Best way to manage multiple Service References in .NET

Question

I have a C# ASP.NET project with 15 WCF/ASMX Service References. Each service is deployed to three different servers; test, staging and live.

Often we need to change the URLs of these service references to different servers, to be able to debug using the correct service with the correct implementation and data.

When managing these Service References I'm having a hard time keeping the URL in sync. When creating a Service Reference FooService it stores the URL in three seperate files:

• FooService.disco
• configuration.svcinfo
• Reference.svcmap

Along with creating an endpoint node with the URL in the Web.config.

If I change the endpoint URL in the Web.config and rebuild the project, it doesn't update the URL in the other files, so it's out of sync. So when I right-click the FooService and click Update Service Reference it doesn't use the URL stored in the Web.config, it uses the URL in the other files.

So the only way is to right-click the FooService and click on Configure Service Reference and enter the new URL. But that doesn't always work, because sometimes it creates a new node in Web.config named FooService1, so I get an error when running my application saying that there are two instances of the same endpoints.

So often I need to skim through the Web.config and delete duplicates of endpoints, which is very frustrating.

What is the best way to manage multiple WCF service references when changing the URL to the service often?

Answer 1

First an overview

The way I handle it is to not add the service refernce via Visual Studio. What I have is each service has it's own Proxy project in the solution, to proxy is created using a simple one line batch file. Each of these is then included in the website(s) as a "vanilla" reference. The end point is configured maunally in the web config. I have three deployment options: Debug (local), Staging and Release. At the web.config level the differnt addresses are handled by web.config transformations . The proxy project files are configured so that the correct end point address is used depending on the solution configuration. However it is important to note that web.config transofrmations only apply on publishing the solution.

In pre VS2010 I had 3 variations of the web.config files which would overite the active web.config; however overwriting the web.config in this way always felt "risky" to me. In this case I think that using transforms for publish will still work, but in the actual web.config file have block of connections that you can comment in and out on those occations when you want to debug the staging or development servers.

I only have 2 services, so my set up was pretty easy, with 15 there will be a fair bit of work involved to set up, but it will save you head aches in the long run.

Implementation

Back Up Everything First!!

Also keep handy a copy of the existing web.config to help with configuring the end points later on.

Also note that the batch files won't work if your solution is in a path with a space in its name, e.g. the default location VS puts its' projects. All my projects are in the following structure C:\Source\vs2008\, C:\Source\vs2010\ etc. I'll see if I can find a better solution for this.

0 Run VisualStudio as an administrator

Right click Visual Studio from the start menu and select "Run as Administrator". We need to do this as VS will be writing files.

1 Delete Exising service references

You shouldn't need any help on this one.

2 Add Proxy Projects

Doing this now means you only need configure the solution for test|staging|live once.

From the File menu select "Add" then "New Project" and from unser the "Visual C#" tmplates select "Class Library" and name it something sensible. I'll be using FooService.proxy for this example. Rename the class file, I'll be using FooService_proxy.cs in this example.

Add the following references to the project:

• System.Runtime.Serialization
• System.ServiceModel

Add one project for each service. We will comeback and update these projects later.

3 Configure The Solution to handle test|staging|live

I'm assuming you use test when developing the asp.net website on your local machine.

Open the "Configuration Manager" by selecting it in the Build Configuration dropdown menu.

Under the "Active Solution Configuration" dropdown select "New"

For the Name I'd suggest "Staging" and check the "Create new project confogurations" check box.

In the Solution Explorer, right click on Web.Config and select "Add config transforms". This will add a new file for the staging web.config transformation. Click the expander arrow and you will see three sub files: Web.Debug.Config, Web.Release.Config, Web.Staging Config.

4 Set Up Proxies

Add a batch file to each proxy project by Clicking on the project in the solution explorer and selecting "Add > New Item". Use a text file and name it "CreateProxy.bat.

Insert the following into the new file and save:

:: ============================================================================================
:: Create the proxy file from the service wsdl
:: Input parameters
:: SDK Path The location of svcutil.exe
:: WSDL File Arg1 (%1)
:: Output Proxy .CS file Arg2 (%2)
::
:: Called by the build process of the BeforeBuild target to re-gen the proxy code.
:: Make sure to change FooService.proxy
:: ============================================================================================

svcutil %1 /ct:System.Collections.Generic.List`1 /serializer:DataContractSerializer  /tcv:Version35  /n:*,FooService.Proxy /out:%2

Now right click on the proxy project and click "Unload Project", saving if prompted. This will enable us to get in and modify the project file. Right Click the now greyed out proxy project name and select "Edit".

Add the following just befor the closing </project> tag. Note you may need to change the path SDKPath depending on your location of svcutil. Also make sure to name FooService_proxy.cs whatever you named the proxy file.

<PropertyGroup>
  <!-- These properties are used by the svcutil batch file task in the BeforeBuild Target to regen the proxy code -->

  <SDKPath Condition="'$(SDKPath)'==''">C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin</SDKPath>
  <WSDLPath Condition="'$(WSDLPath)'=='' and '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug'">http://[Path to TEST Server Service]</WSDLPath>
  <WSDLPath Condition="'$(WSDLPath)'=='' and '$(Configuration)' == 'Staging'">http://[Path to STAGING server Service]</WSDLPath>
  <WSDLPath Condition="'$(WSDLPath)'=='' and '$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">http://[Path to LIVE Server Service]</WSDLPath>
  <SkipProxyRegen Condition="'$(SkipProxyRegen)'==''">false</SkipProxyRegen>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  <Message Importance="normal" Text="Rebuilding the proxy code from batch file '$(ProjectDir)CreateProxy.bat'" Condition="'$(SkipProxyRegen)'=='false'" />
  <Exec Command="$(ProjectDir)CreateProxy.bat $(WSDLPath) $(ProjectDir)FooService_proxy.cs" WorkingDirectory="$(SDKPath)" Condition="'$(SkipProxyRegen)'=='false'" />
</Target>

Save the changes and then right click on the greyed out project name and select "Reload Project".

Right click on the project and select build, make sure that your proxy file is now populated.

Set each proxy project so that it always build into only its' \bin directory, e.g. not bin\debug etc. Right click on the proxy project and select "Properties". Select the "Build" tab and change the "Configuration" drop down to "All Configurations". Set the "Output path" to bin\

5 Add Proxy References and End Points To Your Website

Add a reference to each proxy project to your webstie by right clicking "References > Add reference" and then going to the "Projects" Tab.

Now open up your web.config file and add the bindings, use your previous web.config as a guide.

<system.serviceModel>
    <bindings>
        <basicHttpBinding>
            <binding name="fooServiceEndpoint" closeTimeout="00:01:00" openTimeout="00:01:00"
                receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00" allowCookies="false"
                bypassProxyOnLocal="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
                maxBufferSize="2147483647" maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647"
                messageEncoding="Text" textEncoding="utf-8" transferMode="Buffered"
                useDefaultWebProxy="true">
                <readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="2147483647" maxArrayLength="2147483647"
                    maxBytesPerRead="8192" maxNameTableCharCount="2147483647" />
                <security mode="None">
                    <transport clientCredentialType="None" proxyCredentialType="None"
                        realm="" />
                    <message clientCredentialType="UserName" algorithmSuite="Default" />
                </security>
            </binding>
            <!-- Insert other binding as required -->
        </basicHttpBinding>
    </bindings>
    <client>
        <!-- Test Server Endpoints - Used for day-to-day development -->
        <endpoint address="http:[Path to TEST Server service]"
        binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="fooServiceEndpoint"
        contract="FooService.Proxy.IFooService" name="fooServiceEndpoint" />
        <!-- Add Other endpoints as required -->

        <!-- Staging Server End Points - Used Occasionaly
        <endpoint address="http:[Path to STAGING Server service]"
        binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="fooServiceEndpoint"
        contract="FooService.Proxy.IFooService" name="fooServiceEndpoint" />
        <other end points here too />
        -->

        <!-- LIVEServer End Points - Used Rarely and with CAUTION
        <endpoint address="http:[Path to LIVE Server service]"
        binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="fooServiceEndpoint"
        contract="FooService.Proxy.IFooService" name="fooServiceEndpoint" />
        <other end points here too />
        -->
    </client>
</system.serviceModel>

Now you can simply modify the web config with comments depending on which server you want to be debuging on

6 Set up web.config transformation for deployment

Expand the web.config node in the solution explorer.

Open the web.staging.config file and add the following:

<system.serviceModel>
    <client>
        <endpoint address="http:[Path to STAGING server Service]"
        binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="fooServiceEndpoint"
        contract="FooService.Proxy.IFooService" name="fooServiceEndpoint" xdt:Transform="SetAttributes" xdt:Locator="Match(name)" />
    </client>
    <!-- Repeat for additional end points -->
</system.serviceModel>

Now add the same to Web.Release.Config changing the paths to tho the LIVE server paths. This will now use the appropriate endpoints when published using the VisualStudio publish command.

E.g. If deploying a STAGING version of the web site, select "Staging" from the Build Configuraion drop down. Right click on the WebSite project in the solution expolorer and select "Publish". Choose how you wish to publish and click the "Publish" button. The whole solution will then rebuild, proxies will be generated form the Staging server and the web.config file will be published with the Staging setting.

Thats it, you're done

You now have proxies that will generate based on your build configuration, one location to change paths via commenting for debugging purposes, and automatic web.config updating on publising.

Update

Gaui, the OP, has created a small exe that simplifies this some what. It is availavle on GitHub