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How to: Add, Update, or Remove a WCF Data Service Reference

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Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

A service reference enables a project to access one or more WCF Data Services. Use the Add Service Reference dialog box to search for WCF Data Services in the current solution, locally, on a local area network, or on the Internet.

Note

Your computer might show different names or locations for some of the Visual Studio user interface elements in the following instructions. The Visual Studio edition that you have and the settings that you use determine these elements. For more information, see Personalizing the IDE.

Adding a Service Reference

To add a reference to an external service

  1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the name of the project that you want to add the service to, and then click Add Service Reference.

    The Add Service Reference dialog box appears.

  2. In the Address box, enter the URL for the service, and then click Go to search for the service. If the service implements user name and password security, you may be prompted for a user name and password.

    Note

    You should only reference services from a trusted source. Adding references from an untrusted source may compromise security.

    You can also select the URL from the Address list, which stores the previous 15 URLs at which valid service metadata was found.

    A progress bar is displayed when the search is being performed. You can stop the search at any time by clicking Stop.

  3. In the Services list, expand the node for the service that you want to use and select an entity set.

  4. In the Namespace box, enter the namespace that you want to use for the reference.

  5. Click OK to add the reference to the project.

    A service client (proxy) is generated, and metadata that describes the service is added to the app.config file.

To add a reference to a service in the current solution

  1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the name of the project that you want to add the service to, and then click Add Service Reference.

    The Add Service Reference dialog box appears.

  2. Click Discover.

    All services (both WCF Data Services and WCF services) in the current solution are added to the Services list.

  3. In the Services list, expand the node for the service that you want to use and select an entity set.

  4. In the Namespace box, enter the namespace that you want to use for the reference.

  5. Click OK to add the reference to the project.

    A service client (proxy) is generated, and metadata that describes the service is added to the app.config file.

Updating a Service Reference

The Entity Data Model for a WCF Data Services will sometimes change. When this happens, the service reference must be updated.

To update a service reference

  • In Solution Explorer, right-click the service reference and then click Update Service Reference.

    A progress dialog box is displayed while the reference is updated from its original location, and the service client is regenerated to reflect any changes in the metadata.

Removing a Service Reference

If a service reference is no longer being used, you can remove it from your solution.

To remove a service reference

  • In Solution Explorer, right-click the service reference and then click Delete.

    The service client will be removed from the solution, and the metadata that describes the service will be removed from the app.config file.

    Note

    Any code that references the service reference will have to be removed manually.

See Also

Windows Communication Foundation Services and WCF Data Services in Visual Studio