WCF - Self Hosting

Here, the WCF service is hosted in a console application. Given below is the process with suitable steps in a sequential manner that explains the entire process.

Step 1 − First, let's create the Service contract and its implementation. Create a console application and name it as MyCalculatorService. This is a simple service to return the addition of two numbers.

Step 2 − Now, right click on the References in the Solution Explorer and click Add References. The following window opens; add System.ServiceModel reference to the project.

Step 3 − Create an ISimpleCalculator interface, Add ServiceContract and OperationContract attribute to the class and function as shown below. You will know more about these contracts in the later session. These contracts will expose the method to the outside world for using this service.

Step 4 − The code behind this file is as follows −

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel;

namespace MyCalculatorWCFService {
   [ServiceContract()]
   Public interface ISimpleCalculator {
      [OperationContract()]
      int Add(int num1, int num2);
   }
}

Step 5 − MyCalculatorService is the implementation class for IMyCalculatorService interface as shown below.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace MyCalculatorWCFService {
   Class SimpleCalculator : ISimpleCalculator {
      Public int Add(int num1, int num2) {
         return num1 + num2;
      }
   }
}

Step 6 − Now, we are ready with the service. Let's go for implementing the hosting process. Create a new console application and name it as 'MyCalculatorWCFServiceHost'.

Step 7 − Add the reference of system.servicemodel and the project MyCalculatorWCFService.

The code behind this is as follows −

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using MyCalculatorWCFService;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.ServiceModel.Description;

namespace MyCalculatorWCFServiceHost {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         //Create a URI to serve as the base address
         UrihttpUrl = newUri("http://localhost:8090/MyCalculatorWCFService/SimpleCalculator");
         
         //Create ServiceHost
         ServiceHost host = newServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorWCFService.ISimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
         
         //Add a service endpoint
         host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(MyCalculatorWCFService.ISimpleCal culator), newWSHttpBinding(), "");
         
         //Enable metadata exchange
         ServiceMetadataBehaviorsmb = newServiceMetadataBehavior();
         smb.HttpGetEnabled = true;
         host.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);

         //Start the Service
         host.Open();
         Console.WriteLine("Service is host at " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
         Console.WriteLine("Host is running... Press  key to stop");
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}