(ElementName:="DateCreated", Order:=4)> _

        Public DateCreated As DateTime = DateTime.Now

        <System.Xml.Serialization.XmlElement(ElementName:="DateModified", Order:=5)> _

        Public DateModified As DateTime = DateTime.Now

        Public Sub New()

        End Sub

    End Class

End Namespace

ServiceHelper.vb - Add this class now with following code. Please note that I am using a Customer Business Object, which I created in my earlier post.

 

Imports Vishwa.Example.Business

Namespace Example.WebService

    Public NotInheritable Class ServiceHelper

        Private Shared instance As New ServiceHelper

        Private Shared  bizObj As New CustomerBiz

        Private Sub New()

        EndSub

        Friend Shared Function GetCustomerData(ByVal ID AsInteger) As Customer

            Dim bizCustomer As CustomerBiz = Nothing

            bizCustomer = bizObj.GetCustomer(ID)

            Return GetCustomerDataFromBizCustomer(bizCustomer)

        End Function

        Friend Shared Function GetCustomersData() As List(Of Customer)

            Dim customers AsNew List(Of Customer)

            Dim bizCustomers AsNew List(Of CustomerBiz)

            bizCustomers = bizObj.GetCustomers()

            ForEach bizCustRec As CustomerBiz In bizCustomers

                customers.Add(GetCustomerDataFromBizCustomer(bizCustRec))

            Next

            Return customers

        End Function

        Friend Shared Function AddCustomerData(ByVal custRecord As Customer) As Integer

            Return bizObj.AddCustomer(custRecord.CustName, custRecord.CustDOB, custRecord.CustAddress)

        End Function

        Friend Shared Function UpdateCustomerData(ByVal custRecord As Customer) As Boolean

            Return bizObj.UpdateCustomer(custRecord.CustID, custRecord.CustName, custRecord.CustDOB, custRecord.CustAddress)

        End Function

        Friend Shared Function DeleteCustomerData(ByVal ID AsInteger) As Boolean

            Return bizObj.DeleteCustomer(ID)

        End Function

        Private Shared Function GetCustomerDataFromBizCustomer(ByVal bizCust As CustomerBiz) As Customer

            Dim custRecord AsNew Customer

            If Not bizCust Is Nothing AndAlso bizCust.CustID > 0 Then

                custRecord.CustID = bizCust.CustID

                custRecord.CustName = bizCust.CustName

                custRecord.CustDOB = bizCust.CustDOB

                custRecord.CustAddress = bizCust.CustAddress

                custRecord.DateCreated = bizCust.DateCreated

                custRecord.DateModified = bizCust.DateModified

            End If

            Return custRecord

        End Function

    End Class

End Namespace

 CustomerWebService.asmx – Add this ASMX file, a Code behind will be added by default. The markup inside CustomerWebService.asmx will looks like

<%@ WebService Language="VB" CodeBehind="CustomerWebService.asmx.vb" Class="Vishwa.Example.WebService.CustomerWebService" %>

  

 

CustomerWebService.asmx.vb – Add following code in this file

Imports System.Web.Services

Imports System.Web.Services.Protocols

Imports System.ComponentModel

Namespace Example.WebService

    <System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService()> _

    <System.Web.Services.WebService(Name:="CustomerWebService", Namespace:="http://webservices.vishwamohan.net", _

                                    Description:="Customer ASMX Web Service.")> _

    <System.Web.Services.WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo:=WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)> _

    <ToolboxItem(False)> _

    Public Class CustomerWebService

        Inherits System.Web.Services.WebService

        <WebMethod(Description:="Gets a customer record on customer ID.")> _

        Public Function GetCustomer(ByVal ID As Integer) As Customer

            Return ServiceHelper.GetCustomerData(ID)

        End Function

        <WebMethod(Description:="Gets all customer record.")> _

        Public Function GetCustomers() As List(Of Customer)

            Return ServiceHelper.GetCustomersData()

        End Function

        <WebMethod(Description:="Adds a customer record and returns customer ID.")> _

        Public Function AddCustomer(ByVal CustomerRecord As Customer) As Integer

            Return ServiceHelper.AddCustomerData(CustomerRecord)

        End Function

        <WebMethod(Description:="Deletes a customer record on customer ID.")> _

        Public Function DeleteCustomer(ByVal ID As Integer) As Boolean

            Return ServiceHelper.DeleteCustomerData(ID)

        End Function

        <WebMethod(Description:="Updates a customer record.")> _

        Public Function UpdateCustomer(ByVal CustomerRecord As Customer) As Boolean

            Return ServiceHelper.UpdateCustomerData(CustomerRecord)

        End Function

    End Class

End Namespace

You are done!

Now you compile the project and run. You should be able to see following 5 web methods.

In next post I will consume these methods through a web page via direct web service integration in project as well as through SOAP XML HTTP Post.