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wcfhttpmodule

HttpModules in Self-Hosted WCF Service

We have a windows service that is self-hosting a WCF Data Service, using the DataServiceHost class. Everything is working just fine, but we would like to hook up some HTTPModules to the service, if possible. One of the HTTP Modules would be for custom basic authentication, the other for auditing (including responses, which is why an HTTP Module works so well for this).

Keep in mind that we are running as a regular windows service, so we have no web.config, the service is not hosted by IIS, and it is not an ASP.Net application.

So, my questions are:

  1. Is it possible to have an HTTP Module listen on a self-hosted WCF data service?
  2. If this is not possible, what options would I have that are similiar to the power of an HTTP Module?
Solution

  • WCF doesn't operate on the same request pipeline as standard ASP.NET applications, although you can take advantage of a number of ASP.NET features (like session) if you configure your service for ASP.NET compatibility.

    [AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Required)]

    However, it looks like you just need something that will let you jump into the pipeline the way that HTTPModules do for an ASP.NET Application. That being the case, there are plenty of options. You can check out this page for a lot of samples.

    You mentioned authentication, and there are plenty of options built into WCF that can save you from rolling your own solution. Check it out here.