This topic answers common questions regarding .NET WCF SOAP Clients.

Sections include:

What is a binding?

In WCF, a binding describes the transport, security, and message encoding for a web service's endpoint. The SOAP Client needs to know the endpoint's binding in order to communicate with the endpoint. The SOAP Client can determine the endpoint's binding automatically from a WSDL document or from a .NET WCF client configuration file.

How do I create a .NET WCF client configuration file?

The Microsoft Service Model Metadata Tool (svcutil.exe) can generate a client configuration file given the URL of the service's WSDL document. The Microsoft Service Configuration Editor can be used to create and edit WCF configuration files using a graphical user interface. Both of these tools are part of the Microsoft Windows SDK, which is included with Visual Studio and can also be downloaded from Microsoft. The web service's developer may also be able to provide you with a client configuration file for the web service that you are testing.

Do I have to use a .NET WCF client configuration file?

Not necessarily. If the web service's WSDL document sufficiently describes the web service, then the SOAP Client only needs to be constrained to that WSDL without using a client configuration file. However, if the web service uses certificate-based authentication, then you must setup a .NET WCF client configuration file that describes the locations of the certificates installed on your local machine. WCF bindings also define various limits, including a limit on the maximum received message size. You can control such limits in a .NET Client configuration file. You also need to un-constrain your SOAP Client test from the WSDL document to prevent the binding information in the WSDL from taking precedence over what you have in your configuration file.

How do I configure certificate-based authentication?

First, you need to install any client and server certificates using the Windows Certificate Manager. You can open the Windows Certificate Manger by clicking Start> Run..., entering "certmgr.msc", then clicking OK. Typically, you would install the server's certificate in the Trusted People store and any client certificates in the Personal store. Next, the locations of those certificates must be specified in your client configuration file. 

The MSDN web site has detailed information about how to do this, including configuration file examples:

• Working with Certificates: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms731899.aspx 
• How to: Specify Client Credential Values: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms732391.aspx 
• Transport Security with Certificate Authentication: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms731074.aspx 
• Message Security with a Certificate Client: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733098.aspx 

Can I use a .NET WCF SOAP Client to test older .NET web services?

Only WSE 3.0. .NET WCF clients are wire-level compatible with WSE 3.0 services. The following custom binding can be used to test a WSE 3.0 web service using Secure Conversation and MutualCertificate11:

<binding name="SecureConversationMutualCertificate11SignEncryptConfig">
    <security authenticationMode="SecureConversation" messageProtectionOrder=
         "SignBeforeEncrypt" requireSecurityContextCancellation="false">
         <secureConversationBootstrap authenticationMode="MutualCertificate"
               securityHeaderLayout="Strict" messageProtectionOrder="SignBeforeEncrypt"
               requireSignatureConfirmation="true" />
    </security>
    <textMessageEncoding messageVersion="Soap11WSAddressingAugust2004" />
    <httpTransport />
</binding>

The MSDN web site has more detail; see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms730299.aspx .

Can I use a .NET WCF SOAP Client to test Glassfish Metro/WSIT based services?

Yes! Metro WSIT services are interoperable with .NET WCF clients, including SOAtest's SOAP Client tool. However, there is a known bug in Metro where whitespace and newlines cause the security validation for the request message to fail. This problem can be avoided by chaining an Extension tool to the Request SOAP Envelope output of your SOAP Client test that to remove the extra white space:

from com.parasoft.api import * 
from java.lang import *
 
def removeAllNewLineCharacters(input, context):
    noNewLines = str(input).replace("\r", "").replace("\n", "")
    result = String(noNewLines).replaceAll(">\s*<", "><")
    Application.showMessage(result) # for debugging
    return result

Common Errors