Question

Do messages pulled off an MSMQ queue have to be added to the queue via a process using MsmqIntegrationBinding in order for a WCF Service to pick them off the queue using MsmqIntegrationBinding? We have a legacy process that is writing an xml payload to a queue using System.Messaging and when I run my process to try and pick the message off the queue nothing happens (Meaning the message stays in the queue). I was just wondering if a message is enqueued using another process can you still use WCF / MsmqIntegrationBinding to dequeue the message?

I know that ideally you should use DataContracts and NetMsmqBinding, but unfortuantely int his situation we don’t have the ability to modify the process enqueing the messages.

As I am sure you can tell I am still very ignorant with WCF / MSMQ so maybe the solution is simple.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

S

Answer 1

MsmqIntegrationBinding can use different formatters to read/write data to the queue. This can be done by setting the serializationFormat property of your binding. For example, to interoperate with an COM client you set the serializationFormat to ActiveX. To interoperate with a .net client set it to Xml.

<service name="MyQueueListenner">

    <!-- Active X endpoint -->
    <endpoint address="msmq.formatname:DIRECT=OS:.\private$\myQueue"
              binding="msmqIntegrationBinding"
              bindingConfiguration="COMConfig"
              contract="MyContract" />

    <!-- .Net endpoint-->
    <endpoint address="msmq.formatname:DIRECT=OS:.\private$\myOtherQueue"
              binding="msmqIntegrationBinding"
              bindingConfiguration="DotNetConfig"
              contract="MyContract" />

  </service>
  ...

  <msmqIntegrationBinding>
    <binding serializationFormat="ActiveX" name="COMConfig" durable="false" exactlyOnce="false">
      <security mode="None" />
    </binding>
    <binding serializationFormat="Xml" name="DotNetConfig" durable="false" exactlyOnce="false">
      <security mode="None" />
    </binding>
  </msmqIntegrationBinding>

This allows you the full range of formatters providing the greatest range of interoperability with your queue clients.

The full list of values is here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.servicemodel.msmqintegration.msmqmessageserializationformat.aspx