Question

I have an error:

Type 'MyAppApp.Web.MyAppWebService.NotifierAuthHeader' cannot inherit from a type that is not marked with DataContractAttribute or SerializableAttribute. Consider marking the base type 'System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHeader' with DataContractAttribute or SerializableAttribute, or removing them from the derived type.

while executing this wcf method:

<OperationContract()> <WebMethod(Description:="Gets details about selected PDF document")> _
    Public Function GetPdfDetails(ByVal pdfName As String) As String

I couldn’t change SoapHeader because it’s framework class

Public MustInherit Class SoapHeader
          Inherits System.Object
     Member of System.Web.Services.Protocols

and I use this class in NotifierAuthHeader class

Imports System.Web.Services.Protocols
Imports System.Runtime.Serialization 

Public Class NotifierAuthHeader
    Inherits SoapHeader

    Public HandlerId As Integer
    Public Guid As Byte()
End Class

I’m confused a bit. How can I have that working?

Answer 1

Were you deliberately trying to mix two technologies? SoapHeader is from the legacy ASMX technology, but OperationContract is from WCF.

To use headers in WCF, you need to use a Message Contract, which can contain header parts as well as body parts.