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home / developersection / interviews / what are behaviors in wcf and how do you use them?
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Ravi Vishwakarma
Ravi Vishwakarma

IT-Hardware & Networking

Ravi Vishwakarma is a dedicated Software Developer with a passion for crafting efficient and innovative solutions. With a keen eye for detail and years of experience, he excels in developing robust software systems that meet client needs. His expertise spans across multiple programming languages and technologies, making him a valuable asset in any software development project.

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1 Answers

Ravi Vishwakarma
Ravi Vishwakarma 28 May 2025
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Behaviors in WCF are extensibility points that allow you to customize or extend the way WCF services, endpoints, operations, or clients behave at runtime.

They don't change the message data, but they can influence execution, security, validation, instance management, error handling, logging, etc.

Types of WCF Behaviors

Behavior Type Applied To Interface Purpose
Service behavior Service-wide IServiceBehavior Control service instance, concurrency, error handling, etc.
Endpoint behavior A single endpoint IEndpointBehavior Modify client or service endpoints
Operation behavior A method IOperationBehavior Control parameter handling, serialization
Contract behavior Interface level IContractBehavior Modify all operations in a contract
Client behavior Client proxy IEndpointBehavior Customize how a client behaves

Example: Service Behavior for Logging

1. Implement a custom behavior

public class LoggingBehavior : IServiceBehavior
{
    public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(ServiceDescription serviceDescription, ServiceHostBase serviceHostBase)
    {
        foreach (ChannelDispatcher cd in serviceHostBase.ChannelDispatchers)
        {
            foreach (EndpointDispatcher ed in cd.Endpoints)
            {
                ed.DispatchRuntime.MessageInspectors.Add(new LoggingMessageInspector());
            }
        }
    }

    public void AddBindingParameters(...) { }

    public void Validate(...) { }
}

2. Implement the message inspector

public class LoggingMessageInspector : IDispatchMessageInspector
{
    public object AfterReceiveRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel, InstanceContext instanceContext)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Request received: " + request.ToString());
        return null;
    }

    public void BeforeSendReply(ref Message reply, object correlationState)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Reply sent: " + reply.ToString());
    }
}

3. Add Behavior to Service Host (programmatically)

ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(MyService));
host.Description.Behaviors.Add(new LoggingBehavior());
host.Open();

4. Or Add Behavior via Config

You must also create a BehaviorExtensionElement and register it in web.config to load it via configuration — this is more advanced but allows reuse.

Built-in Behaviors Examples

Built-in Behavior Purpose
ServiceMetadataBehavior Enables metadata exchange (WSDL)
ServiceDebugBehavior Includes exception details in faults
ServiceThrottlingBehavior Controls concurrency, sessions, and calls
ServiceAuthorizationBehavior Controls access control
ClientViaBehavior Controls how clients indicate their URI

Summary

  1. Behaviors are plug-in points that control how WCF runs.
  2. You implement the correct interface (IServiceBehavior, IEndpointBehavior, etc.)
  3. You can apply them programmatically or via configuration.
  4. Useful for cross-cutting concerns: logging, error handling, validation, etc.
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