Metadata and WCF Essentials - Client-Side Programming

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Generating the client config file

By default, SvcUtil also auto-generates a client-side config file called output.config. You can specify a config filename using the /config switch:

  SvcUtil http://localhost:8002/MyService/ /out:Proxy.cs
/config:App.Config

And you can suppress generating the config file using the/noconfigswitch:

  SvcUtil http://localhost:8002/MyService/ /out:Proxy.cs
/noconfig

I recommend never letting SvcUtil generate the config file. The reason is that it generates fully articulated binding sections that often just state the default values, which tends to clutter the config file.

In-proc configuration

With in-proc hosting, the client config file is also the service host config file, and the same file contains both service and client entries, as shown in Example 1-19.

Example 1-19. In-proc hosting config file

<system.serviceModel>
   <services>
      <service name = "MyService">
         <endpoint
            address  = "net.pipe://localhost/MyPipe"
            binding  = "netNamedPipeBinding"
            contract = "IMyContract"
         />
      </service>
   </services>
   <client>
      <endpoint name = "MyEndpoint"
         address  = "net.pipe://localhost/MyPipe"
         binding  = "netNamedPipeBinding"
         contract = "IMyContract"
      />
   </client>
</system.serviceModel>

Note the use of the named pipe binding for in-proc hosting.

The SvcConfigEditor

WCF provides a config file editor called SvcConfigEditor.exethat can edit both host and client configuration files (see Figure 1-10). You can also launch the editor from within Visual Studio by right-clicking on the configuration file (both the client and the host files) and selecting Edit WCF Configuration.

I have mixed feelings about SvcConfigEditor. On the one hand, it edits the config files nicely and it saves developers the need to know the configuration schema. On

Figure 1-10.  SvcConfigEditor is used to edit both host and client config files

the other hand, it does not save the need to thoroughly understand WCF configuration, and for the most part, the light editing done in a config file is faster by hand than editing using Visual Studio 2005.

Please check back next week for the conclusion to this article.

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This article is excerpted from chapter one of the book Programming WCF Services, written by Juval Lowy (O'Reilly, 2007; ISBN: 0596526997). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.