Question

I am currently learning WCF and I have a very weird problem.

I have created a WCF service and hosted in a console application. I created a client and when I start debugging the client everything works as expected. The browser hits the address specified in the service.
But, when I just run the client without debugging I get an exception.
The entire time I have not touched the service. Only the client. The service is hosted in a console application.

I also noticed something very weird.
I put a console.readline() in client. Now while debugging client, when I attach the debugger, I see a WCF service desktop notification that tells me service is hosted and I am able to use the service and it works. I can also access the address via browser. If i detach the debugger, address does not work in browser. If I re- attach then it works again, another desktp notification appears. This tells me my Service is up and running when I debug only. When I exit the debugger, the service exits. But I am not touching the service, the entire time just the client.

Pleaseeee tell me I am not crazy 🙁

MyAddress:

http://localhost:8732/Design_Time_Addresses/MASService/Service1/

Exception:
There was no endpoint listening at [MyAddress] that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details.

This is my service configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>

  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" />
  </system.web>
  <!-- When deploying the service library project, the content of the config file must be added to the host's 
  app.config file. System.Configuration does not support config files for libraries. -->
  <system.serviceModel>
    <services>
      <service name="MASService.MasOperationsService" behaviorConfiguration="SimpleServiceBehavior">
        <endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="MASService.IMasOperations">
          <identity>
            <dns value="localhost" />
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
        <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
        <host>
          <baseAddresses>
            <add baseAddress="http://localhost:8732/Design_Time_Addresses/MASService/Service1/" />
          </baseAddresses>
        </host>
      </service>
    </services>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="SimpleServiceBehavior">
          <!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information, 
           set the value below to false and remove the metadata endpoint above before deployment -->
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="True"/>
          <!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes, 
          set the value below to true.  Set to false before deployment 
          to avoid disclosing exception information -->
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="False" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
  </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

This is my service host configuration (console app):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <services>
            <service name="MASService.MasOperationsService">
                <endpoint address="http://localhost:8733/Design_Time_Addresses/MASService/Service1"
                    binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="" contract="MASService.IMasOperations" />
            </service>
        </services>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

This is my client configuration (console app):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <wsHttpBinding>
                <binding name="WSHttpBinding_IMasOperations" closeTimeout="00:01:00"
                    openTimeout="00:01:00" receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00"
                    bypassProxyOnLocal="false" transactionFlow="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard"
                    maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="65536"
                    messageEncoding="Text" textEncoding="utf-8" useDefaultWebProxy="true"
                    allowCookies="false">
                    <readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="8192" maxArrayLength="16384"
                        maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" />
                    <reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00"
                        enabled="false" />
                    <security mode="Message">
                        <transport clientCredentialType="Windows" proxyCredentialType="None"
                            realm="" />
                        <message clientCredentialType="Windows" negotiateServiceCredential="true"
                            algorithmSuite="Default" />
                    </security>
                </binding>
            </wsHttpBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
            <endpoint address="http://localhost:8732/Design_Time_Addresses/MASService/Service1/"
                binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="WSHttpBinding_IMasOperations"
                contract="ServiceReference1.IMasOperations" name="WSHttpBinding_IMasOperations">
                <identity>
                    <dns value="localhost" />
                </identity>
            </endpoint>
        </client>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

Answer 1

The client will need the port to which the console app is exposing the service. I imagine when running the debugger vs is hosting on the port your client is successfully connecting to. (Would have added this as a comment, but my nexus client does not appear to support comments) try 8733 and the bindings should match.