WCF Service default values

.net, c#, visual-studio-2008, wcf

Solution

The only possible (but ugly and therefore not really satisfying) solution I found this far is using the `OnDeserializing` attribute to set the default values at the start of the deserialization an use the setter of a field to determine if the communicated value should realy be set.

   [DataContract(Name = "MyClassDTO")]
    public class MyClass
    {
        private string name;

        public MyClass()
        {
            Init();
        }

        [DataMember]
        public string Name
        {
            get{ return name; }
            set
            {
                if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
                {
                    name = value;
                }
            }
        }

        private void Init()
        {
            name = "Default Name";
        }

        [System.Runtime.Serialization.OnDeserializing]
        private void OnDeserializing(StreamingContext ctx)
        {
            Init();
        }
  }

Problem

I have following data contract class for my WCF Service: ``` [DataContract(Name = "MyClassDTO")] public class MyClass { private string name = "Default Name"; [DataMember] public string Name { get { return name; } set { name = value; } } } ``` When I use Visual Studio's Add Service Reference function to generate a WCF Service Reference the generated DataContract looks something like this: ``` [System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()] [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.Runtime.Serialization", "3.0.0.0")] [System.Runtime.Serialization.DataContractAttribute(Name = "MyClassDTO", Namespace = "xxx")] [System.SerializableAttribute()] public partial class MyClassDTO : object, System.Runtime.Serialization.IExtensibleDataObject, System.ComponentModel.INotifyPropertyChanged { [System.Runtime.Serialization.OptionalFieldAttribute()] private string NameField; [System.Runtime.Serialization.DataMemberAttribute()] public string Name { get { return this.NameField; } set { if ((object.ReferenceEquals(this.NameField, value) != true)) { this.NameField = value; this.RaisePropertyChanged("Name"); } } } } ``` That means, the default value "Default Name" gets lost and following behavior occurs: ``` MyClassDTO mcdto = new MyClassDTO(); serviceClient.DoSomething(mcdto); [OperationContract] void DoSomething(MyClass mc){ mc.Name //<-- == null but I want it to be "Default Name" } ``` Is there a way configure the data contract that way, that the defined default value "Default Name" doesn't get lost? additional information: I use a service reference without reuse of types in referenced assemblys, e.g. on the client side the class MyClassDTO is generated an is not aware of the server side class MyClass

Original source