MexHttpBinding v/s WSDL

May 24, 2013 by abhishekdv 6 Comments

Lets discuss about how the metadata is exchanged with client in WCF.

There are two ways to exchange metadata with client.

1> MexHttpBinding

2> WSDL

1> Enabling MexHttpBinding:

We can have the metadata exchanged through mexHttpBinding by adding endpoint in our config file like:

1. <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>

2> Enabling WSDL

In the Service Behaviors set httpGetEnabled="true"

1. <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="false"/>

If both are added default will be WSDL

Example:

Lets assume we have simple service with IService as contract and web.config of service model looks like this

1. <system.serviceModel>
2.       <services>
3.         <service name="WcfService.Service" behaviorConfiguration="WcfService1.Service1Behavior">
4.           <endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="WcfService.IService">
5.             <identity>
6.               <dns value="localhost"/>
7.             </identity>
8.           </endpoint>
9.           <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
10.         </service>
11.       </services>
12.       <behaviors>
13.         <serviceBehaviors>
14.           <behavior name="WcfService1.Service1Behavior">
15.             <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>
16.             <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
17.           </behavior>
18.         </serviceBehaviors>
19.       </behaviors>
20.     </system.serviceModel>

Since we have enabled both ( mex and wsdl ) preference will be always given to WSDL

On browsing the service:

Now we can see metadata is exchanged through WSDL when we add reference of this service to any project.

Disabling WSDL

By simply setting httpGetEnabled=false in Service behavior we can disable WSDl

On browsing service after disabling WSDL

Now we can see that metadata is exchanged with MexHttpBinding.