WCF named pipe minimal example

Check out my highly simplified Echo example: It is designed to use basic HTTP communication, but it can easily be modified to use named pipes by editing the app.config files for the client and server. Make the following changes:

Edit the server's app.config file, removing or commenting out the http baseAddress entry and adding a new baseAddress entry for the named pipe (called net.pipe). Also, if you don't intend on using HTTP for a communication protocol, make sure the serviceMetadata and serviceDebug is either commented out or deleted:

<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <services>
            <service name="com.aschneider.examples.wcf.services.EchoService">
                <host>
                    <baseAddresses>
                        <add baseAddress="net.pipe://localhost/EchoService"/>
                    </baseAddresses>
                </host>
            </service>
        </services>
        <behaviors>
            <serviceBehaviors></serviceBehaviors>
        </behaviors>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

Edit the client's app.config file so that the basicHttpBinding is either commented out or deleted and a netNamedPipeBinding entry is added. You will also need to change the endpoint entry to use the pipe:

<configuration>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <bindings>
            <netNamedPipeBinding>
                <binding name="NetNamedPipeBinding_IEchoService"/>
            </netNamedPipeBinding>
        </bindings>
        <client>
            <endpoint address              = "net.pipe://localhost/EchoService"
                      binding              = "netNamedPipeBinding"
                      bindingConfiguration = "NetNamedPipeBinding_IEchoService"
                      contract             = "EchoServiceReference.IEchoService"
                      name                 = "NetNamedPipeBinding_IEchoService"/>
        </client>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

The above example will only run with named pipes, but nothing is stopping you from using multiple protocols to run your service. AFAIK, you should be able to have a server run a service using both named pipes and HTTP (as well as other protocols).

Also, the binding in the client's app.config file is highly simplified. There are many different parameters you can adjust, aside from just specifying the baseAddress...

I created this simple example from different search results on the internet.

public static ServiceHost CreateServiceHost(Type serviceInterface, Type implementation)
{
  //Create base address
  string baseAddress = "net.pipe://localhost/MyService";

  ServiceHost serviceHost = new ServiceHost(implementation, new Uri(baseAddress));

  //Net named pipe
  NetNamedPipeBinding binding = new NetNamedPipeBinding { MaxReceivedMessageSize = 2147483647 };
  serviceHost.AddServiceEndpoint(serviceInterface, binding, baseAddress);

  //MEX - Meta data exchange
  ServiceMetadataBehavior behavior = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
  serviceHost.Description.Behaviors.Add(behavior);
  serviceHost.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMetadataExchange), MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexNamedPipeBinding(), baseAddress + "/mex/");

  return serviceHost;
}

Using the above URI I can add a reference in my client to the web service.

Try this.

Here is the service part.

[ServiceContract]
public interface IService
{
    [OperationContract]
    void  HelloWorld();
}

public class Service : IService
{
    public void HelloWorld()
    {
        //Hello World
    }
}

Here is the Proxy

public class ServiceProxy : ClientBase<IService>
{
    public ServiceProxy()
        : base(new ServiceEndpoint(ContractDescription.GetContract(typeof(IService)),
            new NetNamedPipeBinding(), new EndpointAddress("net.pipe://localhost/MyAppNameThatNobodyElseWillUse/helloservice")))
    {

    }
    public void InvokeHelloWorld()
    {
        Channel.HelloWorld();
    }
}

And here is the service hosting part.

var serviceHost = new ServiceHost
        (typeof(Service), new Uri[] { new Uri("net.pipe://localhost/MyAppNameThatNobodyElseWillUse") });
    serviceHost.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IService), new NetNamedPipeBinding(), "helloservice");
    serviceHost.Open();

    Console.WriteLine("Service started. Available in following endpoints");
    foreach (var serviceEndpoint in serviceHost.Description.Endpoints)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(serviceEndpoint.ListenUri.AbsoluteUri);
    }

I just found this excellent little tutorial. broken link (Cached version)

I also followed Microsoft's tutorial which is nice, but I only needed pipes as well.

As you can see, you don't need configuration files and all that messy stuff.

By the way, he uses both HTTP and pipes. Just remove all code lines related to HTTP, and you'll get a pure pipe example.