Question

I have a web service that is working fine in one environment but not in another.

The web service gets document meta data from SharePoint, it running on a server where I cant debug but with logging I confirmed that the method enters and exits successfully.

What could be the reason for the errors?

The error message is,

The formatter threw an exception while trying to deserialize the message: 

There was an error while trying to deserialize parameter http://CompanyName.com.au/ProjectName:GetDocumentMetaDataResponse. 

The InnerException message was 'Error in line 1 position 388. 'Element' 'CustomFields' from namespace 'http://CompanyName.com.au/ProjectName' is not expected. 

Expecting element 'Id'.'.  Please see InnerException for more details.

The InnerException was

System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.NetDispatcherFaultException was caught
Message=”The formatter threw an exception while trying to deserialize the message:
There was an error while trying to deserialize parameter http://CompanyName.com.au/ProjectName:GetDocumentMetaDataResponse.

The InnerException message was

'Error in line 1 position 388. 
'Element' 'CustomFields' 
from namespace 'http://CompanyName.com.au/ProjectName' is not expected. 
Expecting element 'Id'.'.  Please see InnerException for more details."



  Source="mscorlib"
  Action="http://schemas.microsoft.com/net/2005/12/windowscommunicationfoundation/dispatcher/fault"
  StackTrace:
    Server stack trace: 
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.DeserializeParameterPart(XmlDictionaryReader reader, PartInfo part, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.DeserializeParameter(XmlDictionaryReader reader, PartInfo part, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.DeserializeParameters(XmlDictionaryReader reader, PartInfo[] parts, Object[] parameters, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.DeserializeBody(XmlDictionaryReader reader, MessageVersion version, String action, MessageDescription messageDescription, Object[] parameters, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.OperationFormatter.DeserializeBodyContents(Message message, Object[] parameters, Boolean isRequest)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.OperationFormatter.DeserializeReply(Message message, Object[] parameters)
       at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.ProxyOperationRuntime.AfterReply(ProxyRpc& rpc)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.HandleReply(ProxyOperationRuntime operation, ProxyRpc& rpc)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs, TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.Call(String action, Boolean oneway, ProxyOperationRuntime operation, Object[] ins, Object[] outs)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.InvokeService(IMethodCallMessage methodCall, ProxyOperationRuntime operation)
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannelProxy.Invoke(IMessage message)
    Exception rethrown at [0]: 
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
       at CompanyName.ProjectName.External.Sharepoint.WebServiceProxies.SharepointProjectNameSiteService.ProjectNameSiteSoap.GetDocumentMetaData(GetDocumentMetaDataRequest request)
       at CompanyName.ProjectName.External.Sharepoint.WebServiceProxies.SharepointProjectNameSiteService.ProjectNameSiteSoapClient.CompanyName.ProjectName.External.Sharepoint.WebServiceProxies.SharepointProjectNameSiteService.ProjectNameSiteSoap.GetDocumentMetaData(GetDocumentMetaDataRequest request) in D:\Source\TFSRoot\ProjectName\trunk\CodeBase\External\CompanyName.ProjectName.External.Sharepoint.WebServiceProxies\Service References\SharepointProjectNameSiteService\Reference.cs:line 2141
       at CompanyName.ProjectName.External.Sharepoint.WebServiceProxies.SharepointProjectNameSiteService.ProjectNameSiteSoapClient.GetDocumentMetaData(ListSummaryDto listSummary, FileCriteriaDto criteria, List`1 customFields) in D:\Source\TFSRoot\ProjectName\trunk\CodeBase\External\CompanyName.ProjectName.External.Sharepoint.WebServiceProxies\Service References\SharepointProjectNameSiteService\Reference.cs:line 2150
       at CompanyName.ProjectName.Services.Shared.SharepointAdapter.GetDocumentMetaData(ListSummaryDto listSummary, FileCriteriaDto criteria, List`1 customFields) in D:\Source\TFSRoot\ProjectName\trunk\CodeBase\Services\CompanyName.ProjectName.Services\Shared\SharepointAdapter.cs:line 260
       at CompanyName.ProjectName.Services.Project.ProjectDocumentService.SetSharepointDocumentData(List`1 sourceDocuments) in D:\Source\TFSRoot\ProjectName\trunk\CodeBase\Services\CompanyName.ProjectName.Services\Project\ProjectDocumentService.cs:line 1963
       at CompanyName.ProjectName.Services.Project.ProjectDocumentService.GetProjectConversionDocumentsImplementation(Int32 projectId) in D:\Source\TFSRoot\ProjectName\trunk\CodeBase\Services\CompanyName.ProjectName.Services\Project\ProjectDocumentService.cs:line 3212
  InnerException: System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationException
       Message="Error in line 1 position 388. 'Element' 'CustomFields' from namespace 'http://CompanyName.com.au/ProjectName' is not expected. Expecting element 'Id'."
       Source="System.Runtime.Serialization"
       StackTrace:
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.ThrowRequiredMemberMissingException(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, Int32 memberIndex, Int32 requiredIndex, XmlDictionaryString[] memberNames)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.GetMemberIndexWithRequiredMembers(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, XmlDictionaryString[] memberNames, XmlDictionaryString[] memberNamespaces, Int32 memberIndex, Int32 requiredIndex, ExtensionDataObject extensionData)
            at ReadFileMetaDataDtoFromXml(XmlReaderDelegator , XmlObjectSerializerReadContext , XmlDictionaryString[] , XmlDictionaryString[] )
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.ClassDataContract.ReadXmlValue(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, XmlObjectSerializerReadContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.ReadDataContractValue(DataContract dataContract, XmlReaderDelegator reader)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator reader, String name, String ns, DataContract& dataContract)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, Int32 id, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle, String name, String ns)
            at ReadArrayOfFileMetaDataDtoFromXml(XmlReaderDelegator , XmlObjectSerializerReadContext , XmlDictionaryString , XmlDictionaryString , CollectionDataContract )
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.CollectionDataContract.ReadXmlValue(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, XmlObjectSerializerReadContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.ReadDataContractValue(DataContract dataContract, XmlReaderDelegator reader)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator reader, String name, String ns, DataContract& dataContract)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, Int32 id, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle, String name, String ns)
            at ReadMetaDataSearchResultsDtoFromXml(XmlReaderDelegator , XmlObjectSerializerReadContext , XmlDictionaryString[] , XmlDictionaryString[] )
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.ClassDataContract.ReadXmlValue(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, XmlObjectSerializerReadContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.ReadDataContractValue(DataContract dataContract, XmlReaderDelegator reader)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator reader, String name, String ns, DataContract& dataContract)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, Int32 id, RuntimeTypeHandle declaredTypeHandle, String name, String ns)
            at ReadGetDocumentMetaDataResponseBodyFromXml(XmlReaderDelegator , XmlObjectSerializerReadContext , XmlDictionaryString[] , XmlDictionaryString[] )
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.ClassDataContract.ReadXmlValue(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, XmlObjectSerializerReadContext context)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.ReadDataContractValue(DataContract dataContract, XmlReaderDelegator reader)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator reader, String name, String ns, DataContract& dataContract)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializerReadContext.InternalDeserialize(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, Type declaredType, DataContract dataContract, String name, String ns)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.DataContractSerializer.InternalReadObject(XmlReaderDelegator xmlReader, Boolean verifyObjectName)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.XmlObjectSerializer.ReadObjectHandleExceptions(XmlReaderDelegator reader, Boolean verifyObjectName)
            at System.Runtime.Serialization.DataContractSerializer.ReadObject(XmlDictionaryReader reader, Boolean verifyObjectName)
            at System.ServiceModel.Dispatcher.DataContractSerializerOperationFormatter.DeserializeParameterPart(XmlDictionaryReader reader, PartInfo part, Boolean isRequest)
       InnerException: 

Answer 1

I have a solution for this but not sure on the reason why this would be different from one environment to the other – although one big difference between the two environments is WSS svc pack 1 was installed on the environment where the error was occurring.

To fix this issue I got a good clue from this link – https://web.archive.org/web/20090506064853/http://silverlight.net/forums/t/22787.aspx ie to "please check the Xml Schema of your service" and "the sequence in the schema is sorted alphabetically"

Looking at the wsdl generated I noticed that for the serialized class that was causing the error, the properties of this class were not visible in the wsdl.

The Definition of the class had private setters for most of the properties, but not for CustomFields property ie..

[Serializable]
public class FileMetaDataDto
{
    .
    . a constructor...   etc and several other properties edited for brevity
    . 
    
    public int Id { get; private set; }
    public string Version { get; private set; }
    public List<MetaDataValueDto> CustomFields { get; set; }

}

On removing private from the setter and redeploying the service then looking at the wsdl again, these properties were now visible, and the original error was fixed.

So the wsdl before update was

- <s:complexType name="ArrayOfFileMetaDataDto">
- <s:sequence>
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" name="FileMetaDataDto" nillable="true" type="tns:FileMetaDataDto" /> 
  </s:sequence>
  </s:complexType>
- <s:complexType name="FileMetaDataDto">
- <s:sequence>
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="CustomFields" type="tns:ArrayOfMetaDataValueDto" /> 
  </s:sequence>
  </s:complexType>

The wsdl after update was

- <s:complexType name="ArrayOfFileMetaDataDto">
- <s:sequence>
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" name="FileMetaDataDto" nillable="true" type="tns:FileMetaDataDto" /> 
  </s:sequence>
  </s:complexType>
- <s:complexType name="FileMetaDataDto">
- <s:sequence>
  <s:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="Id" type="s:int" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="Name" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="Title" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="ContentType" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="Icon" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="ModifiedBy" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="ModifiedDateTime" type="s:dateTime" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="FileSizeBytes" type="s:int" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="Url" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="RelativeFolderPath" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="DisplayVersion" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="Version" type="s:string" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="CustomFields" type="tns:ArrayOfMetaDataValueDto" /> 
  <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="CheckoutBy" type="s:string" /> 
  </s:sequence>
  </s:complexType>