📚 Loan Management Service

Loan Management Service is a SOAP-based web service built with C# and ASP.NET WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) for managing library loans. This project demonstrates my knowledge of C# and .NET, with a specific focus on building and consuming SOAP services using WCF.

This project is part of my journey in backend development, focusing on service-oriented architecture and SOAP web services.

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🚀 Project Overview

The Loan Management Service is a backend system tailored to handle loan management for libraries. Using SOAP-based web services, it provides a reliable interface for operations such as creating, updating, and retrieving loan records. This project can easily integrate with other library management systems that support SOAP, making it a valuable asset for managing loans in an organized, secure, and scalable way.

Key Features

• SOAP-based Web Service for consistent communication and integration with other systems.
• Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) for modular and scalable design.
• CRUD operations for loan management, enabling users to create, update, retrieve, and delete loan records.

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🛠️ Technologies Used

• C# - Core language for developing the service.
• ASP.NET WCF - Framework used to create SOAP-based services, providing interoperability with various clients.
• MySQL - Database for storing loan and user data with reliable persistence.
• Visual Studio - IDE for code development, debugging, and testing.

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📁 Project Structure

LoanManagementService/
├── LoanManagementService.sln         # Solution file
├── Services/
│   └── LoanService.svc                # Main SOAP service for loan management
├── Web.config                         # Configuration file (database connection, WCF settings)
└── README.md                          # Project documentation

Key Files

• Services/LoanService.svc: The primary SOAP service that exposes operations for loan management.
• Web.config: Contains configuration settings, including database connection details and WCF-specific options for hosting the SOAP service.

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🖥️ Setup & Installation

Follow these steps to set up the Loan Management Service on your local machine.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2019 or later with the .NET development workload installed.
• MySQL database installed and running.

Step 1: Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Yassinekrn/LoanManagementService.git
cd LoanManagementService

Step 2: Set Up the Database

1. Open MySQL Workbench (or preferred client) and create a database named LibraryManagement.
2. Update the Web.config file with your MySQL credentials:

   <connectionStrings>
       <add name="LibraryDbConnection"
            connectionString="Server=localhost;Database=LibraryManagement;Uid=root;Pwd=root;"
            providerName="MySql.Data.MySqlClient" />
   </connectionStrings>

Step 3: Build and Run the Project

1. Open LoanManagementService.sln in Visual Studio.
2. Build the project to restore dependencies.
3. Start debugging (F5) to host the service locally.

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🧩 SOAP Operations

The Loan Management Service exposes several SOAP operations for managing loan records. Each operation can be consumed by a SOAP client and provides structured XML responses that can be easily integrated into other systems. The application has been thoroughly tested using Postman by generating a collection directly from the WSDL file.

Available SOAP Operations

1. IssueLoan - Creates a new loan record.

   public bool IssueLoan(int userId, int bookId)

2. ReturnLoan - Updates the status of an existing loan to mark it as returned.

   public bool ReturnLoan(int loanId)

3. GetLoanDetails - Retrieves full details of a loan based on its ID.

   public Loan GetLoanDetails(int loanId)

4. GetAllActiveLoans - Retrieves all active loan records.

   public List<Loan> GetAllActiveLoans()

Example SOAP Requests and Responses

Example Request for IssueLoan

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <soap:Body>
    <IssueLoan xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">
      <userId>100</userId>
      <bookId>100</bookId>
    </IssueLoan>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Example Response for IssueLoan

<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <s:Body>
        <IssueLoanResponse xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">
            <IssueLoanResult>true</IssueLoanResult>
        </IssueLoanResponse>
    </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

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⚙️ Error Handling

Error handling in this service is currently limited, with basic error responses embedded within the SOAP response body. When an error occurs (e.g., if a loan cannot be created or retrieved), the service returns false. This approach provides simple feedback, and future improvements will include structured SOAP fault handling for a more robust error management approach.

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🎯 Future Improvements

• Enhanced Error Handling: Implement detailed SOAP Fault responses to provide clearer error messages to clients.
• Unit Testing: Develop unit tests for each SOAP operation to ensure reliability and correctness.
• Documentation with WSDL: Provide a well-documented WSDL file to fully describe available operations, making it easier for clients to integrate with the service.

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👤 Author

• Yassine Krichen - Aspiring Software Engineer with a focus on backend development and .NET applications.
• LinkedIn: Yassine Krichen's LinkedIn
• GitHub: Yassine Krichen's GitHub

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🙏 Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Mrs. Tayechi for her guidance and feedback throughout this project.