WCF and Python

Question

Is there any example code of a cpython (not IronPython) client which can call Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service?

Answer 1

Even if there is not a specific example of calling WCF from Python, you should be able to make a fully SOAP compliant service with WCF. Then all you have to do is find some examples of how to call a normal SOAP service from Python.

The simplest thing will be to use the BasicHttpBinding in WCF and then you can support your own sessions by passing a session token with each request and response.

Answer 2

WCF needs to expose functionality through a communication protocol. I think the most commonly used protocol is probably SOAP over HTTP. Let's assume that's what you're using then.

Take a look at this chapter in Dive Into Python. It will show you how to make SOAP calls.

I know of no unified way of calling a WCF service in Python, regardless of communication protocol.

Answer 3

I do not know of any direct examples, but if the WCF service is REST enabled you could access it through POX (Plain Old XML) via the REST methods/etc (if the service has any). If you are in control of the service you could expose endpoints via REST as well.

Answer 4

if you need binary serialized communication over tcp then consider implementing solution like Thrift.

Answer 5

I used SUDS.

from suds.client import Client

print "Connecting to Service..."
wsdl = "http://serviceurl.com/service.svc?WSDL"
client = Client(wsdl)
result = client.service.Method(variable1, variable2)
print result

That should get you started. I'm able to connect to exposed services from WCF and a RESTful layer. There needs to be some data massaging to help do what you need, especially if you need to bind to several namespaces.