Question

Optional query string parameters in URITemplate in WCF?

I'm developing some RESTful services in WCF 4.0. I've got a method as below:

[OperationContract]
    [WebGet(UriTemplate = "Test?format=XML&records={records}", ResponseFormat=WebMessageFormat.Xml)]
    public string TestXml(string records)
    {
        return "Hello XML";
    }

So if i navigate my browser to http://localhost:8000/Service/Test?format=XML&records=10, then everything works as exepcted.

HOWEVER, i want to be able to navigate to http://localhost:8000/Service/Test?format=XML and leave off the "&records=10" portion of the URL. But now, I get a service error since the URI doesn't match the expected URI template.

So how do I implement defaults for some of my query string parameters? I want to default the "records" to 10 for instance if that part is left off the query string.

 45  47408  45
1 Jan 1970

Solution

 54

Note: This question is out of date, please see the other answers.


This does not appear to be supported.

However, Microsoft has been made aware of this issue and there is a work-around:

You can get the desired effect by omitting the Query string from the UriTemplate on your WebGet or WebInvoke attribute, and using WebOperationContext.Current.IncomingRequest.UriTemplateMatch.QueryParameters from within your handlers to inspect, set defaults, etc. on the query parameters.

https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/451296/

2010-06-05

Solution

 17

According to this answer this is fixed in .NET 4.0. Failing to supply the query string parameter seems to result in its being given the default value for the type.

2012-07-11