How can I force WCF to put a type into the Client Proxy if it is not Used in the Service Contract?

Question

I have declared an enum in my server code, and would like my client code to be able to use it. Unfortunately, it's not being auto-generated for some reson. My enum is declared similar to the following example:

[DataContract]
public enum MyEnum {
    [EnumMember]
    First = 1,
    [EnumMember]
    Second = 2
}

It's not declared inside a class, but alongside several classes that are auto-generated as well (all in the same namespace). I have no problem using these classes in my client code, but this enum isn't being generated, and therefore is not usable. Help!

Thanks!!

EDIT:

As of now, the service neither takes a "MyEnum" as a parameter anywhere, or returns it from a function. That's my problem. It's used several places in my server code, and I'd like to use it in a few places in my client code as well (without having to copy/paste an existing construct).

Answer 1

The easiest solution I came up for this problem was to create a simple WCF function that takes a MyEnum parameter and returns it. As a result, "MyEnum" will be exposed to my client.

//Declaration
[DataContract]
MyEnum GetMyEnum(MyEnum value);

//Definition
public MyEnum GetMyEnum(MyEnum value){
    return value;
}

Any alternatives that don't require this and/or are more graceful would be appreciated!

Answer 2

In the kind of separation concerns client server model I assume you're using, you need some shared assembly between your client and server to store items used in both, like this enum and other classes they will both need to understand. A good way to do this might be using interfaces (won't help with the enum, but that can be thrown into the shared assembly).

Answer 3

Seems to me there are a couple options. If the service interface (ServiceContract) exposes a parameter or return value with a typeof equal to the enum, then the client will get the enum via the service definition. In practical terms, the client-side code generated from the WSDL by svcutil will include an enum type that corresponds to the thing used in the interface.

If the enum type is not used anywhere in the public interface of the service, then you can rely on an assembly of shared types.