WCF ChannelFactory not accurately reporting Faulted state?

Question

I'm using the ChannelFactory to open/manage WCF channels (vs. the client proxy). However, when an exception occurs, the factory state doesn't report that the channel is faulted...

        ChannelFactory<IContract> factory
                    = new ChannelFactory<IContract>("NetTcpBinding_IContract",
                                                    new EndpointAddress("net.tcp://localhost:8509/WCFSvc"));

        try
        {
            IContract contrct = factory.CreateChannel();
            contrct.DoWork(); //throws a non-FaultContract<ExceptionDetail>() exception
            factory.Close();
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            CommunicationState s = factory.State; //returns CommunicationState.Opened
        }

Where IContract.DoWork() looks like:

    [FaultContract(typeof(ExceptionDetail))]
    void DoWork();

I would have expected that the factory state returned CommunicationState.Faulted in the catch(...) block.

In the end, I'm looking for a way to accurately get the channel state when using a ChannelFactory vs. ClientProxy cuz I want to preserve session state if possible; and not cycle the entire session if a legit FaultContact<ExceptionDetail> comes through...

When a legit FaultContact<ExceptionDetail> is raised, the channel is still valid & I can continue to use it as expected. BUT when a non-FaultContract<ExceptionDetail> is raised, the channel is not usable and should be cycled. However, in both cases the .State property is returning CommunicationState.Open so there isn't a nice way to tell if the channel should be cycled or not...

Once a non-FaultContract is thrown, future calls through the channel raise a "the channel is faulted" error even while the .State property stubbornly reports the channel is in an Opened state.

Thanks in advance for any input/ideas/pointers/thoughts,

T

meant that the DoWork throws an exception that is not a FaultContract<ExecptionDetails>() (e.g. throws ApplicationException) — TOB

Tim Tim · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-03T08:38:23

I believe you need to check the state of the channel, not the factory. You can do this by casting the channel to ICommunicationObject, which is implemented both in the channel and the factory.

Something like this:

ChannelFactory<IContract> factory
                = new ChannelFactory<IContract>("NetTcpBinding_IContract",
                                                new EndpointAddress("net.tcp://localhost:8509/WCFSvc"));

IContract contrct;

try
{
    contrct = factory.CreateChannel();
    contrct.DoWork(); //throws a non-FaultContract<ExceptionDetail>() exception
    factory.Close();
}
catch (Exception)
{
    //CommunicationState s = factory.State; //returns CommunicationState.Opened
    CommunicationState s = ((ICommunicationObject)contrct).State;
}

WCF ChannelFactory not accurately reporting Faulted state?

1 Answers