WCF: How to log raw xml message contents manually?

Question

I have a simple classic ASP website that calls SOAP API using WCF. For debugging I need to log XML message contents manually into separate log files.

For example, the 12/23/18_34.txt file contains the XML request that was sent at 18:34 on 12/23. I have read through many articles that log WCF XML messages and found these 2 methods.

1. Using the MessageLogging feature.
2. Using the IClientMessageInspector.

I could do log using the first method, but doing that I couldn't save the message contents to separate files with specific names. So I tried the second method, but it's not working and I can't find what's wrong.

As the current project is a classic ASP website and has no namespace, I am not sure how to set the value for the type attribute in the web.config file. I managed to add it by creating a separate dll file that has BehaviorExtensionElement and copy it to the current project's Bin folder.

<add name="logXmlBehavior" type="MessageLogger.MessageLoggerBehaviorExtensionElement, MessageLogger, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null" />

public class MessageLogger : IClientMessageInspector
    {
        public void AfterReceiveReply(ref Message reply, object correlationState)
        {
            MessageBuffer buffer = reply.CreateBufferedCopy(Int32.MaxValue);
            reply = buffer.CreateMessage();

            var fileName = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd_HHmm");
            System.IO.File.WriteAllText($"C:/Logs/Symmetry/{fileName}_response.txt", buffer.CreateMessage().ToString());
        }

        public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
        {
            MessageBuffer buffer = request.CreateBufferedCopy(Int32.MaxValue);
            request = buffer.CreateMessage();

            var fileName = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd_HHmm");
            System.IO.File.WriteAllText($"C:/Logs/Symmetry/{fileName}_post.txt", buffer.CreateMessage().ToString());
            return null;
        }
    }

This is my MessageLogger class, but it doesn't log anything. 🤕

How can I add the BehaviorExtensionElement to a classic ASP website without a separate DLL? And why is my current logger not working?

PS: The website is hosted using IIS.

Answer 1

Your code snippets seem that there is no problem. Please refer to my example.
MessageLogger class.

    public class ClientMessageLogger : IClientMessageInspector
    {
        public void AfterReceiveReply(ref Message reply, object correlationState)
        {
            string displayText = $"the client has received the reply:\n{reply}\n";
            Console.Write(displayText);
        }

        public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
        {
            string displayText = $"the client send request message:\n{request}\n";
            Console.WriteLine(displayText);
            return null;
        }
}

Endpoint Behavior to be applied on the client service endpoint.

public class AuthBehavior : BehaviorExtensionElement, IEndpointBehavior
    {
        public override Type BehaviorType => typeof(AuthBehavior);
        public void AddBindingParameters(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, BindingParameterCollection bindingParameters)
        {
        }
        public void ApplyClientBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, ClientRuntime clientRuntime)
        {
            ClientMessageLogger inspector = new ClientMessageLogger();
            clientRuntime.ClientMessageInspectors.Add(inspector);
        }
        public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, EndpointDispatcher endpointDispatcher)
        {
        }
        public void Validate(ServiceEndpoint endpoint)
        {
        }
        protected override object CreateBehavior()
        {
            return new AuthBehavior();
        }
    }

Then I register the endpoint behavior in the extension section and apply it on the automatically generated client service endpoint.

    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <basicHttpBinding>
                <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_IService" />
            </basicHttpBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
          <!--apply it on the endpoint-->
            <endpoint address="http://localhost:1300/" binding="basicHttpBinding"
                bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IService" contract="ServiceReference1.IService"
                name="BasicHttpBinding_IService" behaviorConfiguration="authBehavior" />
        </client>
      <behaviors>
        <endpointBehaviors>
          <behavior name="authBehavior">
            <authbehavior />
          </behavior>
        </endpointBehaviors>
      </behaviors>
      <extensions>
        <behaviorExtensions>
          <!--like yours, namespace.class,assembly-->
          <add name="authbehavior" type="Client3.AuthBehavior,Client3,Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"/>
        </behaviorExtensions>
      </extensions>
</system.serviceModel>

Eventually, the console application properly logs the message when sending a request to the server.

ServiceReference1.ServiceClient client = new ServiceReference1.ServiceClient();
        //client.Endpoint.EndpointBehaviors.Add(new AuthBehavior());
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine(client.SayHello());
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }

Result.

Besides, I think the WCF trace also could complete this task logging the communication message. Just add the below configuration, check the mylogs.svclog file in the bin folder.

  <system.diagnostics>
    <sources>
      <source name="System.ServiceModel.MessageLogging">
        <listeners>
          <add type="System.Diagnostics.XmlWriterTraceListener" name="xmlLog" initializeData="myLogs.svclog"/>
        </listeners>
      </source>
    </sources>
  </system.diagnostics>
  <system.serviceModel>
    <bindings>
      <basicHttpBinding>
        <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_IService" />
      </basicHttpBinding>
    </bindings>
    <client>
      <endpoint address="http://10.157.13.70:1300/" binding="basicHttpBinding"
        bindingConfiguration="BasicHttpBinding_IService" contract="ServiceReference1.IService"
        name="BasicHttpBinding_IService" />
    </client>
    <diagnostics>
      <messageLogging logEntireMessage="true" logMessagesAtServiceLevel="true" logMessagesAtTransportLevel="false"/>
    </diagnostics>
  </system.serviceModel>

Feel free to let me know if there is anything I can help with.