Set the IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults property to true to instruct WCF to return managed exception information to the client in SOAP faults to ease debugging.

Caution:
Returning managed exception information to clients can be a security risk because exception details expose information about the internal service implementation that could be used by unauthorized clients. In addition, although the ServiceDebugBehavior properties can also be set programmatically, it can be easy to forget to disable IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults when deploying.

Because of the security issues involved, it is strongly recommended that:

• You use an application configuration file to set the value of the IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults property to true.

• You only do so only in controlled debugging scenarios.

For more information, see Specifying and Handling Faults in Contracts and Services.

The following code example shows how to use a configuration file to enable the HTML help page feature and return exception information inside a SOAP fault back to the client for debugging purposes. This configuration file shows the following basic steps to adding support for the ServiceDebugBehavior features:

• Because the ServiceDebugBehavior type is an System.ServiceModel.Description..::.IServiceBehavior implementation, the <service> element that represents the service type has a behavior configuration identifier of behaviorConfiguration="metadataAndDebug".

• Again, because the ServiceDebugBehavior type is an System.ServiceModel.Description..::.IServiceBehavior implementation a <behavior> element is added to a <serviceBehaviors> section. Set the name attribute of the <behavior> element the value of which is the identifier of the behaviorConfiguration attribute of the <service> element. In this case, the value is metadataAndDebug.

• Add a <serviceDebug> element with the various attributes set to the desired configuration. In this case, the httpHelpPageEnabled and includeExceptionDetailInFaults attribute values are set to true.

<configuration>
  <system.serviceModel>
    <services>
      <!-- 
        Step 1. Add a behaviorConfiguration attribute
        in the <service> element.
      -->
      <service 
        name="Microsoft.WCF.Documentation.SampleService"
        behaviorConfiguration="metadataAndDebug">
        <host>
          <baseAddresses>
            <add baseAddress="http://localhost:8080/SampleService" />
          </baseAddresses>
        </host>
        <endpoint
          address=""
          binding="wsHttpBinding"
          contract="Microsoft.WCF.Documentation.ISampleService"
        />
        <endpoint
           address="mex"
           binding="mexHttpBinding"
           contract="IMetadataExchange"
        />
      </service>
    </services>
    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <!-- 
          Step 2. Inside a <serviceBehaviors> section, add 
          a name attribute in the <behaviors> element that 
          matches the behaviorConfiguration attribute in the
          <service> element above.
        -->
        <behavior name="metadataAndDebug">
          <serviceMetadata 
            httpGetEnabled="true" 
            httpGetUrl=""
          />
          <!-- 
            Step 3. Add a <serviceDebug> element and 
            modify the various attributes that suit your 
            scenario.
          -->
          <serviceDebug 
            httpHelpPageEnabled="true" 
            includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"
          />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>
  </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

• Full trust for the immediate caller. This member cannot be used by partially trusted code. For more information, see Using Libraries from Partially Trusted Code.

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003

.NET Framework

Reference