Passing IEnumerable as parameter to WCF service

Question

I got xml looking like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items>
    <item>1</item>
    <item>2</item>
    <item>3</item>
</items>

And a wcf service contract:

[ServiceContract(Namespace = "", Name = "MyService", SessionMode = SessionMode.NotAllowed)]
public interface IMyService
{
    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke(Method = "POST", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml, BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare)]
    void DoWork(IEnumerable<int> items);
}

Service binding is basic http. But when i try to post that xml to wcf method i'm getting error: Unable to deserialize XML message with root name "items" and root namespace ""

How should wcf method look like to properly work with that xml?

Try to get the WSDL of your service. Does the contract schema match with your XML? — Myrtle, Feb 12 '14 at 13:43
@MauriceStam for same reason as in question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21127021/add-behaviorattribute-to-a-workflowservicehost i'm unable to see wsdl. I just need to make service understand xml format i provided — Sergio, Feb 12 '14 at 13:55

Seymour · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-12T22:06:26.470

3

Your service contract does not seem to be setup correctly.

I think you need to implement a "wrapper" class, which defines a type structure that matches your XML.

For example:

[XmlRoot("items")]
public class MyItems
{
    [XmlElement("item")]
    public List<int> Items { get; set; }
}

I just put together a quick test app and successfully verified the interface using your sample XML (via a soapUI REST client).

Regards,

edited Feb 12 '14 at 22:06

answered Feb 12 '14 at 15:16

Seymour

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Thanks a lot! Got it working with method marked by `XmlSerializerFormat` attribute – Sergio Feb 12 '14 at 15:38

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

I think you need to specify a root namespace for default xml deserialization. If this is not an option for you, you might need to change your service interface to accept a stream instead.

Here's more information on the subject: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/35982/REST-WCF-and-Streams-Getting-Rid-of-those-Names-Sp

~~To actually answer your question~~, you could try the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items xmlns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/" 
    xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <item>1</item>
    <item>2</item>
    <item>3</item>
</items>

Edit: That was not your question. So to actually answer your question:

[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(BodyStyle =
    WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare, Method = "POST", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml,)] 
    void DoWork(Stream data);

Another alternative could be a custom datacontract (signature: void DoWork(MyCustomDataContract data);) and custom deserialization, example here: How to use Custom Serialization or Deserialization in WCF to force a new instance on every property of a datacontact ?

hmm at least I managed to offer a more complicated alternative :P Seymor's answer is obviously a lot cleaner — Tewr, Feb 12 '14 at 15:41

Passing IEnumerable as parameter to WCF service

2 Answers2