WCF Test Client that allows me to view/edit the request XML

Question

From time to time we need to test why a certain request coming from our MQ to a WCF service failed. I need to be able to debug the service and find out where it went wrong and resolve the issue. The only information i have is the XML request that was sent to the service. Before we moved to WCF i used a custom tool to send the request to my ASMX debug instance but since we moved to WCF I dont seem to have that option. All the clients i have tried only allow you to fill in the fields through a UI and this is not an option when dealing with huge requests.

1. Is there a free or open source client that will allow me to do this? I have searched and tried loads but none seem to do it.
2. Alternatively is there a tutorial or article on writing a test client of this kind? Again i have searched but there seems to be a lack of information on WCF clients and a huge amount on the services.

tl;dr; Im looking for a WCF test client that will allow me to paste in an XML request and send it to a WCF service or a tutorial that will start me in the right direction.

Answer 1

Not sure I totally understand what you're looking for:

• to see the MSMQ messages, you should open the MMC snapin for MSMQ administration on your server where the MSMQ queues live - is that what you're looking for?

• in order to create and send out arbitrary XML messages, have a look at SoapUI which is available in a free (and already very capable) version, or alternatively look at SoapBits

Answer 2

Of course it is not free, but one of our teams is using Altova XMLSpy for that purpose and it works fine.

You can also check (Not sure they will allow you to edit SOAP, but have a try):

• SoapUI
• WCF Storm

Also check Web Service Studio 2.0 I have tried it will allow you to edit requests.