How to use a WSDL file to create a WCF service (not make a call)

Solution 1:

Using svcutil, you can create interfaces and classes (data contracts) from the WSDL.

svcutil your.wsdl (or svcutil your.wsdl /l:vb if you want Visual Basic)

This will create a file called "your.cs" in C# (or "your.vb" in VB.NET) which contains all the necessary items.

Now, you need to create a class "MyService" which will implement the service interface (IServiceInterface) - or the several service interfaces - and this is your server instance.

Now a class by itself doesn't really help yet - you'll need to host the service somewhere. You need to either create your own ServiceHost instance which hosts the service, configure endpoints and so forth - or you can host your service inside IIS.

Solution 2:

There are good resources out there if you know what to search for. Try "Contract First" and WCF. or "WSDL First" and WCF.

Here is a selection:

• Basic overview of WSDL-First development with WCF and SvcUtil.exe.
• WSCF - A free add-in to Visual Studio enabling Contract-First design with WCF
  • Introduction to WSCF
  • A walkthrough of using WSCF
  • The WSCF project page on CodePlex (WSCF is now open source)
• Article on how to design "WCF-Friendly" WSDL

Solution 3:

Use svcutil.exe with the /sc switch to generate the WCF contracts. This will create a code file that you can add to your project. It will contain all interfaces and data types you need to create your service. Change the output location using the /o switch, or you can find the file in the folder where you ran svcutil.exe. The default language is C# but I think (I've never tried it) you should be able to change this using /l:vb.

svcutil /sc "WSDL file path"

If your WSDL has any supporting XSD files pass those in as arguments after the WSDL.

svcutil /sc "WSDL file path" "XSD 1 file path" "XSD 2 file path" ... "XSD n file path"

Then create a new class that is your service and implement the contract interface you just created.