Multiple Services with equally named endpoints

Question

I am just creating some small C# programs to access third party webservices. There are different services, but the structure is pretty similar - especially in the naming convention for the binding

WSDL for Service 'QueryCustomerIn'

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<wsdl:definitions xmlns:tns="http://sap.com/xi/A1S/Global" xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/" ...>
...
  <wsdl:binding name="binding_SOAP12" type="tns:QueryCustomerIn">
    ...
  </wsdl:binding>
  <wsdl:service name="service">
    <wsdl:port name="binding_SOAP12" binding="tns:binding_SOAP12">
      <wsoap12:address location="https://my123456.sapbydesign.com/sap/bc/srt/scs/sap/querycustomerin1?sap-vhost=my123456.sapbydesign.com"/>
    </wsdl:port>
  </wsdl:service>
</wsdl:definitions>

WSDL for 'QueryOrganisationalCentreIn'

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<wsdl:definitions xmlns:tns="http://sap.com/xi/A1S/Global" xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/" ...>
...
  <wsdl:binding name="binding_SOAP12" type="tns:QueryOrganisationalCentreIn">
    ...
  </wsdl:binding>
  <wsdl:service name="service">
    <wsdl:port name="binding_SOAP12" binding="tns:binding_SOAP12">
      <wsoap12:address location="https://my123456.sapbydesign.com/sap/bc/srt/scs/sap/queryorganisationalcentrein?sap-vhost=my123456.sapbydesign.com"/>
    </wsdl:port>
  </wsdl:service>
</wsdl:definitions>

As you see, both services name their endpoints "binding_SOAP12" but each points to a different location.

When I create the client in Visual Studio 2010 with "Add service reference", I can access the service the following way:

QueryOrganisationalCentreInClient client = new QueryOrganisationalCentreInClient("binding_SOAP12");

But when I add the second service, the similar request for the second service

QueryCustomerInClient client = new QueryCustomerInClient("binding_SOAP12");

fails with a System.InvalidOperationException (The endpoint could not be found or the endpointcontract is not valid).

I tested some things and found out the following:

• The first client (Organisational...) still works normally like before the second service has been added
• If I create a new project and just add the second service (Customer...) the same way (but without any other service) it works.
• When I edit the (provided) WSDL-file for the Customer...Service and change the name of the endpoint to a different name, it also works in the project together with the first service (Organisational...)

It looks like VisualStudio 2010 cannot deal with equally named endpoints in different service contracts in the same project. But as I am not in the position to dictate the naming of the endpoints: How can I use both services in my project despite this problem?

Thanks in advance,
Frank

Answer 1

There might be 2 different issues with your code.

Can you show your .config?

You sometimes get 1 binding name and 2 endpoint addresses with the same contract. One for 1.1 Soap and another for 1.2. You should try and delete one of them.

In other scenarios you can have 1 binding name and 2 endpoints but it only works if the contract classes are different.

Answer 2

The wizard is just a way to generate code and config. If you don't like it (because it does not work), just go into the app.config of your project and rename one binding definition by hand.