Windows Communication Foundation

Overview

This course provides students with the knowledge and skills to build and configure a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Application. This course is compatible with Microsoft Course Number 6164A

Audience

This course is for C# programmers that wish to publish or consume services using a variety of mechanisms.

Course Length: 3 days

Goals

At course completion, students will be able to:

Build a simple WCF service and WCF client
Create and configure a managed service application and set up a hosting environment
Expose a WCF service over different endpoints
Debug distributed applications
Define contracts meeting the application needs
Handle errors in WCF applications
Address quality of service issues
Implement security in WCF applications
Properly implement Transactions

Outline

INTRODUCTION TO WCF

What is WCF?
WCF Services
Service Orientation
WCF and Web Services
WCF = ABC
Address, Binding, Contract
Hosting Services
Internet Information Services
Internet Services Manager
Virtual Directory
Anonymous Access
Configuring .svc Extension
A Service Contract
A Website for the Service
WCF Service Template
Service Configuration
Configuration Details
Referencing the Class Library
Examining the Service in the Browser
Metadata Publishing Support
Service in the Browser with Metadata
WCF Clients
Creating WCF Clients
WCF Architecture
ServiceHost and ChannelFactory
Service Contexts and Instances

DATA CONTRACTS

Data Contracts
XSD for Data Contract
Arrays
Array in XML Schema
Array in Proxy
Generic Collections
Generic Collection in XML Schema
Generic Collection in Proxy
Enumerations in Data Contracts
Employee Client Program
Saving and Restoring
Serialization in WCF
Serialization in .NET
SOAP Serialization
JSON Serialization
DataContract Serialization
Using XmlSerializer
Restoring Data
Versioning
New and Missing Members
Versioning Demonstration
New Client of Old Service
Round Trip
Required Members
OnDeserializing Event

ADDRESSES AND BINDINGS

Addresses
Transports
Bindings
Message Exchange Patterns (MEPs)
Security
Choosing a Binding
HTTP Bindings
TCP and Named Pipe Bindings
MSMQ Bindings
Working with Endpoints
Importance of BasicHttpBinding
WCF Service Hosting
ServiceHost
Client Program without Proxy Class
Using a Channel Factory
Service Endpoints
Multiple Endpoints
Configuration Files
Simplified Host Code
Configuring Metadata Exchange

SERVICE CONTRACTS

Service Contracts at Class Level
Service Contracts at Interface Level
Benefits of Interface Level Definition
A Service with Multiple Contracts
ServiceContractAttribute
Viewing WSDL Files
Contract Inheritance
Operation Overloading
Enabling Operation Overloading
Operation Overloading Client

INSTANCE MANAGEMENT

Behaviors
WCF Behaviors
Configuring Behaviors
Configuring Behaviors in Code
WCF Instancing Models
Per-Call Instancing
Per-Session Instancing
Sessions and Threading
Singleton Instancing
Which Model to Use?

MORE ABOUT SERVICE CONTRACTS

Versioning Service Contracts
Version 1 Service
Version 2 Service
New Operations
Version 3 Service
Version 1 Client / Version 3 Service
Message Exchange Patterns
Request-Reply
Oneway
Duplex
Callbacks
Invoking a Callback
Callback on the Client
Asynchronous Proxies
Threading Considerations

HANDLING ERRORS

Errors in Distributed Systems
Errors in .NET and WCF
Service Library Code
Client Code
Client Exception Handling
Fault Exceptions
Faults
Exception Details in Faults
Exceptions Dialog
Fault Contracts
Custom Faults
Faulted Channels

Service Oriented Architecture is the latest trend in scalable application development. WCF provides an easy way for developers to create services that can be accessed in several different ways.

WCF supports platform neutral web services, but also, transparently, supports .Net remoting for more efficient .Net to .Net communications as well as several other protocols and transports.