How can I dynamically switch web service addresses in .NET without a recompile?

Question

I have code that references a web service, and I'd like the address of that web service to be dynamic (read from a database, config file, etc.) so that it is easily changed. One major use of this will be to deploy to multiple environments where machine names and IP addresses are different. The web service signature will be the same across all deployments, just located elsewhere.

Maybe I've just been spoiled by the Visual Studio "Add Web Reference" wizard - seems like this should be something relatively easy, though.

Are you using Visual Studio 2005 or 2008. I believe the wizards are slightly different in each. — Eric Schoonover, Sep 24 '08 at 04:22

score 59 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 08 '17 at 14:08

59

When you generate a web reference and click on the web reference in the Solution Explorer. In the properties pane you should see something like this:

Web Reference Properties

Changing the value to dynamic will put an entry in your app.config.

Here is the CodePlex article that has more information.

edited Feb 08 '17 at 14:08

Community

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answered Sep 24 '08 at 04:24

Eric Schoonover

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Where does the app.config go when i publish it.I cant see it in publish output directory – Shyju Apr 22 '10 at 13:44
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it will be renamed to [OutputAssemblyName].config. Example: MyProject.exe.config – Eric Schoonover Apr 24 '10 at 06:23
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The answer from Brad Bruce below is far more helpful in some situations--you can change the Url property of the web service object. – SAJ14SAJ Feb 13 '13 at 16:12
Can i store the value in machine.config? – Uri Abramson Apr 18 '13 at 16:36
@Shyju , i am using [this](https://github.com/typesafe/mnailgun/blob/635e11208b8fe1f88bd767c806bfce0ad8691ee8/src/Typesafe.Mailgun/MailgunClient.cs) small .net wrapper to send mail using mail gun `api`, as you can see in the code they have compiled it `https://api.mailgun.net/v2/` version 2 of api i want to change it to version 3 `https://api.mailgun.net/v3/`, what can be done ? – Shaiju T Nov 20 '15 at 15:42
This along with using a Web.config transform works nicely. Thanks for the insight on this. – PhillipPDX Dec 21 '21 at 12:59

score 32 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 13 '14 at 18:53

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If you are truly dynamically setting this, you should set the .Url field of instance of the proxy class you are calling.

Setting the value in the .config file from within your program:

Is a mess;
Might not be read until the next application start.

If it is only something that needs to be done once per installation, I'd agree with the other posters and use the .config file and the dynamic setting.

edited Mar 13 '14 at 18:53

Avi

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answered Sep 24 '08 at 14:56

Brad Bruce

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eg. `var api = new MyApi.Service(); api.Url = "http://yetanotherurl.com";` – Jeroen K Jan 09 '12 at 13:01
this is what I have done it but on production the link doesn't get changed it is still taking the old one.. – dawncode Dec 09 '15 at 13:00

score 25 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 30 '16 at 14:55

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I know this is an old question, but our solution is much simpler than what I see here. We use it for WCF calls with VS2010 and up. The string url can come from app settings or another source. In my case it is a drop down list where the user picks the server. TheService was configured through VS add service reference.

private void CallTheService( string url )
{
   TheService.TheServiceClient client = new TheService.TheServiceClient();
   client.Endpoint.Address = new System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress(url);
   var results = client.AMethodFromTheService();
}

answered Nov 30 '16 at 14:55

rwg

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Nice, this seemed the easiest solution and worked for me on a asmx web service as well. – germankiwi Jan 17 '17 at 21:28
This is about WCF but the poster was talking about web reference, or asmx web service – Silent Sojourner Jan 02 '20 at 21:09

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 27 '13 at 12:51

I've struggled with this issue for a few days and finally the light bulb clicked. The KEY to being able to change the URL of a webservice at runtime is overriding the constructor, which I did with a partial class declaration. The above, setting the URL behavior to Dynamic must also be done.

This basically creates a web-service wrapper where if you have to reload web service at some point, via add service reference, you don't loose your work. The Microsoft help for Partial classes specially states that part of the reason for this construct is to create web service wrappers. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wa80x488(v=vs.100).aspx

// Web Service Wrapper to override constructor to use custom ConfigSection 
// app.config values for URL/User/Pass
namespace myprogram.webservice
{
    public partial class MyWebService
    {
        public MyWebService(string szURL)
        {
            this.Url = szURL;
            if ((this.IsLocalFileSystemWebService(this.Url) == true))
            {
                this.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
                this.useDefaultCredentialsSetExplicitly = false;
            }
            else
            {
                this.useDefaultCredentialsSetExplicitly = true;
            }
        }
    }
}

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Dec 21 '11 at 08:47

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Change URL behavior to "Dynamic".

edited Dec 21 '11 at 08:47

bluish

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answered Sep 24 '08 at 04:22

Gulzar Nazim

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The link seems to be not opening. – Venkat Feb 03 '21 at 05:43

score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 24 '08 at 05:33

As long as the web service methods and underlying exposed classes do not change, it's fairly trivial. With Visual Studio 2005 (and newer), adding a web reference creates an app.config (or web.config, for web apps) section that has this URL. All you have to do is edit the app.config file to reflect the desired URL.

In our project, our simple approach was to just have the app.config entries commented per environment type (development, testing, production). So we just uncomment the entry for the desired environment type. No special coding needed there.

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Dec 21 '11 at 08:50

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Just a note about difference beetween static and dynamic.

Static: you must set URL property every time you call web service. This because base URL if web service is in the proxy class constructor.
Dynamic: a special configuration key will be created for you in your web.config file. By default proxy class will read URL from this key.

edited Dec 21 '11 at 08:50

bluish

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answered Sep 24 '08 at 06:13

stefano m

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score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Jan 10 '12 at 07:59

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If you are fetching the URL from a database you can manually assign it to the web service proxy class URL property. This should be done before calling the web method.

If you would like to use the config file, you can set the proxy classes URL behavior to dynamic.

edited Jan 10 '12 at 07:59

bluish

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answered Sep 24 '08 at 04:30

Aaron Fischer

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score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 24 '08 at 15:19

Definitely using the Url property is the way to go. Whether to set it in the app.config, the database, or a third location sort of depends on your configuration needs. Sometimes you don't want the app to restart when you change the web service location. You might not have a load balancer scaling the backend. You might be hot-patching a web service bug. Your implementation might have security configuration issues as well. Whether it's production db usernames and passwords or even the ws security auth info. The proper separation of duties can get you into some more involved configuration setups.

If you add a wrapper class around the proxy generated classes, you can set the Url property in some unified fashion every time you create the wrapper class to call a web method.

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 22 '16 at 21:08

open solition explorer

right click the webservice change URL Behavior to Dynamic

click the 'show all files' icon in solution explorer

in the web reference edit the Reference.cs file

change constructer

public Service1() {
        this.Url = "URL"; // etc. string  variable this.Url = ConfigClass.myURL
      }

djciko · Answer 11 · 2016-05-11T16:48:48.827

For me a Reference to a WebService is a

SERVICE REFERENCE

.

Anyway it's very easy. As someone said, you just have to change the URL in the web.config file.

<system.serviceModel>
    <bindings>
      <basicHttpBinding>
        <binding name="YourServiceSoap" />
      </basicHttpBinding>
    </bindings>
    <client>
        **** CHANGE THE LINE BELOW TO CHANGE THE URL **** 
        <endpoint address="http://10.10.10.100:8080/services/YourService.asmx"
          binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="YourServiceSoap"
          contract="YourServiceRef.YourServiceSoap" name="YourServiceSoap" />
    </client>

How can I dynamically switch web service addresses in .NET without a recompile?

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