Is there a way to discover WCF method signatures without generating the client code

if I had access into a WSDL(WCF based) and assuming that I don't have the source code of that service, isn't there some way to discover methods signatures (with parameters) other than generating the client class using "svcutil.exe"?

just like the asmx days that used to list all methods and w开发者_开发百科hen you click at one of them it displays a page that shows the parameters of the web service.

WSDL (along with XSD) is the ultimate service documentation and can be consumed by code. So you can generate your help page based on the WSDL.

.NET Framework 4 has built-in help page for WCF Web Http Services - it's disabled by default and you need to enable it. I don't believe similar facility exists for SOAP based WCF services.

For ASMX services, there is a built-in page that generates html help based on WSDL. So you can try something similar or by perhaps modifying that page (DefaultWsdlHelpGenerator.aspx) - see this article to know about how asmx service help is generated.

Actually I found what I exactly needed, it was the WCF Test Client that comes with Visual Studio. it's a great way to discover any service methods and parameters