如何从WCF REST服务流式传输字符串

Question

I wrote a very basic WCF REST Service in C#, that has the following in the service interface:

[OperationContract]
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "/stream", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Xml)]
Stream streamTest();

In the Service.svc.cs file it has this function (obviously StreamUtility is included as a reference and in the usings):

public Stream streamTest()
    {
        return StreamUtility.streamTest();
    }

And finally the streaming function itself looks like this: (It returns a large arbitrary string as a memory stream based on source code I found here: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/35982/REST-WCF-and-Streams-Getting-Rid-of-those-Names-Sp )

public static Stream streamTest()
    {
        string result = "skdjdfnlsakdjfnasdlkjfnasdkjkfnasldkjfnasdlkjfnasdlkfjnasdldkfjnassdlfkjnadsdlfkjasndflkjsanflaskjdfnalskdkjnfalskfjnslidifubsaoicubuiewnfpoiowneflskjdfansdufawneifuenfgiwe";
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            result += result;
        }
        Encoding encoding = Encoding.GetEncoding("ISO-8859-1");
        byte[] returnBytes = encoding.GetBytes(result);
        return new MemoryStream(returnBytes);
    }

Unfortunately this function does not seem to work properly for no reason that i could discern. When i call the function via my browser by going to localhost:XXXXX/Service.svc/stream it shows a loading icon and then simply freezes.

I've been able to find some websites that try to answer this question, but none of their code actually works. The place where I found the above code has a line that doesn't work:

WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse.ContentType = "text/plain";

This line gets underlined because the program cannot find the WebOperationContext reference and I don't know where it would be located, despite having downloaded the source code from the site which only includes two C# files and is not made to actually run.

If anyone could tell me exactly how to stream data via REST service in WCF (even if its not by the above method) that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

If you want to use only GET and POST, the following article may be helpful:

CodeProject on developing RESTful WCF services (this is the way that I personally took)

You could possibly use the WebHttpBinding as described here, providing PUT and DELETE also:

WCF REST Service with JSON

An even simpler example is here (also using the WebHttpBinding)

MS Social on streaming WCF REST