OperationDescription Class

Definition

public ref class OperationDescription

public class OperationDescription

type OperationDescription = class

Public Class OperationDescription

Inheritance

Object

OperationDescription

Examples

The following example uses the OperationDescription returned from the collection returned by the Operations property of the ContractDescription class. The code iterates through the collection of endpoints and prints each endpoint name, as well as the name of each operation in the endpoint.

private void PrintDescription(ServiceHost sh)
{
    // Declare variables.
    int i, j, k, l, c;
    ServiceDescription servDesc = sh.Description;
    OperationDescription opDesc;
    ContractDescription contractDesc;
    MessageDescription methDesc;
    MessageBodyDescription mBodyDesc;
    MessagePartDescription partDesc;
    IServiceBehavior servBeh;
    ServiceEndpoint servEP;

    // Print the behaviors of the service.
    Console.WriteLine("Behaviors:");
    for (c = 0; c < servDesc.Behaviors.Count; c++)
    {
        servBeh = servDesc.Behaviors[c];
        Console.WriteLine("\t{0}", servBeh.ToString());
    }

    // Print the endpoint descriptions of the service.
    Console.WriteLine("Endpoints");
    for (i = 0; i < servDesc.Endpoints.Count; i++)
    {
        // Print the endpoint names.
        servEP = servDesc.Endpoints[i];
        Console.WriteLine("\tName: {0}", servEP.Name);
        contractDesc = servEP.Contract;

        Console.WriteLine("\tOperations:");
        for (j = 0; j < contractDesc.Operations.Count; j++)
        {
            // Print the operation names.
            opDesc = servEP.Contract.Operations[j];
            Console.WriteLine("\t\t{0}", opDesc.Name);
            Console.WriteLine("\t\tActions:");
            for (k  = 0; k < opDesc.Messages.Count; k++)
            {
                // Print the message action.
                methDesc = opDesc.Messages[k];
                Console.WriteLine("\t\t\tAction:{0}", methDesc.Action);

                // Check for the existence of a body, then the body description.
                mBodyDesc = methDesc.Body;
                if (mBodyDesc.Parts.Count > 0)
                {
                    for (l = 0; l < methDesc.Body.Parts.Count; l++)
                    {
                        partDesc = methDesc.Body.Parts[l];
                        Console.WriteLine("\t\t\t\t{0}",partDesc.Name);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Private Sub PrintDescription(ByVal sh As ServiceHost) 
    ' Declare variables.
    Dim i, j, k, l, c As Integer
    Dim servDesc As ServiceDescription = sh.Description
    Dim opDesc As OperationDescription
    Dim contractDesc As ContractDescription
    Dim methDesc As MessageDescription
    Dim mBodyDesc As MessageBodyDescription
    Dim partDesc As MessagePartDescription
    Dim servBeh As IServiceBehavior
    Dim servEP As ServiceEndpoint
    
    ' Print the behaviors of the service.
    Console.WriteLine("Behaviors:")
    For c = 0 To servDesc.Behaviors.Count-1
        servBeh = servDesc.Behaviors(c)
        Console.WriteLine(vbTab + "{0}", servBeh)
    Next c
    
    ' Print the endpoint descriptions of the service.
    Console.WriteLine("Endpoints")
    For i = 0 To servDesc.Endpoints.Count-1
        ' Print the endpoint names.
        servEP = servDesc.Endpoints(i)
        Console.WriteLine(vbTab + "Name: {0}", servEP.Name)
        contractDesc = servEP.Contract
        
        Console.WriteLine(vbTab + "Operations:")
        For j = 0 To contractDesc.Operations.Count-1
            ' Print operation names.
            opDesc = servEP.Contract.Operations(j)
            Console.WriteLine(vbTab + vbTab + "{0}", opDesc.Name)
            Console.WriteLine(vbTab + vbTab + "Actions:")
            For k = 0 To opDesc.Messages.Count-1
                ' Print the message action. 
                methDesc = opDesc.Messages(k)
                Console.WriteLine(vbTab + vbTab + vbTab + _
                  "Action:{0}", methDesc.Action)
                
                ' Check for the existence of a body, then the body description.
                mBodyDesc = methDesc.Body
                If mBodyDesc.Parts.Count > 0 Then
                    For l = 0 To methDesc.Body.Parts.Count-1
                        partDesc = methDesc.Body.Parts(l)
                        Console.WriteLine(vbTab + vbTab + _
                        vbTab + vbTab + "{0}", partDesc.Name)
                    Next l
                End If
            Next k
        Next j
    Next i

End Sub

Remarks

A Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) contract is a collection of operations that specifies what the endpoint communicates to the outside world. Each operation is a message exchange. For example, a request message and an associated reply message forming a request/reply message exchange.

A ContractDescription object is used to describe contracts and their operations. Within a ContractDescription, each contract operation has a corresponding OperationDescription that describes aspects of the operation, such as whether the operation is one-way or request/reply. Each OperationDescription also describes the messages that make up the operation using a collection of MessageDescription objects. ContractDescription contains a reference to an interface that defines the contract using the programming model. This interface is marked with ServiceContractAttribute, and its methods that correspond to endpoint operations are marked with OperationContractAttribute.

Many of the properties on OperationDescription have corresponding properties in the WCF programming model on OperationContractAttribute, for example, IsTerminating.