Invoke a Operation Contract through web browser

Question

Since i am new to WCF and Having configured a WCF service endpoint in IIS at Virtual Directory Api ( url goes like http://localhost/api/taskapi.svc) i was looking for ways to make request through web browser something like http://localhost/api/taskapi.svc/GetCompleted would respond with JSON that lists all completed tasks hence these two posts here gave me some answers

• Invoking WCF service method through a browser

• How to consume WCF web service through URL at run time?

• WCF: Call Service using parameter in URL with &

ok hmm so i changed my OperationContract to like below

    [OperationContract]
    [WebGet(UriTemplate = "/GetCompleted", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    IList<Task> GetCompleted();

but still the url http://localhost/api/tasksapi.svc/GetCompleted in browser responds with 400 Bad Request.

Service Contract

[ServiceContract]
public interface ITaskContract
{

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "POST", UriTemplate = "/task", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    TaskLibrary.Task CreateTask(TaskLibrary.Task myTask);

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "GET", UriTemplate = "/task", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    IList<TaskLibrary.Task> GetTasks();

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "DELETE", UriTemplate = "/task", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    bool DeleteTask(string taskId);

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "PUT", UriTemplate = "/task", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    bool UpdateTask(TaskLibrary.Task myTask);

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "GET", UriTemplate = "/task/{taskId}", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    IList<TaskLibrary.Task> GetById(string taskId);

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(UriTemplate = "/task/completed", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, Method = "GET", RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
    IList<TaskLibrary.Task> GetCompleted();

}

Service Config

  <system.serviceModel>
    <services>
      <service behaviorConfiguration="TaskApi.ServiceBehavior" name="TaskService.TaskService">
        <endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="TaskService.ITaskContract">
          <identity>
            <dns value="localhost" />
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
        <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
      </service>
    </services>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="TaskApi.ServiceBehavior">
          <!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information, set the value below to false and remove the metadata endpoint above before deployment -->
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
          <!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes, set the value below to true.  Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing exception information -->
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
  </system.serviceModel>

Reference Directive

<%@ ServiceHost Language="C#" Debug="true" Service="TaskService.TaskService" %>

the service is picked from assembly which is output of WCF Service library

Url rewrite to hide svc extension

  <system.webServer>
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="Svc Extension remove pattern">
          <match url="^([0-9a-zA-Z\-]+)/([0-9a-zA-Z\-\.\/\(\)]+)" />
          <action type="Rewrite" url="{R:1}.svc/{R:2}" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>
  </system.webServer>

• What should i do to make this work?

Answer 1

OK your binding is wsHttpBinding. You need to change it to webHttpBinding (or add another endpoint). Then you need to add an endpointBehavior in the behaviors section as follows

   <endpointBehavior>
       <behavior name="rest">
           <webHttp/>
       </behavior>
   </endpointBehavior>

This behavior wires in the functionality to map Uris to methods. Then you need to reference this behavior from the webHttpBinding endpoint using the behaviorConfiguration XML attribute