How to generate WCF Client Proxy Class using svcutil.exe

I wanted to use wcf because I read about it and like the power and clean implementation which is highly configurable without a lot of effort. I have used and made many clients for web services using Visual Studio .Net and all it requires is to know where the web service is hosted. When you add a service reference and pass in a url where it is hosted (WSDL) the IDE generates a proxy class and WOW !! there you go… Call the methods in ur client, no fuss at all clean , nice and smooth. I was under the impression that WCF is esentially the same and support many other types of bindings like http,tcp blah blah ….. So i started developing the Kool WCF server client application. Little did I know about generating the client proxy class using svcutil.exe . I knew that you can generate proxy classes using svcutil.exe but that is a painful painful process. A little up and down and it gives you exceptions that are very easy to understand [ Devilish smile ] . So to save you the time and effort that you will have to put it to generate proxy classes I will show you the exact app.config file and how to use the svcutil. You can simply copy and paste it and be happy [just rename the Contracts , end point info according to your own and you are good to go] …

I have changed the font to BOLD whatever i was missing and was required by svcutil to generate the proxy class that I used.
Here is my app.config in the Hosting Application (server) from where the service would be run:

<?xml version=“1.0“ encoding=“utf-8“ ?>

<configuration>

  <system.serviceModel>

    <behaviors>

      <serviceBehaviors>

        <behavior name=“mex“>

          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults=“true“ />

          <serviceMetadata />

        </behavior>

      </serviceBehaviors>

    </behaviors>

    <services>

      <service name=“WCFServiceLibrary1.service1“ behaviorConfiguration =“mex“>

        <endpoint address=“net.tcp://localhost:6587/Service1/“

                  binding=“netTcpBinding“

                  bindingConfiguration=“TestBinding“

                  name=“RoleEndPoint“

                  contract=“WCFServiceLibrary1.IService1“ >

          <identity>

            <dns value=“localhost“ />

          </identity>

        </endpoint>

        <endpoint

             address=“mex“

             binding=“mexTcpBinding“

             name=“MEX“

             contract=“IMetadataExchange“ />

        <host>

          <baseAddresses>

            <add baseAddress=“net.tcp://localhost:6587/Service1/“ />

          </baseAddresses>

        </host>

      </service>

    </services> 

    <bindings>

      <netTcpBinding>

        <binding name=“TestBinding“ maxBufferPoolSize=“524288“ maxReceivedMessageSize=“65536“ portSharingEnabled=“false“>

          <readerQuotas maxDepth=“32“ maxStringContentLength=“8192“ maxArrayLength=“16384“ maxBytesPerRead=“4096“ maxNameTableCharCount=“16384“ />

          <security mode=“None“ />

        </binding>

      </netTcpBinding>

    </bindings> 

  </system.serviceModel>

</configuration>

Observe that there is an endpoint defined for metadata exchange called mex. This is used by the svcutil to generate the proxy class. The behavior node also contains a behavior named as mex. Now you are all set to use the svcutil.exe. Simply open the Visual Studio Command prompt from your startup menu à Visual Studio à tools and Command Prompt and type in the following command:

(Remember to replace the name to the service with yours as defined in the server configuration file)
Hope it helps and save you time and effort and I wish you don’t have to go through the pain of getting svcutil to work. Happy Coding !!

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC>svcutil.exe  net.tcp://localhost:6587/Service1/mex

This will generate two files service1.cs (proxy class for the client) and output.config (the app.config for the client). Enjoy !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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