WCF: Svcutil generates invalid client proxy, Apache AXIS Web Service, overload operations

Question

I'm using a 3rd party web service written in Java and using Apache Axis 1.3. The service has many overload operations. When the WCF Svcutil generates the proxy, it renames the overloaded operation by appending a number after the operation name. For example:

getDataResponse getData(getDataRequest request);

getDataResponse1 getData1(getDataRequest1 request);

This by itself isn't a problem, but when Svcutil generates the request/response messages, it neglects to change the WrapperName property of the MessageContracts.

    [MessageContractAttribute(
        WrapperName = "getData", 
        WrapperNamespace = "http://namespace.com", 
        IsWrapped = true)]
    public partial class getDataRequest1 {  ..  }

When the client application attempts to open the proxy, the following exception is thrown:

InvalidOperationException: RPC Message getDataRequest1 in operation getData1 has an invalid body name getData. It must be getData1

If I change WrapperName = "getData1" the proxy will open, however...

1. I am unable to call the operation because the service doesn't recognize "getData1"
2. The service has almost 1100 operations, of which nearly half are overloads

Is there any way to generate and/or modify the proxy so that all operations work with WCF?

Mark

Answer 1

For what it is worth (4 years later), it seems that by calling WSDL.exe manually and passing the /protocol:SOAP parameter, this problem can be avoided. Generating a service client through the UI still seems to cause this issue as of VS2012 for services generated by Apache Axis.

Example usage:

c:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools>wsdl /l:cs /protocol:SOAP http://rxnav.nlm.nih.gov/RxNormDBService.xml /out:c:\drop\rxnavapi.cs

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Edit: sphinxxx correctly noted that the SOAP protocol option is exposed in UI as "Add Web Reference", so executing wsdl.exe directly is not necessary.

Answer 2

The only workaround that I have been able to find is to edit the generated code by hand and remove all of the overloads that I don't need.

Answer 3

I didn't see this question before, because you had a "java" tag on it, and I ignore Java questions. Your question wasn't about Java, so should not have had a "java" tag.

svcutil is not renaming the overloaded operations. That's because there's no such thing as overloaded operations. WSDL has no concept of two operations with the same name, but using different messages.

If you look at the WSDL from Axis, I believe you'll find the operations have the numbers appended to them.

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Correction: In a comment, Mark Good correctly points out that WSDL 1.1 does permit overloading. I happen to think it only makes any sense in the context of an RPC-based service, where the message name can be used to distinguish between one overload and another.

However, he may not be aware that operator overloading is prohibited by WS-I Basic Profile 1.1:

4.5.3 Distinctive Operations

Operation name overloading in a wsdl:portType is disallowed by the Profile.

R2304 A wsdl:portType in a DESCRIPTION MUST have operations with distinct values for their name attributes.

Note that this requirement applies only to the wsdl:operations within a given wsdl:portType. A wsdl:portType may have wsdl:operations with names that are the same as those found in other wsdl:portTypes.

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If one reads more of WS-I BP1.1, one will learn why not everything in WSDL 1.1 is a good idea.

Answer 4

Write a script that'll do this text fix and set it as the post-build script for your proxy library.

Answer 5

I have found that when using "old fashioned" AddServiceReference, it correctly generates classes with overloads, even in VS2012.

Answer 6

None of the solutions here worked for me.

Generating the reference in a vs2010 project targeted for .NET2, and then opening the solution in vs2012 or vs2013 targeting .NET4, does work though.