POX (Plain Old XML) support in Orcas is brilliant.
Consider the following service contract:
[ServiceContract(Namespace = "")]
interface IPOXService
{
[OperationContract]
[HttpTransferContract(Path = "Echo", Method = "GET")]
string Echo(string strString1, ref string strString2, out string strString3);
}
And the following service (or, better Echo method) implementation:
public class POXService : IPOXService
{
public string Echo(string strString1,
ref string strString2, out string strString3)
{
strString2 = "strString2: " + strString2;
strString3 = "strString3";
return "Echo: " + strString1;
}
}
Host it using this:
ServiceMetadataBehavior smb = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
smb.HttpGetEnabled = true;
ServiceHost sh = new ServiceHost(typeof(POXService), new Uri
("http://localhost:666"));
ServiceEndpoint ep = sh.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IPOXService),
new WebHttpBinding(), "POX");
ep.Behaviors.Add(new HttpTransferEndpointBehavior());
sh.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);
sh.Open();
Console.WriteLine("POX Service Running...");
Console.ReadLine();
sh.Close();
If you open IE and hit the service endpoint (http://localhost:666/POX/Echo) without URL encoded parameters, you get the following XML back:
<EchoResponse>
<EchoResult>Echo:</EchoResult>
<strString2>strString2:</strString2>
<strString3>strString3</strString3>
</EchoResponse>
Now, drop some parameters in (http://localhost:666/POX/Echo?strString1=boo&strString2=foo&strString3=bar), this is returned:
<EchoResponse>
<EchoResult>Echo: boo</EchoResult>
<strString2>strString2: foo</strString2>
<strString3>strString3</strString3>
</EchoResponse>
Nice. I especially like the fact that ref and out parameters are serialized with the metod return value.
Reach in with //EchoResponse/strString2 for ref parameter and //EchoResponse/strString3 for out parameter. Return value is available on //EchoResponse/EchoResult. Simple and effective.