Question

I’m trying to pass information between domains using a combination of jQuery and WCF. This works really well for passing simple data types. This is demonstrated by the TestSimple Method below. However when I use the TestComplex method the WCF method receives nothing as the address parameter.

Hopefully an example will make my question clearer:

WCF Service:

 Function TestSimple(postcode As String) As BasicAddress Implements ISubmitVehicle.TestSimple
      Return Test(postcode)
 End Function

Function TestComplex(Address As BasicAddress) As BasicAddress Implements ISubmitVehicle.TestComplex
    If Address Is Nothing Then
        Return Test("Nothing")
    Else
        Return Test(Address.Postcode)
    End If
End Function

Function Test(postcode As String) As BasicAddress
    Return New BasicAddress With {
        .Building = "Test", .County = "Test", .Latitude = 0, .Locality = "Test",
        .Longitude = 0, .Street = "Test", .Town = "Test", .Postcode = postcode}
End Function

Client Script

function TestSimple() {
     var data = { postcode: "test" };
     Test(data, 'TestSimple');
}

function TestComplex() {
     // I also tried
     //var data = { Address: { Postcode: 'test' } }
     var data = { 
          Address: { "__type": "BasicAddress:#WPC.FADS.Web",
              "Building": "Test",
              "County": "Test",
              "Latitude": 0,
              "Locality": "Test",
              "Longitude": 0,
              "Postcode": "test",
              "Street": "Test",
              "Town": "Test"
          }
     }
     Test(data, 'TestComplex');
}

function Test(data, method) {
    $.getJSON(baseURL + 'Services/SubmitVehicle.svc/' + method + '?callback=?', data,
    function (NewBasicAddress) { alert(NewBasicAddress.Postcode); })
}

Data Contract:

<DataContract()>
Public Class BasicAddress
     <DataMember()> Property Building As String 
     <DataMember()> Property Street As String 
     <DataMember()> Property Locality As String 
     <DataMember()> Property Town As String 
     <DataMember()> Property County As String 
     <DataMember()> Property Postcode As String 
     <DataMember()> Property Latitude As Double
     <DataMember()> Property Longitude As Double
End Class

The Request for the TextComplex method

GET /Services/SubmitVehicle.svc/TestComplex?callback=jQuery15107153733184290069_1329385242312&Address%5B__type%5D=BasicAddress%3A%23WPC.FADS.Web&Address%5BBuilding%5D=Test&Address%5BCounty%5D=Test&Address%5BLatitude%5D=0&Address%5BLocality%5D=Test&Address%5BLongitude%5D=0&Address%5BPostcode%5D=test&Address%5BStreet%5D=Test&Address%5BTown%5D=Test&_=1329385253384 HTTP/1.1

The Response for the TextComplex method

jQuery15107153733184290069_1329385242312({"__type":"BasicAddress:#WPC.FADS.Web","Building":"Test","County":"Test","Latitude":0,"Locality":"Test","Longitude":0,"Postcode":"Nothing","Street":"Test","Town":"Test"});

TestSimple works but TestComplex does not, Is what I’m trying to achieve with TextComplex possible?

EDIT

also tried without the __type parameter as suggested by Zach:

var data = {
      Address: {
          "Building": "Test",
          "County": "Test",
          "Latitude": 0,
          "Locality": "Test",
          "Longitude": 0,
          "Postcode": "test",
          "Street": "Test",
          "Town": "Test"
      }
  }

Operation contracts:

   <OperationContract()>
   <WebGet(ResponseFormat:=WebMessageFormat.Json)>
   Function TestSimple(postcode As String) As BasicAddress

   <OperationContract()>
   <WebGet(ResponseFormat:=WebMessageFormat.Json)>
   Function TestComplex(Address As BasicAddress) As BasicAddress

Answer 1

After some research I think the answer is “no”. See REST / SOAP endpoints for a WCF service for more details.

In case anyone else comes across this problem, what I did in the end is for each method I expose I created two operation contracts:

One which could be consumed using “GetJSON” from cross domain client script which included only simple parameters.

One which included complex objects as parameters but could not be consumed from cross domain client script.

The methods implementing the operation contracts both call the same code.