WCF Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved

Question

I\'ve spent a couple of hours searching about this error, and I have tested almost everything it\'s on Google.

I want to access a service using TCP, .NET4 an

Answer 1

I was getting the same error message and as it turned out, the issue was due to text within a comments block

<!-- comments included characters like à, ç and ã -->

After removing such characters from the commented block, everything works fine

Answer 2

I had the same problem (when client didn't "see" the service in "Add service reference" menu) while using only tcp binding. After trying to add Behavior I had my service to end with exception because it didn't find proper address. I don't know if it is the best idea, but you can add second base address as http.... here is my config and code, it works.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?><configuration>  <system.serviceModel>  <services>
  <service name="TestBindings.StockQuoteService">
    <host>
      <baseAddresses>
        <add baseAddress="net.tcp://10.62.60.62:34000/StockQuoteService" />
        <add baseAddress ="http://10.62.60.62:12000/StockQuoteService"/>
      </baseAddresses>
    </host>
    <endpoint address=""
    contract="TestBindings.IStockQuoteService"
    binding="netTcpBinding" />
  </service>
</services>

And the code

  class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ServiceHost sh = new ServiceHost(typeof(StockQuoteService));
        ServiceMetadataBehavior behavior = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
        behavior.HttpGetEnabled = true;
        sh.Description.Behaviors.Add(behavior);
        sh.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMetadataExchange), MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexHttpBinding(),
            "mex");
        sh.Open();

The http address is now usend by client to add service reference, and automatically generated config on client side uses net.tcp protocol to call the function.

Answer 3

For the above issue check the reference.svc file which is generated at the time you add the reference. The url mentioned in that will be used for updating the service so you can check whether that is running or not.

Answer 4

I received the same error while attempting to update an existing service reference. It turns out I had data contracts with the same name within the same namespace. Further investigation yielded the real error:

DataContract for type [redacted] cannot be added to DataContractSet since type '[redacted]' with the same data contract name 'DocumentInfo' in namespace '[redacted]' is already present and the contracts are not equivalent.

I changed the DataContract to provide a name for one of the classes.

[DataContract(Namespace = "urn:*[redacted]*:DataContracts", Name = "SC_DocumentInfo")]

I'm posting this here in case it might help someone with the same issue.

Answer 5

Maybe it will be helpful for someone.

My issue was in a contract argument, and I discovered it with help of Event Viewer:

The operation [Name of method] either has a parameter or a return type that is attributed with MessageContractAttribute. In order to represent the request message using a Message Contract, the operation must have a single parameter attributed with MessageContractAttribute. In order to represent the response message using a Message Contract, the operation's return value must be a type that is attributed with MessageContractAttribute and the operation may not have any out or ref parameters.

So, if you appended more than one arguments, already having [MessageContract] argument, then you'll see error in question. Completely not obvious.

Answer 6

You are missing service configuration

<system.serviceModel>
  <services>
    <service name="WcfService_using_callbacks_via_tcp.Service1" 
      behaviorConfiguration="Behavior_Service1">
      <host>
        <baseAddresses>
          <add baseAddress="net.tcp://localhost:5050/Service1" />
        </baseAddresses>
      </host>
      <endpoint address="" contract="WcfService_using_callbacks_via_tcp.IService1"
         binding="netTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="DuplexNetTcpBinding_IService1" />
      <endpoint address="mex" contract="IMetadataExchange" binding="mexTcpBindng" />
    </service>
  </services>
  ...
</system.serviceModel>

With this config you should not need to define base address in code.