How do I test connectivity to an unknown web service in C#?

Question

I\'m busy writing a class that monitors the status of RAS connections. I need to test to make sure that the connection is not only connected, but also that it can communica

Answer 1

You could try the following which tests the web site's existence:

public static bool ServiceExists(
    string url, 
    bool throwExceptions, 
    out string errorMessage)
{
    try
    {
        errorMessage = string.Empty;

        // try accessing the web service directly via it's URL
        HttpWebRequest request = 
            WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest;
        request.Timeout = 30000;

        using (HttpWebResponse response = 
                   request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)
        {
            if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
                throw new Exception("Error locating web service");
        }

        // try getting the WSDL?
        // asmx lets you put "?wsdl" to make sure the URL is a web service
        // could parse and validate WSDL here

    }
    catch (WebException ex)
    {   
        // decompose 400- codes here if you like
        errorMessage = 
            string.Format("Error testing connection to web service at" + 
                          " \"{0}\":\r\n{1}", url, ex);
        Trace.TraceError(errorMessage);
        if (throwExceptions)
            throw new Exception(errorMessage, ex);
    }   
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        errorMessage = 
            string.Format("Error testing connection to web service at " + 
                          "\"{0}\":\r\n{1}", url, ex);
        Trace.TraceError(errorMessage);
       if (throwExceptions)
            throw new Exception(errorMessage, ex);
        return false;
    }

    return true;
}