Programmaticall y change web service information in app.config

[Andrew Jocelyn]

Hi

How do I programmaticall y change (read/write) the values in this app.config
file at runtime? Specifically I want to change the client endpoint address
but it would be nice to change other values too. I thought this is what
ServiceHost is for but is seems way more complicated to use for what I'm
trying to do.

<system.service Model>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBindi ng>
<binding name="DataServi ceSoap" closeTimeout="0 0:01:00"
openTimeout="00 :01:00"
receiveTimeout= "01:00:00" sendTimeout="00 :01:00"
allowCookies="f alse"
bypassProxyOnLo cal="false"
hostNameCompari sonMode="Strong Wildcard"
maxBufferSize=" 67108864" maxBufferPoolSi ze="524288"
maxReceivedMess ageSize="671088 64"
messageEncoding ="Text" textEncoding="u tf-8"
transferMode="B uffered"
useDefaultWebPr oxy="true">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringConten tLength="8192"
maxArrayLength= "16384"
maxBytesPerRead ="4096" maxNameTableCha rCount="16384" />
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentia lType="None"
proxyCredential Type="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentia lType="UserName "
algorithmSuite= "Default" />
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBindin g>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://webservice.com/Service.asmx"
binding="basicH ttpBinding" bindingConfigur ation="DataServ iceSoap"
contract="MySer vice.DataServic eSoap" name="DataServi ceSoap" />
</client>
</system.serviceM odel>

Many thanks
Andrew

[Alvin Bruney [ASP.NET MVP]]

It's a file, you can read and write it as normal. However, you will restart
the application. Now, step back a bit. Endpoints are established ahead of
time and configured accordingly. Your requirement is about the same as
rewriting a browser url so that clients can hit this new url. Why not
publish the url ahead of time? Why the strange requirement?

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
Download OWC Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $15.00
Need a free copy of VSTS 2008 w/ MSDN Premium?
http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/Default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:OD******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP03.phx.gbl...

Hi

How do I programmaticall y change (read/write) the values in this
app.config file at runtime? Specifically I want to change the client
endpoint address but it would be nice to change other values too. I
thought this is what ServiceHost is for but is seems way more complicated
to use for what I'm trying to do.

<system.service Model>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBindi ng>
<binding name="DataServi ceSoap" closeTimeout="0 0:01:00"
openTimeout="00 :01:00"
receiveTimeout= "01:00:00" sendTimeout="00 :01:00"
allowCookies="f alse"
bypassProxyOnLo cal="false"
hostNameCompari sonMode="Strong Wildcard"
maxBufferSize=" 67108864" maxBufferPoolSi ze="524288"
maxReceivedMess ageSize="671088 64"
messageEncoding ="Text" textEncoding="u tf-8"
transferMode="B uffered"
useDefaultWebPr oxy="true">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringConten tLength="8192"
maxArrayLength= "16384"
maxBytesPerRead ="4096" maxNameTableCha rCount="16384" />
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentia lType="None"
proxyCredential Type="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentia lType="UserName "
algorithmSuite= "Default" />
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBindin g>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://webservice.com/Service.asmx"
binding="basicH ttpBinding" bindingConfigur ation="DataServ iceSoap"
contract="MySer vice.DataServic eSoap" name="DataServi ceSoap" />
</client>
</system.serviceM odel>

Many thanks
Andrew

[Jeff Dillon]

"Alvin Bruney [ASP.NET MVP]" <vapor dan using hot male spam filterwrote in
message news:FB******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

It's a file, you can read and write it as normal. However, you will
restart the application. Now, step back a bit. Endpoints are established
ahead of time and configured accordingly. Your requirement is about the
same as rewriting a browser url so that clients can hit this new url. Why
not publish the url ahead of time? Why the strange requirement?

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
Download OWC Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $15.00
Need a free copy of VSTS 2008 w/ MSDN Premium?
http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/Default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:OD******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP03.phx.gbl...

>Hi

How do I programmaticall y change (read/write) the values in this
app.config file at runtime? Specifically I want to change the client
endpoint address but it would be nice to change other values too. I
thought this is what ServiceHost is for but is seems way more complicated
to use for what I'm trying to do.

<system.service Model>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBindi ng>
<binding name="DataServi ceSoap" closeTimeout="0 0:01:00"
openTimeout="0 0:01:00"
receiveTimeout= "01:00:00" sendTimeout="00 :01:00"
allowCookies=" false"
bypassProxyOnLo cal="false"
hostNameCompar isonMode="Stron gWildcard"
maxBufferSize=" 67108864" maxBufferPoolSi ze="524288"
maxReceivedMes sageSize="67108 864"
messageEncoding ="Text" textEncoding="u tf-8"
transferMode=" Buffered"
useDefaultWebPr oxy="true">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringConten tLength="8192"
maxArrayLength ="16384"
maxBytesPerRead ="4096" maxNameTableCha rCount="16384" />
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentia lType="None"
proxyCredentia lType="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentia lType="UserName "
algorithmSuite ="Default" />
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBindin g>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://webservice.com/Service.asmx"
binding="basicH ttpBinding"
bindingConfigu ration="DataSer viceSoap"
contract="MySer vice.DataServic eSoap" name="DataServi ceSoap" />
</client>
</system.serviceM odel>

Many thanks
Andrew

No, that is not a good solution. How do you programmaticall y change the
endpoints? We have the same requirement. I suspect we can just define two
endpoints (binding names) in the config as you suggest however, then choose
which one to use at runtime. We have an application that needs to easily
switch between sandbox and production environment web services.

Jeff

[Andrew Jocelyn]

OK, this is the situation.

The windows form client is a ClickOnce app and will be downloaded from a
central location. It needs some default config but the webservice it will
need to connect to will be customer specific, i.e. each client will need to
connect to their own URL.

Perhaps this is poor design but it's more secure than allowing all clients
to connect to a single service. I know I can deserialize/serialize the
app.config but there must be a preferred way to modify these particular
settings. I don't want the user to modify the file directly.

Also it seems like there may be occasions when things like maxBufferSize
need to be tweaked so an interface of seems like it should be a common
requirement to me. What do other people do?

Thanks
Andrew

"Alvin Bruney [ASP.NET MVP]" <vapor dan using hot male spam filterwrote in
message news:FB******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

It's a file, you can read and write it as normal. However, you will
restart the application. Now, step back a bit. Endpoints are established
ahead of time and configured accordingly. Your requirement is about the
same as rewriting a browser url so that clients can hit this new url. Why
not publish the url ahead of time? Why the strange requirement?

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
Download OWC Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $15.00
Need a free copy of VSTS 2008 w/ MSDN Premium?
http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/Default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:OD******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP03.phx.gbl...

>Hi

How do I programmaticall y change (read/write) the values in this
app.config file at runtime? Specifically I want to change the client
endpoint address but it would be nice to change other values too. I
thought this is what ServiceHost is for but is seems way more complicated
to use for what I'm trying to do.

<system.service Model>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBindi ng>
<binding name="DataServi ceSoap" closeTimeout="0 0:01:00"
openTimeout="0 0:01:00"
receiveTimeout= "01:00:00" sendTimeout="00 :01:00"
allowCookies=" false"
bypassProxyOnLo cal="false"
hostNameCompar isonMode="Stron gWildcard"
maxBufferSize=" 67108864" maxBufferPoolSi ze="524288"
maxReceivedMes sageSize="67108 864"
messageEncoding ="Text" textEncoding="u tf-8"
transferMode=" Buffered"
useDefaultWebPr oxy="true">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringConten tLength="8192"
maxArrayLength ="16384"
maxBytesPerRead ="4096" maxNameTableCha rCount="16384" />
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentia lType="None"
proxyCredentia lType="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentia lType="UserName "
algorithmSuite ="Default" />
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBindin g>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://webservice.com/Service.asmx"
binding="basicH ttpBinding"
bindingConfigu ration="DataSer viceSoap"
contract="MySer vice.DataServic eSoap" name="DataServi ceSoap" />
</client>
</system.serviceM odel>

Many thanks
Andrew

[Jeff Dillon]

"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:uD******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP06.phx.gbl...

OK, this is the situation.

The windows form client is a ClickOnce app and will be downloaded from a
central location. It needs some default config but the webservice it will
need to connect to will be customer specific, i.e. each client will need
to connect to their own URL.

Perhaps this is poor design but it's more secure than allowing all clients
to connect to a single service. I know I can deserialize/serialize the
app.config but there must be a preferred way to modify these particular
settings. I don't want the user to modify the file directly.

Also it seems like there may be occasions when things like maxBufferSize
need to be tweaked so an interface of seems like it should be a common
requirement to me. What do other people do?

Thanks
Andrew

"Alvin Bruney [ASP.NET MVP]" <vapor dan using hot male spam filterwrote
in message news:FB******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

>It's a file, you can read and write it as normal. However, you will
restart the application. Now, step back a bit. Endpoints are established
ahead of time and configured accordingly. Your requirement is about the
same as rewriting a browser url so that clients can hit this new url. Why
not publish the url ahead of time? Why the strange requirement?

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
Download OWC Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $15.00
Need a free copy of VSTS 2008 w/ MSDN Premium?
http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/Default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:OD******* *******@TK2MSFT NGP03.phx.gbl.. .

>>Hi

How do I programmaticall y change (read/write) the values in this
app.config file at runtime? Specifically I want to change the client
endpoint address but it would be nice to change other values too. I
thought this is what ServiceHost is for but is seems way more
complicated to use for what I'm trying to do.

<system.service Model>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBindi ng>
<binding name="DataServi ceSoap" closeTimeout="0 0:01:00"
openTimeout=" 00:01:00"
receiveTimeout= "01:00:00" sendTimeout="00 :01:00"
allowCookies= "false"
bypassProxyOnLo cal="false"
hostNameCompa risonMode="Stro ngWildcard"
maxBufferSize=" 67108864" maxBufferPoolSi ze="524288"
maxReceivedMe ssageSize="6710 8864"
messageEncoding ="Text" textEncoding="u tf-8"
transferMode= "Buffered"
useDefaultWebPr oxy="true">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringConten tLength="8192"
maxArrayLengt h="16384"
maxBytesPerRead ="4096" maxNameTableCha rCount="16384" />
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentia lType="None"
proxyCredenti alType="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentia lType="UserName "
algorithmSuit e="Default" />
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBindin g>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://webservice.com/Service.asmx"
binding="basicH ttpBinding"
bindingConfig uration="DataSe rviceSoap"
contract="MySer vice.DataServic eSoap" name="DataServi ceSoap" />
</client>
</system.serviceM odel>

Many thanks
Andrew

Keep in mind that the web service proxy/client constructor is overloaded and
can take the endpoint address as a parameter

[Alvin Bruney [ASP.NET MVP]]

OK, this is the situation.
Yes I suspected that was half the story but I wanted to be polite about it.

The recommended solution is to define multiple endpoints. Bear in mind, WCF
is designed to be coded once and configured appropriately in production.
Things like adding endpoints should not be addressed at the code level, they
should rightly be handled by support professional 'in production' with no
touch to the code.

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
Download OWC Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $15.00
Need a free copy of VSTS 2008 w/ MSDN Premium?
http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/Default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:uD******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP06.phx.gbl...

OK, this is the situation.

The windows form client is a ClickOnce app and will be downloaded from a
central location. It needs some default config but the webservice it will
need to connect to will be customer specific, i.e. each client will need
to connect to their own URL.

Perhaps this is poor design but it's more secure than allowing all clients
to connect to a single service. I know I can deserialize/serialize the
app.config but there must be a preferred way to modify these particular
settings. I don't want the user to modify the file directly.

Also it seems like there may be occasions when things like maxBufferSize
need to be tweaked so an interface of seems like it should be a common
requirement to me. What do other people do?

Thanks
Andrew

"Alvin Bruney [ASP.NET MVP]" <vapor dan using hot male spam filterwrote
in message news:FB******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

>It's a file, you can read and write it as normal. However, you will
restart the application. Now, step back a bit. Endpoints are established
ahead of time and configured accordingly. Your requirement is about the
same as rewriting a browser url so that clients can hit this new url. Why
not publish the url ahead of time? Why the strange requirement?

--

Regards,
Alvin Bruney [MVP ASP.NET]

[Shameless Author plug]
Download OWC Black Book, 2nd Edition
Exclusively on www.lulu.com/owc $15.00
Need a free copy of VSTS 2008 w/ MSDN Premium?
http://msmvps.com/blogs/alvin/Default.aspx
-------------------------------------------------------
"Andrew Jocelyn" <j0**@newsgroup s.nospamwrote in message
news:OD******* *******@TK2MSFT NGP03.phx.gbl.. .

>>Hi

How do I programmaticall y change (read/write) the values in this
app.config file at runtime? Specifically I want to change the client
endpoint address but it would be nice to change other values too. I
thought this is what ServiceHost is for but is seems way more
complicated to use for what I'm trying to do.

<system.service Model>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBindi ng>
<binding name="DataServi ceSoap" closeTimeout="0 0:01:00"
openTimeout=" 00:01:00"
receiveTimeout= "01:00:00" sendTimeout="00 :01:00"
allowCookies= "false"
bypassProxyOnLo cal="false"
hostNameCompa risonMode="Stro ngWildcard"
maxBufferSize=" 67108864" maxBufferPoolSi ze="524288"
maxReceivedMe ssageSize="6710 8864"
messageEncoding ="Text" textEncoding="u tf-8"
transferMode= "Buffered"
useDefaultWebPr oxy="true">
<readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringConten tLength="8192"
maxArrayLengt h="16384"
maxBytesPerRead ="4096" maxNameTableCha rCount="16384" />
<security mode="None">
<transport clientCredentia lType="None"
proxyCredenti alType="None"
realm="" />
<message clientCredentia lType="UserName "
algorithmSuit e="Default" />
</security>
</binding>
</basicHttpBindin g>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://webservice.com/Service.asmx"
binding="basicH ttpBinding"
bindingConfig uration="DataSe rviceSoap"
contract="MySer vice.DataServic eSoap" name="DataServi ceSoap" />
</client>
</system.serviceM odel>

Many thanks
Andrew

[Andrew Jocelyn]

Thanks Jeff

>
Keep in mind that the web service proxy/client constructor is overloaded
and can take the endpoint address as a parameter

That's the answer I was looking for. For now anyway.

Andrew