CommunicationException occurs after one minute (during call to wcf service from windows phone 8 application)

Question

I've implemented the following WCF service:

namespace TeaService
{
    public class TeaService : ITeaService
    {
        public string PrepareTea(string tea)
        {
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(61000);
            return "A nice cup of " + tea + " tea will be ready in a few minutes.";
        }
    }
}

The service uses the default basichttpbinding, and the binding configuration is configured like this:

<bindings>
  <basicHttpBinding>
    <binding openTimeout="00:05:00" receiveTimeout="00:05:00" sendTimeout="00:05:00" closeTimeout="00:05:00"></binding>
  </basicHttpBinding>
</bindings>

That is, all timeout values are set to five minutes.

A Windows Phone 8 client application invokes the service:

namespace TeaClient
{
    public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage
    {
        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            var client = new TeaServiceClient();
            client.PrepareTeaCompleted += Client_PrepareTeaCompleted;
            client.PrepareTeaAsync("Rooibos");
        }

        private void Client_PrepareTeaCompleted(object sender, PrepareTeaCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            tb.Text = e.Result;
        }
    }
}

The "tb" is a textbox defined in the xaml view.

In the ServicesReferences.ClientConfig, the timeout values for the basicHttpBinding are set like so:

<bindings>
    <basicHttpBinding>
        <binding name="BasicHttpBinding_ITeaService" maxBufferSize="2147483647"
            maxReceivedMessageSize="2147483647" openTimeout="00:05:00" receiveTimeout="00:05:00" sendTimeout="00:05:00" closeTimeout="00:05:00">
            <security mode="None" />
        </binding>
    </basicHttpBinding>
</bindings>

The problem: After one minute a CommunicationException is thrown client side.

$exception  {System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException: The remote server returned an error: NotFound. ---> System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: NotFound. ---> System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: NotFound.
   at System.Net.Browser.ClientHttpWebRequest.InternalEndGetResponse(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
   at System.Net.Browser.ClientHttpWebRequest.<>c__DisplayClasse.<EndGetResponse>b__d(Object sendState)
   at System.Net.Browser.AsyncHelper.<>c__DisplayClass1.<BeginOnUI>b__0(Object sendState)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Net.Browser.AsyncHelper.BeginOnUI(SendOrPostCallback beginMethod, Object state)
   at System.Net.Browser.ClientHttpWebRequest.EndGetResponse(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelFactory.HttpRequestChannel.HttpChannelAsyncRequest.CompleteGetResponse(IAsyncResult result)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.ServiceModel.AsyncResult.End[TAsyncResult](IAsyncResult result)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel.EndCall(String action, Object[] outs, IAsyncResult result)
   at System.ServiceModel.ClientBase`1.ChannelBase`1.EndInvoke(String methodName, Object[] args, IAsyncResult result)
   at TeaClient.TeaService.TeaServiceClient.TeaServiceClientChannel.EndPrepareTea(IAsyncResult result)
   at TeaClient.TeaService.TeaServiceClient.TeaClient.TeaService.ITeaService.EndPrepareTea(IAsyncResult result)
   at TeaClient.TeaService.TeaServiceClient.OnEndPrepareTea(IAsyncResult result)
   at System.ServiceModel.ClientBase`1.OnAsyncCallCompleted(IAsyncResult result)}   System.Exception {System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException}

I can't figure out why this is. If I implement the exact same WCF client specific code in a WPF desktop application, no exception will be thrown. I can confirm that the service works fine, and the windows phone application works fine as well as long as I remove the Thread.Sleep(61000). In my "real-world" production scenario (which this simplified example reflects), the client has to be able to wait for longer than one minute without throwing a CommunicationException. Since the example works if I do the same thing from a WPF application, I'm suspecious that the problem relates to a limitation on the Windows Phone platform. But I can't find any information that states that WCF calls can't take any longer than one minute on Windows Phone.

Furthermore I've tried setting the OperationTimeout on the client proxy like so:

client.InnerChannel.OperationTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5.0);

But with no luck. Any suggestions are welcome.

EDIT: The duplicate-question marked by nvoigt is related to the HttpClient. This question is about a WCF client proxy using the BasicHttpBinding. The underlying issue is without doubt the exact same, and therefore we've concluded that it's a platform limitation.

Answer 1

Windows Phone apps don't have an app.config file so none of the timeouts specified will apply. Instead you need to set it on the client instance like this:

var client = new TeaServiceClient();
client.ChannelFactory.Endpoint.Binding.SendTimeout = new TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5);