Why can't I generate client code from this WSDL file in Visual Studio?

I'm trying to code a .NET client for the cleverreach API ( WSDL file: http://api.cleverreach.com/soap/interface_v4.php?wsdl , documentation at http://api.cleverreach.com/soap/interface_v4.php ) in Visual Studio 2010.

The problem is that no matter what I do there doesn't seem any way to create C# code for this API.

I've tried both ways - adding a service reference and a web reference. In both ways there was no code generated for the methods of the API (something like createList or addBatch).

I've also tried using the command line instead:

svcutil.exe /language:cs /out:GeneratedProxy.cs /config:app.config http://api.cleverreach.com/soap/interface_v4.php?wsdl

This just gives me an error message:

Generating files... Warning: No code was generated. If you were trying to generate a client, this could be because the metadata docu ments did not contain any valid contracts or services or because all contracts/services were discovered to exist in /reference assembl ies. Verify that you passed all the metadata documents to the tool.

When I look at the WSDL file in a web browser, the methods I am looking for (createList for instance) are mentioned. So I am not sure what is going on.

What I'd like to know:

Why can't Visual Studio create the client-side code for this web service?
How can I work around the problem?

Thanks,

Adrian

Solution

Most likely, the reason you didn't get any code is because the WSDL is not valid. Simply opening it in XMLSpy tells the story:

Invalid XML schema: 'Attribute 'firstname' is not allowed in element <xsd:element>'

That's on

<xsd:element name="firstname" type="xsd:string" firstname="registered"/>

You might want to contact the vendor and ask them what they were thinking.