C# - How do I hide an web method from a derived class

Question

Hi,

I have a .NET webservice, and derived versions of it.

My question is, in the derived versions, I have a method I want to hide(from WSDL and front page). I have tried overriding, marking it as obsolete, setting it as private and overriding, but still, the webservice attribute is still "having its way".

Is there any way to remove a method attribute on a derived method. Or any way to hide an method in the WSDL?

//Robin

Answer 1

I don't think there is an option you can enable to get this behavior. If you really need to hide it and you can't simply remove it, I would create a new webservice which exposes only the method you want exposed.

Answer 2

You are having trouble to achieve that because the inheritance system of .NET (and of any other object oriented framework, for that matter) is not designed for that: take a look at the Liskov substitution principle.

Maybe you should take an alternative course to achieve what you want. For example, instead of using inheritance, create a completely new service, and make its methods to simply invoke the equivalent methods on the original service class; this way you can include only the methods you want in the new service.

Answer 3

This method works with .Net 4.0 :

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
public class Service1 : System.Web.Services.WebService
{
    [WebMethod]
    public virtual string HelloWorld()
    {
        return "Hello World";
    }
}

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
public class Service2 : Service1
{
    public override string HelloWorld()
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

Service2 derive from Service1 and override the HelloWorld WebMethod without specify the WebMethodAttribute