WCF own EndpointBehavior read client Session

Question

I have an IClientMessageInspector interface with BeforeSendRequest() method implemented. In this method I want to retrieve the Session object set in the client. Something like.

    public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
    {
        //Instantiate new HeaderObject with values from ClientContext;
        var dataToSend = new MyCustomHeader
            {
                MyValue = HowDoIGetClientSession["abcValue"];
            };

        var typedHeader = new MessageHeader<CustomHeader>(dataToSend);
        var untypedHeader = typedHeader.GetUntypedHeader("custom-header", "s");

        request.Headers.Add(untypedHeader);
        return null;
    }

I think I need something very similar as in this question.

Answer 1

I ended up using an approach like in this tutorial. I add the relevant information in a cookie as key-value pairs and read it in the service implementation. Instead of service reference I am using ChannelFactory, but basically the main idea is the same as in the tutorial.

My BeforeSendRequest method is:

        public object BeforeSendRequest(ref System.ServiceModel.Channels.Message request,
            System.ServiceModel.IClientChannel channel)
        {
            HttpRequestMessageProperty httpRequestMessage;
            object httpRequestMessageObject;
            if (request.Properties.TryGetValue(HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name
                , out httpRequestMessageObject))
            {
                httpRequestMessage = httpRequestMessageObject as HttpRequestMessageProperty;
                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(httpRequestMessage.Headers["Cookie"]))
                {
                    httpRequestMessage.Headers["Cookie"] = cookie;
                }
            }
            else
            {
                httpRequestMessage = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
                httpRequestMessage.Headers.Add("Cookie", cookie);
                request.Properties.Add(HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name
                    , httpRequestMessage);
            }

            return null;
        }

The binding settings is:

            <basicHttpBinding>
                <binding name="basicHttp" closeTimeout="00:01:00"
                    openTimeout="00:01:00" receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00"
                    allowCookies="false" bypassProxyOnLocal="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
                    maxBufferPoolSize="20000000" maxBufferSize="20000000" maxReceivedMessageSize="20000000"
                    textEncoding="utf-8" transferMode="Buffered" useDefaultWebProxy="true"
                    messageEncoding="Text">
                    <readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="200000000" maxArrayLength="200000000"
                        maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
                    <security mode="None">
                        <transport clientCredentialType="None" proxyCredentialType="None"
                            realm="" />
                        <message clientCredentialType="UserName" algorithmSuite="Default" />
                    </security>
                </binding>
            </basicHttpBinding>

In the client app I needed (in web.config system.serviceModel):

<serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true" multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true"/>

And in the service implementation class annotation:

    [AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode =
    AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Required)]
    public class MyService : IMyService {
       // ...
    }

For service calls I am using a wrapper object which implements IDisposable, takes case of proper disposal and adding to EndpointBehaior to the ChannelFactory before creating the channel.

    _factory = new ChannelFactory<T>( );
    _factory.Endpoint.Behaviors.Add(new CookieEndpointBehavior(cookieStr));
    _channel = _factory.CreateChannel();

I am using the service wrapper class in using block, which will call Dispose, once it reaches out of scope.