Metadata Exchange Endpoint
Exposing the metadata using HTTP-GET has a disadvantage, such that there is no guarantee that other platforms you interact will support it. There is other way of exposing the using special endpoint is called as Metadata Exchange Endpoint. You can have as many metadata exchange endpoints as you want.
Address
It is basically Uri to identify the metadata. You can specify as address in the endpoint but append with "mex" keyword. For example "http://localhost:9090/MyCalulatorService/mex"
Binding
There are four types of bindings supported for metadata exchange. They are mexHttpBinding, mexHttpsBinding, mexNamedPipesBinding, mexTcpBinding.
Contract
IMetadataExchange is the contract used for MEX endpoint. WCF service host automatically provides the implementation for this IMetadataExcahnge while hosting the service.
You can create the Metadata Exchange Endpoint either Administrative (configuration file) or programmatically.
Administrative (Configuration file):
In the configuration file of the hosting application, you can add metadata exchange endpoint as shown below.
<system.serviceModel>
<services>
<service name="MyService">
<endpoint address="http://localhost/IISHostedService/MyService.svc"
binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="IMyService">
<identity>
<dns value="localhost"/>
</identity>
</endpoint>
<endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
</service>
</services>
</system.serviceModel>
Programming Model:
In the following code I have mention about creating the Metadata Exchange Endpoint through coding. Steps to create the metadata endpoint are
- Create the ServiceMetadataBehavior object and add to Service host description.
ServiceMetadataBehavior smb = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
host.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);
- Create the metadata binding object using MetadataExchangeBinding
Binding mexBinding = MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexHttpBinding ();
- 3. Add the endpoint to the service host with address, binding and contract.
host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMetadataExchange), mexBinding, "mex");
Complete code for hosting the service with metadata exchange endpoint is shown below.
//Create a URI to serve as the base address
Uri httpUrl = new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator");
//Create ServiceHost
ServiceHost host = new
ServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
//Add a service endpoint
host.AddServiceEndpoint
(typeof(MyCalculatorService.ISimpleCalculator), new WSHttpBinding(), "");
//Enable metadata exchange
ServiceMetadataBehavior smb = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
host.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);
Binding mexBinding = MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexHttpBinding ();
//Adding metadata exchange endpoint
host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMetadataExchange), mexBinding, "mex");
//Start the Service
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Service is host at " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Host is running... Press key to stop");
Console.ReadLine();
Tips!
- Always create the service with Interface->Implementation format, mention the contract in Interface.
- Define the service in Class library and refer the class library in Host project. Don’t use service class in host project.
- Change the instance mode to per call as default.
- Always catch exception using try/catch block and throw exception using FaultException < T >.
- Logging and Include exception should be enable while compiling the project in debug mode. While in production deployment disable the logging and Include exception details.
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