WCF Error "Maximum number of items that can be serialized or deserialized in an object graph is '65536'"

Question

I am receiving the following error on a WCF call:

Maximum number of items that can be serialized or deserialized in an object graph is '65536'

I've read a ton of forum posts and many of them mention modifying the app.config and web.config to specify new behavior to allow larger object graphs. I've done that and this is what I have in those files:

App.Config on the WPF project:

<system.serviceModel>
<behaviors>
  <serviceBehaviors>
    <behavior name="">
      <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="false" />
      <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
    </behavior>
  </serviceBehaviors>
  <endpointBehaviors>
    <behavior name="">
      <dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483646"/>
    </behavior>

  </endpointBehaviors>

</behaviors>

<services>
  <service name="digiPM.Shell.LogOutPMSEMRService.PMSEMRLogOutService">
    <!--<endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="digiPM.Shell.LogOutPMSEMRService.IPMSEMRLogOutService">
      <identity>
        <dns value="localhost" />
      </identity>
    </endpoint>
    <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
    <host>
      <baseAddresses>
        <add baseAddress="http://localhost:8732/Design_Time_Addresses/digiPM.Shell.LogOutPMSEMRService/PMSEMRLogOutService/" />
      </baseAddresses>
    </host>-->
    <endpoint address="" binding="netTcpBinding" name="NetTcpBindingEndpoint" contract="digiPM.Shell.LogOutPMSEMRService.IPMSEMRLogOutService">
      <identity>
        <dns value="localhost" />
      </identity>
    </endpoint>
    <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration="" name="MexTcpBidingEndpoint" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
    <host>
      <baseAddresses>
        <add baseAddress="net.tcp://localhost:8732/Design_Time_Addresses/digiPM.Shell.LogOutPMSEMRService/PMSEMRLogOutService/" />
      </baseAddresses>
    </host>
  </service>
</services>

<!--binding info - removed this for the sake of readability for this post -->

web.config on the service project:

<system.serviceModel>

<bindings>
  <wsHttpBinding>
      <binding name="WSHttpBinding_Services" closeTimeout="01:10:00" openTimeout="01:10:00" receiveTimeout="01:10:00" sendTimeout="01:10:00" bypassProxyOnLocal="false" 
               transactionFlow="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard" maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647" 
               messageEncoding="Mtom" textEncoding="utf-8" useDefaultWebProxy="true" allowCookies="false">
          <readerQuotas maxDepth="4096" maxStringContentLength="2147483647" maxArrayLength="524288" maxBytesPerRead="524288" maxNameTableCharCount="524288" />
          <reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="01:10:00" enabled="false" />

          <security mode="None">

          </security>
      </binding>
  </wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>

<behaviors>
  <serviceBehaviors>
    <behavior name="digiPM.Service.Behavior">
      <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
      <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
      <dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483647" />
    </behavior>

  </serviceBehaviors>
  <endpointBehaviors>
    <behavior name="customObjectQuota">
      <dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483646"/>
    </behavior>
  </endpointBehaviors>
</behaviors>

<services>
  <service behaviorConfiguration="digiPM.Service.Behavior"
    name="digiPM.Service.AddressCrudService">
    <endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="WSHttpBinding_Services"
                name="AddressCrudServiceEndPoint" bindingNamespace="urn:Dawliasoft.Sculpture"  contract="digiPM.Services.Contracts.IAddressCrudService" behaviorConfiguration="customObjectQuota" />
    <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"  behaviorConfiguration="customObjectQuota" />
  </service>

 <!--<more services defined with same configuration as above..>-->

  </services>


</system.serviceModel>

This, however, hasn't helped. Note that the services referenced in the APP.CONFIG are not the services I am having issues with.

I've also tried the following:

added these attributes to the service implementation: [DataContract(IsReference=true)], [ServiceBehavior(AddressFilterMode = AddressFilterMode.Any, MaxItemsInObjectGraph = 2147483646)]
wrote a custom DataContractSerializerOperationBehavior class that set MaximumObjectsInGraph and IsReference behavior. Also added custom Attribute to apply this the service implementations. For the sake of clutter, I didn't post the code, but can add it if anyone thinks it would be beneficial.

Thoughts? Ideas? Where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance!

Ram Ram · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-28T13:17:18

Configuring the below values solved the problem for me.

Client Config:

<system.serviceModel>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBinding>
  <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_IManagementService" closeTimeout="00:01:00"
    openTimeout="00:01:00" receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00"
    allowCookies="false" bypassProxyOnLocal="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
    maxBufferSize="2147483647" maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647"
    messageEncoding="Text" textEncoding="utf-8" transferMode="Buffered"
    useDefaultWebProxy="true">
    <readerQuotas maxDepth="128" maxStringContentLength="2147483647"
      maxArrayLength="16384" maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
    <security mode="None">
      <transport clientCredentialType="None" proxyCredentialType="None"
        realm="" />
      <message clientCredentialType="UserName" algorithmSuite="Default" />
    </security>
  </binding>
</basicHttpBinding>
</bindings>
<client>
<endpoint address="http://XXXX/ManagementService.svc"
  binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IManagementService"
  contract="ManagementServiceReference.IManagementService"
  name="BasicHttpBinding_IManagementService" behaviorConfiguration="ManagementServiceBehaviour"/>
</client>
<behaviors>
<endpointBehaviors>
  <behavior name="ManagementServiceBehaviour">
    <dataContractSerializer maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483647"/>
  </behavior>
</endpointBehaviors>
</behaviors>

Server Config:

<system.serviceModel>
<serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
  <behavior name="ManagementServiceBehaviour">
    <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
    <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
    <dataContractSerializer ignoreExtensionDataObject="false" maxItemsInObjectGraph="2147483646" />
  </behavior>
  <behavior name="">
    <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
    <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
  </behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<bindings>
<basicHttpBinding>
  <binding name="BasicHttpBinding" maxBufferSize="2147483647" maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647" closeTimeout="01:50:00" openTimeout="01:50:00" sendTimeout="01:50:00" receiveTimeout="01:50:00" >
    <readerQuotas maxDepth="128" maxStringContentLength="8388608" maxArrayLength="16384" maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
  </binding>
</basicHttpBinding>
</bindings>

<services>
<service behaviorConfiguration="ManagementServiceBehaviour" name="BusinessLogic.Facade.EntityFacade.Services.ManagementService">
  <endpoint binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding" contract="BusinessLogic.Facade.EntityFacade.Contracts.IManagementService">
    <identity>
      <dns value="" />
    </identity>
  </endpoint>
</service>
</services>
</system.serviceModel>

WCF Error "Maximum number of items that can be serialized or deserialized in an object graph is '65536'"

5 Answers