Include exception information in return values in WCF

Question

I am implementing an IErrorHandler for a set of WCF services. I configure the WCF services to use this error handler via the configuration file, using a custom behavior.

All methods in all services return a value that is derived from a common base class.

What I want to do is to include information about the error in the return value if the error handler gets called.

Any ideas on how to do this elegantly would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

You just need to create the message manually which complies with your return SOAP data. You can implement your own body writer and use it for the Message.Create function. Here is a good example of how to accomplish what you basically need Simple custom error handler for webHttpBinding in WCF
However if I were you I would choose fault approach when you just return void or some data if everything succeeds and fault message if it fails. Of course if there are no strict requirements to return operation status in the response object or if you are not refactoring an existing system.

Hope it helps.