Configuration-Based Activation in IIS and WAS

Normally when hosting a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service under Internet Information Services (IIS) or Windows Process Activation Service (WAS), you must provide a .svc file. The .svc file contains the name of the service and an optional custom service host factory. This additional file adds manageability overhead. The configuration-based activation feature removes the requirement to have a .svc file and therefore the associated overhead.

Configuration-Based Activation

Configuration-based activation takes the metadata that used to be placed in the .svc file and places it in the Web.config file. Within the<serviceHostingEnvironment> element there is a <serviceActivations> element. Within the <serviceActivations> element are one or more <add> elements, one for each hosted service. The <add> element contains attributes that let you set the relative address for the service and the service type or a service host factory. The following configuration example code shows how this section is used.

Note

Each <add> element must specify a service or a factory attribute. Specifying both service and factory attributes is allowed.

    <serviceHostingEnvironment>
      <serviceActivations>
        <add relativeAddress="MyServiceAddress" service="Service" factory=”MyServiceHostFactory”/>
      </serviceActivations>
    </serviceHostingEnvironment>

With this in the Web.config file, you can place the service source code in the App_Code directory of the application or a complied assembly in the Bin directory of the application.

Note:

When using configuration-based activation, inline code in .svc files is not supported. The relativeAddress attribute must be set to a relative address such as “<sub-directory>/service.svc” or “~/<sub-directory/service.svc”. A configuration exception is thrown if you register a relative address that does not have a known extension associated with WCF. The relative address specified is relative to the root of the virtual application. Due to the hierarchical model of configuration, the registered relative addresses at machine and site level are inherited by virtual applications. Registrations in a configuration file take precedence over settings in a .svc, .xamlx, .xoml, or other file. Any ‘\’ (backslashes) in a URI sent to IIS/WAS are automatically converted to a ‘/’ (forward slash). If a relative address is added that contains a ‘\’ and you send IIS a URI that uses the relative address, the backslash is converted to a forward slash and IIS cannot match it to the relative address. IIS sends out trace information that indicates that there are no matches found.

See Also

Reference

ServiceActivations

Concepts

Hosting Services

Other Resources

Hosting Workflow Services Overview
<serviceHostingEnvironment>
Windows Server App Fabric Hosting Features