WCf service file download

Question

Dear all.

I am creating WCF service that will download & upload xml files. When trying to download a file to a client, it gives me the following error:

*"The content type text/html; charset=utf-8 of the response message does not match the content type of the binding (multipart/related; type=\"application/xop+xml\"). If using a custom encoder, be sure that the IsContentTypeSupported method is implemented properly. The first 1024 bytes of the response were: ' \n \n \nIIS 7.0 Detailed Error - 500.19 - Internal Server Error \n \nmargin-top:0px; \n border-top:1px solid #EDEDED;border-left:1px solid #EDEDED;border-right:1px solid #969696; \n border-bottom:1px solid #969696;background:#E7ECF0;font-weight:bold;'."

I am using basicHTTPBinding as my binding protocol. My webservice is currently hosted on my own pc on IIS7.0 under Vista Home Premium. The download code in the service I am using is the following:

 public Stream Download( string path )
    {
        try
        {
            using (FileStream stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
            {

                return stream;
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            string error = ex.Message;

            return null;
        }
    }

The code on my client that is supposed to download the file is the following, using just an ordinary test file:

 System.IO.FileStream fs;
        try
        {
            fs = (System.IO.FileStream)client.Download(@"C:\UploadedFiles\Test.txt");
            byte[] arr = new byte[fs.Length];
            int read;
            do
            {
                read = fs.Read(arr, 0, arr.Length);

            } while (read != arr.Length);

            Console.WriteLine(ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetString(arr));
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
        catch (Exception Ex)
        {
            string error = Ex.Message;
            string inner = Ex.InnerException.ToString(); ;
            Console.WriteLine("Exception: {0}/nInner Exception: {1}",error,inner);
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

Someone please help me out, I don't understand what is wrong?

If you need more data to help me resolve, also let me know.

Thanks a lot, T

Answer 1

The "Internal Server error" should tip you off that it's the server that is having a problem "serving" up the service. Your code doesn't even have a chance to execute so it's not the culprit. You need to make sure IIS is configured correctly.

Start by verifying that your Authentication mode is correct. If you're using impersonation, you will also need to have that activated. If you've been using the ASP.NET Development Server (the one that automatically starts up on your machine when you start debugging), then you should know that it is rather lax when it comes to your configuration. IIS is picky.

Pretty much all changes that you make in IIS can also be reflected through your web.config, so remember the tweaks you did to IIS and reflect these changes in your web.config. This ensures that the problems will not crop back up again (say, after another build).

If your project is a "WCF Service Application", then you should be able to see a more detailed error message by logging into the server that you're hosting the service on and viewing the .svc file from the browser.