PipeLine Class Properties

The next tree diagram shows the properties of the Pipeline class expanded to show all the properties. Code snippets from the web service described in the next section will clarify some of the properties.

Examining the Properties with an Example

Create a web service project, herein called TPipeLine, remove the default Service1.asmx file and add a new web service file called, TPProps.asmx. Now apply web service extensions 2.0, by right clicking the highlighted project and clicking on WSE2.0 Settings... as shown.

This brings up the WSE2.0 settings dialogue as shown wherein you enable the two checkboxes, if you want to enable the second checkbox, you must have enabled the first. The first checkbox enables the project for WSE and the second will add the web service enhancement soap extensions to the project which is applicable to ASP.Net projects. The other tabs are not configured in the preparation of this tutorial.

The first check box adds reference to the Microsoft.web.services2.dll to the project and an element to the configuration of the web.config file as shown.

<microsoft.web.services2>
  <diagnostics />
</microsoft.web.services2>

The second checkbox adds the following to the configuration of the web.config file.

<webServices>
  <soapExtensionTypes>
    <add
type="Microsoft.Web.Services2.WebServicesExtension,
Microsoft.Web.Services2, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
priority="1" group="0" />
  </soapExtensionTypes>
</webServices>

This procedure will be used in all the examples to follow as the various classes are explored.  In order to call up the Pipeline methods we need to instantiate a new instance of the pipeline using the constructor from among the overload list shown in this table.

Actor Property

In the discussion to follow, we shall use the parameterless constructor for Pipeline. We shall add a WebMethod to the ASMX file after removing the HelloWorld example as shown. In order to reference the WSE2.0, an Imports Microsoft.Web.Services2 statement should be added to the TPProps class file. This property has a value System.Uri, the default value according to WSEREF [Web Services Extensions Reference Documentation] is Microsoft.Web.Services2.Addressing.WSAddressing.AnonymousRole. The following code will return the Pipeline's Actor property.

When you invoke this method in the browser, you will display the following, returned by the method:

<string>
http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/03/addressing/role/anonymous
</string>

InputFilters Property

As described in the basics, there are a number of filters in the pipeline and we should be able to find out what they are by looking at the InputFilters property by coding the following:
Return pline.InputFilters.Item(0).GetType.ToString
When the method is invoked in the browser, you display the following string:

<string>
Microsoft.Web.Services2.Security.SecurityInputFilter
</string>

In the same way, if you want to find how many filters there are, use the following:
Return pline.InputFilters.Count. This will display the following in the browser.

<string>
3
</string>

The following table summarizes the statements and the displayed results by invoking the method.

OutputFilters Property

The OutputFilters property of the Pipeline follows the same pattern as the InputFilters property.  These are summarized in the following table.

IsIntermediary Property

When messages are going from an originating node(Sender) to an ultimate endpoint(Receiver) after passing thorough many 'routers'(soap Processing Nodes) in between, the IsIntermediary property provides a Boolean value of true, if the node is an Intermediary, and false otherwise. This property can also be set for a custom soap message. The following code returns a false as this node is not an intermediary.

Public Function PActor () As String
  Dim pline As New Pipeline
  Try
    Return pline.IsIntermediary
  Catch ex As SystemException
    Return ex.Message
  End Try
End Function