Creating WCF service in SharePoint 2010

Whether you already tried creating WCF service as a standalone website project or WCF library – creating SharePoint hosted WCF add whole new meaning to it

Suppose you want to create a service which you can call using URL and receive and XML or JSON back in your browser or JavaScript app.

I’ll demonstrate the process step by step:

In our case we’ll call 

http://localhost/_vti_bin/Service1.svc/MyCall?message=Some Text

  and receive

<string xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2003/10/Serialization/">

You entered: Some Text, Entered on: 8/31/2010 7:19:29 PM</string>

1. Create new Visual Studio 2010 Blank SharePoint project.

2. Map a new SharePoint folder in your solution – it’ll be ISAPI folder. That’s where our Service definition is going to sit.

3. Add a new Text file in the newly mapped ISAPI folder. Rename the text file to SVC extension and add the following code to it:

<%

@ServiceHost Language="C#" Debug="true" Service="WCFOnSP.Service1, 

WCFOnSP, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=45738fb2ebc34cfd" 

Factory="Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Services.MultipleBaseAddressWebServiceHostFactory,

Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerRuntime, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,

PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

Ensure you replace highlighted parts with valid assembly information and namespaces.

4. Add the following references to your project:

Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerRuntime.DLL – (C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerRuntime\ 14.0.0.0__71e9bce111e9429c\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerRuntime.dll)

System.ServiceModel.DLL

System.ServiceModel.Web.DLL

5. Add a new folder to your solution called WCF Service (or anything else). This is where we`re going to place our service classes and contract.

6. Add new class called IService1.cs - which is the service contract. Replace it`s code with the following:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel.Web;

namespace WCFOnSP
{
    [ServiceContract]
    public interface IService1
    {
        [OperationContract]
        [WebGet(UriTemplate = "/MyCall?message={message}",
            BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.Bare,
            ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml)]
        string GetData(string message);

        // TO Call this method - deploy the solution and call the following URL:
        // http://localhost/_vti_bin/Service1.svc/MyCall?message=Some Text
    }

}

Pretty self explanatory – I event included a comment on what`s the call syntax. WebMessageFormat.Xml will determine if the return is XML or JSON – so this is how you toggle it.

7. Now let`s implement the REST call method. Create new class in the same folder as your contract – name the file: Service1.cs, replace it`s content with the following:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel.Activation;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Services;

namespace WCFOnSP
{

    [BasicHttpBindingServiceMetadataExchangeEndpointAttribute]
    [AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Required)]

    public class Service1 : IService1
    {
        public string GetData(string message)
        {
            return string.Format("You entered: {0}, Entered on: {1}", message,  DateTime.Now.ToString());
        }

    }
}

Also, pretty self explanatory – this method can really execute anything as long as it returns a string value. Attributes on a top of the class will ensure the service has necessary resources to run within the environment – which you normally get by default in SP 2010.

That`s all there is to it – deploy your solution and use the calling URL from above – you should get your desired message in XML. Now you can consume the XML or JSON in your application.

Good Luck!