WCF chokes on properties with no “set ”. Any workaround?

Question

I have some class that I\'m passing as a result of a service method, and that class has a get-only property:

[DataContract]
public class ErrorBase
{
  [DataM         


        

Answer 1

Even if you dont need to update the value, the setter is used by the WCFSerializer to deserialize the object (and re-set the value).

This SO is what you are after: WCF DataContracts

Answer 2

If it's a viable option, then instead of having ErrorBase as the base class, define it as follows:

    public interface IError
    {
        string Message
        {
            [OperationContract]
            get;

            // leave unattributed
            set;
        }
    }

Now, even though a setter exists, it's inaccessible to the client via WCF channel, so it's as if it were private.

Answer 3

If your serializer is of type DataContractJsonSerializer (or any DataContractSerializer) you can also use DataContractSerializerSettings in the constructor, with the SerializeReadOnlyTypes property set to true.

Answer 4

Couldn't you just have a "do-nothing" setter??

[DataContract]
public class ErrorBase
{
  [DataMember]
  public virtual string Message 
  {
      get { return ""; } 
      set { }
  }
}

Or does the DataContract serializer barf at that, too??

Answer 5

Properties with DataMember attribute always requires set. You should re write simmilar object on the client application since DataContract members can always be assigned values.

Answer 6

Give Message a public getter but protected setter, so that only subclasses (and the DataContractSerializer, because it cheats :) may modify the value.