How to: Enable Streaming
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) can send messages using either buffered or streamed transfers. In the default buffered-transfer mode, a message must be completely delivered before a receiver can read it. In streaming transfer mode, the receiver can begin to process the message before it is completely delivered. The streaming mode is useful when the information that is passed is lengthy and can be processed serially. Streaming mode is also useful when the message is too large to be entirely buffered.
To enable streaming, define the OperationContract
appropriately and enable streaming at the transport level.
To stream data
To stream data, the
OperationContract
for the service must satisfy two requirements:The parameter that holds the data to be streamed must be the only parameter in the method. For example, if the input message is the one to be streamed, the operation must have exactly one input parameter. Similarly, if the output message is to be streamed, the operation must have either exactly one output parameter or a return value.
At least one of the types of the parameter and return value must be either Stream, Message, or IXmlSerializable.
The following is an example of a contract for streamed data.
[ServiceContract(Namespace = "http://Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples")] public interface IStreamingSample { [OperationContract] Stream GetStream(string data); [OperationContract] bool UploadStream(Stream stream); [OperationContract] Stream EchoStream(Stream stream); [OperationContract] Stream GetReversedStream(); }
<ServiceContract(Namespace:="http://Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples")> _ Public Interface IStreamingSample <OperationContract()> _ Function GetStream(ByVal data As String) As Stream <OperationContract()> _ Function UploadStream(ByVal stream As Stream) As Boolean <OperationContract()> _ Function EchoStream(ByVal stream As Stream) As Stream <OperationContract()> _ Function GetReversedStream() As Stream End Interface
The
GetStream
operation receives some buffered input data as astring
, which is buffered, and returns aStream
, which is streamed. ConverselyUploadStream
takes in aStream
(streamed) and returns abool
(buffered).EchoStream
takes and returnsStream
and is an example of an operation whose input and output messages are both streamed. Finally,GetReversedStream
takes no inputs and returns aStream
(streamed).Streaming must be enabled on the binding. You set a
TransferMode
property, which can take one of the following values:Buffered
,Streamed
, which enables streaming communication in both directions.StreamedRequest
, which enables streaming the request only.StreamedResponse
, which enables streaming the response only.
The
BasicHttpBinding
exposes theTransferMode
property on the binding, as doesNetTcpBinding
andNetNamedPipeBinding
. TheTransferMode
property can also be set on the transport binding element and used in a custom binding.The following samples show how to set
TransferMode
by code and by changing the configuration file. The samples also both set themaxReceivedMessageSize
property to 64 MB, which places a cap on the maximum allowable size of messages on receive. The defaultmaxReceivedMessageSize
is 64 KB, which is usually too low for streaming scenarios. Set this quota setting as appropriate depending on the maximum size of messages your application expects to receive. Also note thatmaxBufferSize
controls the maximum size that is buffered, and set it appropriately.The following configuration snippet from the sample shows setting the
TransferMode
property to streaming on thebasicHttpBinding
and a custom HTTP binding.<basicHttpBinding> <binding name="HttpStreaming" maxReceivedMessageSize="67108864" transferMode="Streamed"/> </basicHttpBinding> <!-- an example customBinding using Http and streaming--> <customBinding> <binding name="Soap12"> <textMessageEncoding messageVersion="Soap12WSAddressing10" /> <httpTransport transferMode="Streamed" maxReceivedMessageSize="67108864"/> </binding> </customBinding>
The following code snippet shows setting the
TransferMode
property to streaming on thebasicHttpBinding
and a custom HTTP binding.public static Binding CreateStreamingBinding() { BasicHttpBinding b = new BasicHttpBinding(); b.TransferMode = TransferMode.Streamed; return b; }
Public Shared Function CreateStreamingBinding() As Binding Dim b As New BasicHttpBinding() b.TransferMode = TransferMode.Streamed Return b End Function
The following code snippet shows setting the
TransferMode
property to streaming on a custom TCP binding.public static Binding CreateStreamingBinding() { TcpTransportBindingElement transport = new TcpTransportBindingElement(); transport.TransferMode = TransferMode.Streamed; BinaryMessageEncodingBindingElement encoder = new BinaryMessageEncodingBindingElement(); CustomBinding binding = new CustomBinding(encoder, transport); return binding; }
Public Shared Function CreateStreamingBinding() As Binding Dim transport As New TcpTransportBindingElement() transport.TransferMode = TransferMode.Streamed Dim binding As New CustomBinding(New BinaryMessageEncodingBindingElement(), _ transport) Return binding End Function
The operations
GetStream
,UploadStream
, andEchoStream
all deal with sending data directly from a file or saving received data directly to a file. The following code is forGetStream
.public Stream GetStream(string data) { //this file path assumes the image is in // the Service folder and the service is executing // in service/bin string filePath = Path.Combine( System.Environment.CurrentDirectory, ".\\..\\image.jpg"); //open the file, this could throw an exception //(e.g. if the file is not found) //having includeExceptionDetailInFaults="True" in config // would cause this exception to be returned to the client try { FileStream imageFile = File.OpenRead(filePath); return imageFile; } catch (IOException ex) { Console.WriteLine( String.Format("An exception was thrown while trying to open file {0}", filePath)); Console.WriteLine("Exception is: "); Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()); throw ex; } }
Public Function GetStream(ByVal data As String) As Stream Implements IStreamingSample.GetStream 'this file path assumes the image is in ' the Service folder and the service is executing ' in service/bin Dim filePath = Path.Combine(System.Environment.CurrentDirectory, ".\..\image.jpg") 'open the file, this could throw an exception '(e.g. if the file is not found) 'having includeExceptionDetailInFaults="True" in config ' would cause this exception to be returned to the client Try Return File.OpenRead(filePath) Catch ex As IOException Console.WriteLine(String.Format("An exception was thrown while trying to open file {0}", filePath)) Console.WriteLine("Exception is: ") Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString()) Throw ex End Try End Function
Writing a custom stream
To do special processing on each chunk of a data stream as it is being sent or received, derive a custom stream class from Stream. As an example of a custom stream, the following code contains a
GetReversedStream
method and aReverseStream
class-.GetReversedStream
creates and returns a new instance ofReverseStream
. The actual processing happens as the system reads from theReverseStream
object. TheReverseStream.Read
method reads a chunk of bytes from the underlying file, reverses them, then returns the reversed bytes. This method does not reverse the entire file content; it reverses one chunk of bytes at a time. This example shows how you can perform stream processing as the content is being read to or written from the stream.class ReverseStream : Stream { FileStream inStream; internal ReverseStream(string filePath) { //opens the file and places a StreamReader around it inStream = File.OpenRead(filePath); } public override bool CanRead { get { return inStream.CanRead; } } public override bool CanSeek { get { return false; } } public override bool CanWrite { get { return false; } } public override void Flush() { throw new Exception("This stream does not support writing."); } public override long Length { get { throw new Exception("This stream does not support the Length property."); } } public override long Position { get { return inStream.Position; } set { throw new Exception("This stream does not support setting the Position property."); } } public override int Read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) { int countRead = inStream.Read(buffer, offset, count); ReverseBuffer(buffer, offset, countRead); return countRead; } public override long Seek(long offset, SeekOrigin origin) { throw new Exception("This stream does not support seeking."); } public override void SetLength(long value) { throw new Exception("This stream does not support setting the Length."); } public override void Write(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) { throw new Exception("This stream does not support writing."); } public override void Close() { inStream.Close(); base.Close(); } protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) { inStream.Dispose(); base.Dispose(disposing); } void ReverseBuffer(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) { int i, j; for (i = offset, j = offset + count - 1; i < j; i++, j--) { byte currenti = buffer[i]; buffer[i] = buffer[j]; buffer[j] = currenti; } } }
Friend Class ReverseStream Inherits Stream Private inStream As FileStream Friend Sub New(ByVal filePath As String) 'opens the file and places a StreamReader around it inStream = File.OpenRead(filePath) End Sub Public Overrides ReadOnly Property CanRead() As Boolean Get Return inStream.CanRead End Get End Property Public Overrides ReadOnly Property CanSeek() As Boolean Get Return False End Get End Property Public Overrides ReadOnly Property CanWrite() As Boolean Get Return False End Get End Property Public Overrides Sub Flush() Throw New Exception("This stream does not support writing.") End Sub Public Overrides ReadOnly Property Length() As Long Get Throw New Exception("This stream does not support the Length property.") End Get End Property Public Overrides Property Position() As Long Get Return inStream.Position End Get Set(ByVal value As Long) Throw New Exception("This stream does not support setting the Position property.") End Set End Property Public Overrides Function Read(ByVal buffer() As Byte, _ ByVal offset As Integer, _ ByVal count As Integer) As Integer Dim countRead = inStream.Read(buffer, _ offset, _ count) ReverseBuffer(buffer, _ offset, _ countRead) Return countRead End Function Public Overrides Function Seek(ByVal offset As Long, _ ByVal origin As SeekOrigin) As Long Throw New Exception("This stream does not support seeking.") End Function Public Overrides Sub SetLength(ByVal value As Long) Throw New Exception("This stream does not support setting the Length.") End Sub Public Overrides Sub Write(ByVal buffer() As Byte, _ ByVal offset As Integer, _ ByVal count As Integer) Throw New Exception("This stream does not support writing.") End Sub Public Overrides Sub Close() inStream.Close() MyBase.Close() End Sub Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean) inStream.Dispose() MyBase.Dispose(disposing) End Sub Private Sub ReverseBuffer(ByVal buffer() As Byte, _ ByVal offset As Integer, _ ByVal count As Integer) Dim i = offset Dim j = offset + count - 1 Do While i < j Dim currenti = buffer(i) buffer(i) = buffer(j) buffer(j) = currenti i += 1 j -= 1 Loop End Sub End Class