c# - current OperationContext is null in WCF Windows Service

Question

I am trying to set up a Publish/Subscribe system using WCF and where the WCF server is in a Windows service. The binding is net.TCP. The service is providing a "Subscribe" method to the client so the client can register a callback handler to an event that will be raised from a DLL linked to the server. In the Subscribe method I attempt to get the callback channel using the OperationContext.Current.GetCallbackChannel method. When I attempt this the OperationContext.Current property returns NULL.

Can anyone tell me under what circumstances this property would return null?? Have I missed setting something up? I will include the service code and the interface code below. I am using c# in Visual Studio 2012 and targeting framework 4.5.

Service:

namespace WService
{
[ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.PerSession)]
public class WcfPublisherService : IWcfPublisherContract
{
    IOALogic logic = new OAControlExample();
    IWcfSubscriberContract _callback = null;

    public void Subscribe()
    {
        _callback = OperationContext.Current.GetCallbackChannel<IWcfSubscriberContract>();
        logic.BarriersChanged += logic_BarriersChanged;
    }

    public void UnSubscribe()
    {
        logic.BarriersChanged -= logic_BarriersChanged;
    }

    void logic_BarriersChanged(object sender, BarriersChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        _callback.BarriersChanged(e.BarrierLines);
    }
}
}

Interface:

namespace WService
{
[ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Required, CallbackContract = typeof(IWcfSubscriberContract))]
public interface IWcfPublisherContract
{
    [OperationContract(IsOneWay=false, IsInitiating=true)]
    void Subscribe();
    [OperationContract(IsOneWay = false, IsTerminating=true)]
    void UnSubscribe();
}

public interface IWcfSubscriberContract
{
    [OperationContract(IsOneWay = true)]
    void BarriersChanged(BarrierLines barrierLines);
}
}

Client:

namespace TestClient
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    WcfPublisherService myService
        = new WcfPublisherService();

    ServiceCallback serviceCallback = new ServiceCallback();

    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        serviceCallback.NewMessage += serviceCallback_NewMessage;
    }

    private delegate void serviceCallback_NewMessageDelegate(object sender, NewMessageEventArgs e);
    void serviceCallback_NewMessage(object sender, NewMessageEventArgs e)
    {
        if (textBox1.InvokeRequired)
        {
            textBox1.Invoke(new serviceCallback_NewMessageDelegate(serviceCallback_NewMessage), new object[] {sender, e});
        }
        else
        {
            if (textBox1.Text.Trim().Length > 1)
            {
                textBox1.Text += Environment.NewLine;
            }
            textBox1.Text += e.Msg;
        }
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        myService.Subscribe();
    }

    private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        myService.UnSubscribe();
    }
}

[CallbackBehaviorAttribute(UseSynchronizationContext = false)]
class ServiceCallback : IWcfSubscriberContract
{
    public delegate void NewMessageEventHandler(object sender, NewMessageEventArgs e);
    public event NewMessageEventHandler NewMessage;
    protected virtual void OnNewMessage(string msg)
    {
        if (NewMessage != null)
        {
            NewMessage(this, new NewMessageEventArgs(msg));
        }
    }

    public void BarriersChanged(OA.BarrierLines barrierLines)
    {
        OnNewMessage("new barrier lines");
    }
}

public class NewMessageEventArgs : EventArgs
{
    public NewMessageEventArgs(string msg)
    {
        this.Msg = msg;
    }
    public string Msg { get; set; }
}
}

********* New Edit *************** Thanks to SalientBrain's suggestions, I have made considerable changes to my project because I realized the service had to be long running and continually running even if no clients are connected so I changed it to a singleton. Even so, my original problem still persists. SalientBrain has asked to see my config file so I will include it below along with all the other pertinent files. I've stripped it out to conserve space, but I don't think I removed anything important. The error occurs in Subscribe method of the PulisherService class. I hope it is something stupid I did in the config file. Well, here it is:

Config:

    <configuration>
    <startup> 
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" />
    </startup>
    <system.serviceModel>
        <behaviors>
            <serviceBehaviors>
                <behavior name="WService.WCFPublisherServiceBehavior">
                    <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="false" httpsGetEnabled="false" />
                    <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
                </behavior>
            </serviceBehaviors>
        </behaviors>
        <services>
            <service behaviorConfiguration="WService.WCFPublisherServiceBehavior"
                name="WService.WcfPublisherService">
                <endpoint address="" binding="netTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration=""
                    name="NetTcpBindingEndpoint" contract="WService.IWcfPublisherContract">
                    <identity>
                        <dns value="localhost" />
                    </identity>
                </endpoint>
                <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexTcpBinding" bindingConfiguration=""
                    name="MexTcpBindingEndpoint" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
                <host>
                    <baseAddresses>
                        <add baseAddress="net.tcp://localhost:8523/Publisher" />
                    </baseAddresses>
                </host>
            </service>
        </services>
    </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

WcfContracts:

    namespace WService
{
    [ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Allowed, CallbackContract = typeof(IWcfSubscriberContract))]
    public interface IWcfPublisherContract
    {
        [OperationContract(IsOneWay=false)]
        void Subscribe(string key);
        [OperationContract(IsOneWay = false)]
        void UnSubscribe(string key);
    }

    public interface IWcfSubscriberContract
    {
        [OperationContract(IsOneWay = true)]
        void BarriersChanged(BarrierLines barrierLines);
    }
}

WcfService:

    namespace WService
{
    [ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.Single, ConcurrencyMode = ConcurrencyMode.Multiple)]
    public class WcfPublisherService : IWcfPublisherContract
    {
        private static WcfPublisherService _instance = null;
        private IOALogic _logic = null;
        private Dictionary<string, IWcfSubscriberContract> _callbacks
            = new Dictionary<string, IWcfSubscriberContract>();
        private ReaderWriterLock _callbacksLock = new ReaderWriterLock();

        private WcfPublisherService() { }

        public static WcfPublisherService TheInstance()
        {
            if (_instance == null)
            {
                _instance = new WcfPublisherService();
            }
            return _instance;
        }

        public void StopWcf()
        {
            _logic.StopRequest();
        }

        public void StartWcf(IOALogic logic)
        {
            _logic = logic;
            _logic.BarriersChanged += logic_BarriersChanged;
            ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(StartWork), null);
        }

        public void StartWork(object state)
        {
            _logic.Run();
        }

        public void Subscribe(string key)
        {
            OperationContext context = OperationContext.Current;
            // The above line returns null ***********************************************
            _callbacksLock.AcquireWriterLock(2000);
            if (_callbacksLock.IsWriterLockHeld)
            {
                _callbacks.Add(key, context.GetCallbackChannel<IWcfSubscriberContract>());
                // The above line throws a null execption because context is null  ********
                _callbacksLock.ReleaseWriterLock();
            }
        }

        public void UnSubscribe(string key)
        {
            _callbacksLock.AcquireWriterLock(2000);
            if (_callbacksLock.IsWriterLockHeld)
            {
                _callbacks.Remove(key);
                _callbacksLock.ReleaseWriterLock();
            }
        }

        void logic_BarriersChanged(object sender, BarriersChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            _callbacksLock.AcquireReaderLock(1000);
            if (_callbacksLock.IsReaderLockHeld)
            {
                try
                {
                    foreach (IWcfSubscriberContract callback in _callbacks.Values)
                    {
                        callback.BarriersChanged(e.BarrierLines);
                    }
                }
                finally
                {
                    _callbacksLock.ReleaseReaderLock();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

WindowsService:

    namespace WService
{
    public partial class WService : ServiceBase
    {
        internal static ServiceHost _serviceHost = null;
        internal static IOALogic _logic = new OAControlExample();

        public WService()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            if (_serviceHost != null)
            {
                _serviceHost.Close();
            }

            _serviceHost = new ServiceHost(WcfPublisherService.TheInstance());
            WcfPublisherService.TheInstance().StartWcf(_logic);
            _serviceHost.Open();
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            if (WcfPublisherService.TheInstance() != null)
            {
                WcfPublisherService.TheInstance().StopWcf();
            }
            if (_serviceHost != null)
            {
                _serviceHost.Close();
                _serviceHost = null;
            }
        }
    }
}

TestForm:

    namespace TestClient
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        ServiceCallback serviceCallback = new ServiceCallback();

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            serviceCallback.NewMessage += serviceCallback_NewMessage;
        }

        private delegate void serviceCallback_NewMessageDelegate(object sender, NewMessageEventArgs e);
        void serviceCallback_NewMessage(object sender, NewMessageEventArgs e)
        {
            if (textBox1.InvokeRequired)
            {
                textBox1.Invoke(new serviceCallback_NewMessageDelegate(serviceCallback_NewMessage), new object[] {sender, e});
            }
            else
            {
                if (textBox1.Text.Trim().Length > 1)
                {
                    textBox1.Text += Environment.NewLine;
                }
                textBox1.Text += e.Msg;
            }
        }

        private void bu

Answer 1

As discussed in the comments, if you directly create an instance of the service type - as opposed to a WCF proxy/clientchannel - and then you call a method on it, there is no OperationContext. WCF provides an OperationContext instance when your operation is running within a service.