How can I add authorization header to the request in WCF?

Question

I'm working on a Windows Form application and there's a WCF service that needs to be called. I need to add a header (authorization - custom) to the request before it's sent to the service. I have a custom inspector class as well. I tried the following but the service is not called, somehow, and it returns an exception.

public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
{
    MessageHeader header = MessageHeader.CreateHeader("Authorization", "", "Basic Y19udGk6Q29udGlfQjNTVA==");
    OperationContext.Current.OutgoingMessageHeaders.Add(header);
    HttpRequestMessageProperty httpRequestProperty = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
    httpRequestProperty.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic Y19udGk6Q29udGlfQjNTVA==");
    httpRequestProperty.Headers.Add(HttpRequestHeader.UserAgent, "Continental");
            OperationContext.Current.OutgoingMessageProperties[HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name] = httpRequestProperty;
    sentMessages.Add(request.ToString());
    return null;
}

I also tried simplest way like this one:

MessageHeader header = MessageHeader.CreateHeader("Authorization", "", "Basic Y19udGk6Q29udGlfQjNTVA==");
request.Headers.Add(header);

but it's the same, authorization header is added but it does not reach the service, how can I know what header is received by the service? I used SOAP UI and service responds well when I add such a header manually in the request (before running).

Solution 1

The simplest way is to add it on the client side:

using (MyServ.ServiceClient proxy = new MyServ.ServiceClient())
{
     using (new System.ServiceModel.OperationContextScope(proxy.InnerChannel))
     {
         MessageHeader head = MessageHeader.CreateHeader("Authorization", "http://yournamespace.com/v1", data);
         OperationContext.Current.OutgoingMessageHeaders.Add(head);
     }
}

and retrieve it on the server side:

string  auth = OperationContext.Current.IncomingMessageHeaders.
GetHeader<string>("Authorization", "http://mynamespace.com/v1");

I also suggest that you check these articles:

Authorization Header is missing in Http request using WCF

WCF Service with wsHttpBinding - Manipulating HTTP request headers

Solution 2

If there's some problem with your BeforeSend method, this is how I implemented it when adding authentication to some webservice calls.

private const string Authorization = "Authorization";
public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
    {
        object httpRequestMessageObject;
        if (request.Properties.TryGetValue(
            HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name, out httpRequestMessageObject))
        {
            var httpRequestMessage = httpRequestMessageObject as HttpRequestMessageProperty;

            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(httpRequestMessage.Headers[Authorization]))
            {
                httpRequestMessage.Headers[Authorization] = "Basic Y19udGk6Q29udGlfQjNTVA==";
            }
        }
        else
        {
            var httpRequestMessage = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
            httpRequestMessage.Headers.Add(Authorization, "Basic Y19udGk6Q29udGlfQjNTVA==");

            request.Properties.Add(HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name, httpRequestMessage);
        }

        return null;
    }

Solution 3

I know this is late but I ran across this post so decided to fill this in, in case I ever need to remember this again. This worked for me:

1. Create the Message Inspector:

   Public Class AuthenticationHeader
     Implements IClientMessageInspector
   
   Private itsUser As String
   Private itsPass As String
   
   Public Sub New(ByVal user As String, ByVal pass As String)
       itsUser = user
       itsPass = pass
   End Sub
   
   Public Sub AfterReceiveReply(ByRef reply As Message, correlationState As Object) Implements IClientMessageInspector.AfterReceiveReply
       Console.WriteLine("Received the following reply: '{0}'", reply.ToString())
   End Sub
   
   Public Function BeforeSendRequest(ByRef request As Message, channel As IClientChannel) As Object Implements IClientMessageInspector.BeforeSendRequest
       Dim hrmp As HttpRequestMessageProperty = request.Properties("httpRequest")
       Dim encoded As String = System.Convert.ToBase64String(System.Text.Encoding.GetEncoding("ISO-8859-1").GetBytes(itsUser + ":" + itsPass))
       hrmp.Headers.Add("Authorization", "Basic " + encoded)
       Return request
     End Function
   End Class
   

2. Write the Behavior:

   Public Class AuthenticationHeaderBehavior
   Implements IEndpointBehavior
   
   Private ReadOnly itsUser As String
   Private ReadOnly itsPass As String
   
   Public Sub New(ByVal user As String, ByVal pass As String)
       MyBase.New()
       itsUser = user
       itsPass = pass
   End Sub
   
   Public Sub AddBindingParameters(endpoint As ServiceEndpoint, bindingParameters As BindingParameterCollection) Implements IEndpointBehavior.AddBindingParameters
   End Sub
   
   Public Sub ApplyClientBehavior(endpoint As ServiceEndpoint, clientRuntime As ClientRuntime) Implements IEndpointBehavior.ApplyClientBehavior
       clientRuntime.MessageInspectors.Add(New AuthenticationHeader(itsUser, itsPass))
   End Sub
   
   Public Sub ApplyDispatchBehavior(endpoint As ServiceEndpoint, endpointDispatcher As EndpointDispatcher) Implements IEndpointBehavior.ApplyDispatchBehavior
   End Sub
   
   Public Sub Validate(endpoint As ServiceEndpoint) Implements IEndpointBehavior.Validate
   End Sub
   End Class
   

3. Add it to your endpoint:

     Dim binding As New WebHttpBinding(WebHttpSecurityMode.Transport)
     binding.Security.Transport.ClientCredentialType = HttpClientCredentialType.None
   
     ChlFactory = New WebChannelFactory(Of IMyServiceContract)(binding, New Uri(url))
     ChlFactory.Endpoint.Behaviors.Add(New WebHttpBehavior())
     ChlFactory.Endpoint.Behaviors.Add(New AuthenticationHeaderBehavior(user, pass))
     Channel = ChlFactory.CreateChannel()
   

Comments

[JDC]

Dim hrmp As HttpRequestMessageProperty = request.Properties("httpRequest") => A property with the name httpRequest is not present.