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I have a WCF service installed on my system. I can browse and see the .svc file just fine. Should I be able to use a browser to view the endpoint addresses such as https://svc.example.com/BaseService/Login

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2 Answers 2

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No, you shouldn't. The fact that some frameworks allow you to do so is a nicety that is provided by those frameworks to make debugging your service easier.

There is nothing in the WS specs (AFAIK) which indicates that contract endpoints should be browsable through a web browser from the root.

Given that the WS specifications are not transport-specific (i.e. HTTP), what would you do over another transport, say TCP/IP, where you have no browser support?

This is why it isn't mandatory. It's only because you typically see WS implementations over the HTTP protocol that this is provided by some frameworks for you.

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If your WCF service returns back an HTML page, then yes it should be browsable. But as casperOne says, it's just a nice-to-have. When going to production mode though, you should turn off the WSDL browsable feature to increase security for your service.

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