Run WCF service getting error Failed to add a service. Service metadata may not be accessible

Question

I tried a WCF service which uploads files.

Below is the code:

restService.svc

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

namespace restService
{
    // NOTE: You can use the "Rename" command on the "Refactor" menu to change the class name "restService" in code, svc and config file together.
    // NOTE: In order to launch WCF Test Client for testing this service, please select restService.svc or restService.svc.cs at the Solution Explorer and start debugging.
    public class restService : IrestService
    {
        [WebInvoke(Method = "POST", UriTemplate = "UploadFile?fileName={fileName}")]
        public string UploadFile(string fileName, Stream fileContents)
        {
            //save file
            try
            {
                string absFileName = string.Format("{0}\\FileUpload\\{1}"
                                        , AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory
                                        , fileName);
                using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(absFileName, FileMode.Create))
                {
                    fileContents.CopyTo(fs);
                    fileContents.Close();
                }
                return "Upload OK";
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                return "FAIL ==> " + ex.Message;
            }


        }
    }
}

IrestService.cs

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


namespace restService
{
    // NOTE: You can use the "Rename" command on the "Refactor" menu to change the interface name "IrestService" in both code and config file together.
    [ServiceContract]
    public interface IrestService
    {
        [OperationContract]
        string UploadFile(string fileName, Stream fileContents);


    }
}

web.config

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <configuration>

      <appSettings>
        <add key="aspnet:UseTaskFriendlySynchronizationContext" value="true" />
      </appSettings>
      <system.web>
        <compilation targetFramework="4.5" />
        <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5"/>
      </system.web>
      <system.serviceModel>



    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior>

          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="true"/>

          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>



    <protocolMapping>
        <add binding="basicHttpsBinding" scheme="https" />
    </protocolMapping>    
    <serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true" multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
  </system.serviceModel>
  <system.webServer>
    <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"/>
    <!--
        To browse web app root directory during debugging, set the value below to true.
        Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing web app folder information.
      -->
    <directoryBrowse enabled="true"/>
  </system.webServer>

</configuration>

When I use WCF test client to test the service, I got the error:

Failed to add a service. Service metadata may not be accessible. Make sure your service is running and exposing metadata.

Error: Cannot obtain Metadata from http://localhost:49202/restService.svc If this is a Windows (R) Communication Foundation service to which you have access, please check that you have enabled metadata publishing at the specified address. For help enabling metadata publishing, please refer to the MSDN documentation at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=65455.WS-Metadata Exchange Error URI: http://localhost:49202/restService.svc Metadata contains a reference that cannot be resolved: 'http://localhost:49202/restService.svc'. The requested service, 'http://localhost:49202/restService.svc' could not be activated. See the server's diagnostic trace logs for more information.HTTP GET Error URI: http://localhost:49202/restService.svc There was an error downloading 'http://localhost:49202/restService.svc'. The request failed with the error message:-- Server Error in '/' Application.

For request in operation UploadFile to be a stream the operation must have a single parameter whose type is Stream. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.InvalidOperationException: For request in operation UploadFile to be a stream the operation must have a single parameter whose type is Stream.

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[InvalidOperationException: For request in operation UploadFile to be a stream the operation must have a single parameter whose type is Stream.]
System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.StreamFormatter.ValidateAndGetStreamPart(MessageDescription messageDescription, Boolean isRequest, String operationName) [phone] System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.OperationFormatter..ctor(OperationDescription description, Boolean isRpc, Boolean isEncoded) +457
System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter..ctor(OperationDescription description, DataContractFormatAttribute dataContractFormatAttribute, DataContractSerializerOperationBehavior serializerFactory) +58
System.ServiceModel.Description.DataContractSerializerOperationBehavior.GetFormatter(OperationDescription operation, Boolean& formatRequest, Boolean& formatReply, Boolean isProxy) +217
System.ServiceModel.Description.DataContractSerializerOperationBehavior.System.ServiceModel.Description.IOperationBehavior.ApplyDispatchBehavior(OperationDescription description, DispatchOperation dispatch) +58
System.ServiceModel.Description.DispatcherBuilder.BindOperations(ContractDescription contract, ClientRuntime proxy, DispatchRuntime dispatch) +250
System.ServiceModel.Description.DispatcherBuilder.InitializeServiceHost(ServiceDescription description, ServiceHostBase serviceHost) +3171
System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.InitializeRuntime() +65
System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.OnBeginOpen() +34
System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.OnOpen(TimeSpan timeout) +49
System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Open(TimeSpan timeout) +308
System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Open() +36
System.ServiceModel.HostingManager.ActivateService(ServiceActivationInfo serviceActivationInfo, EventTraceActivity eventTraceActivity) +90
System.ServiceModel.HostingManager.EnsureServiceAvailable(String normalizedVirtualPath, EventTraceActivity eventTraceActivity) +598[ServiceActivationException: The service '/restService.svc' cannot be activated due to an exception during compilation. The exception message is: For request in operation UploadFile to be a stream the operation must have a single parameter whose type is Stream..]
System.Runtime.AsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result) +485044
System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result) +174
System.ServiceModel.Activation.ServiceHttpHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result) +6
System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.OnAsyncHandlerCompletion(IAsyncResult ar) +129

I would like to know what is going wrong with my code?

Answer 1

According to MSDN https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733742(v=vs.110).aspx

The programming model for streaming is straightforward. For receiving streamed data, specify an operation contract that has a single Stream typed input parameter. For returning streamed data, return a Stream reference.

When streaming, you cannot have additional parameters in your methods. Having an additional fileName parameter is causing the exception.

You may be able to use a message contract to accomplish the same thing and pass additional fields as properties of a class, as long as only one property is a Stream.

[MessageContract]
public class UploadStreamMessage
{
   [MessageHeader]
   public string fileName;
   [MessageBodyMember]
   public Stream fileContents;
}