Road Map For WCF

Table of Contents
Introduction to WCF ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Advantage ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Disadvantage .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Development Tools ................................................................................................................................................ 8
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 ......................................................................................................................... 8
Difference between WCF and Web service .......................................................................................................... 10
WCF Fundamental................................................................................................................................................. 11
EndPoint ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
Address ......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Binding .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Contract ........................................................................................................................................................ 12
Binding and Behavior ............................................................................................................................................ 13
Binding .......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Contracts and Service Host ................................................................................................................................... 15
Contracts ........................................................................................................................................................... 15
Service Contract ............................................................................................................................................ 15
Data Contract ................................................................................................................................................ 15
Message Contract ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Fault Contract ............................................................................................................................................... 15
Service Host .......................................................................................................................................................... 16
Message and Channel ........................................................................................................................................... 16
Message ........................................................................................................................................................ 16
WCF Runtime ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Channels:....................................................................................................................................................... 16
WCF Client and Metadata ..................................................................................................................................... 17
WCF Client ..................................................................................................................................................... 17
Metadata....................................................................................................................................................... 17
WCF Architecture .................................................................................................................................................. 18
Contracts ....................................................................................................................................................... 19
Service contracts ........................................................................................................................................... 19
Data contract ................................................................................................................................................ 19
Message Contract ......................................................................................................................................... 19
Policies and Binding ...................................................................................................................................... 19
Service Runtime ............................................................................................................................................ 19

Messaging ..................................................................................................................................................... 20
Activation and Hosting .................................................................................................................................. 20
WCF Hosting .......................................................................................................................................................... 20
IIS 5/6 Hosting ....................................................................................................................................................... 21
Self Hosting ........................................................................................................................................................... 27
Windows Activation Service ................................................................................................................................. 34
Enable WCF for non-http protocols .............................................................................................................. 34
Create WAS hosted service ........................................................................................................................... 34
Enable different binding to the hosted service ............................................................................................ 37
Windows Service Hosting ..................................................................................................................................... 39
Binding .................................................................................................................................................................. 46
Bindings and Channel Stacks ................................................................................................................................ 47
Types of Binding .................................................................................................................................................... 48
BasicHttpBinding ........................................................................................................................................... 48
WSHttpBinding.............................................................................................................................................. 48
WSDualHttpBinding ...................................................................................................................................... 48
WSFederationHttpBinding ............................................................................................................................ 48
NetTcpBinding ............................................................................................................................................... 48
NetNamedPipeBinding.................................................................................................................................. 49
NetMsmqBinding .......................................................................................................................................... 49
NetPeerTcpBinding ....................................................................................................................................... 49
Binding configuration............................................................................................................................................ 49
Administrative (Configuration file): .............................................................................................................. 49
Programming Model: .................................................................................................................................... 50
Metadata Exchange .............................................................................................................................................. 50
Exporting Service Metadata.......................................................................................................................... 51
Publishing Service Metadata ........................................................................................................................ 51
Retrieving Service Metadata......................................................................................................................... 51
HTTP_GET Enabled Metadata ............................................................................................................................... 51
Progarmming Model: .................................................................................................................................... 52
Metadata Exchange Endpoint ............................................................................................................................... 52
Programming Model: .................................................................................................................................... 53
Contracts ............................................................................................................................................................... 54
Service Contract .................................................................................................................................................... 54

Data Contract ........................................................................................................................................................ 56
Client side...................................................................................................................................................... 58
Message Contract ................................................................................................................................................. 58
Message ........................................................................................................................................................ 58
Message Pattern ........................................................................................................................................... 58
What is Message contract? ........................................................................................................................... 58
Defining Message Contract ........................................................................................................................... 59
Rules : ............................................................................................................................................................ 59
MessageHeaderArray Attribute ............................................................................................................................ 60
Message Contract Properties ............................................................................................................................... 61
ProtectionLevel ............................................................................................................................................. 61
Name and Namespace: ................................................................................................................................. 61
Order ............................................................................................................................................................. 62
Fault Contract ....................................................................................................................................................... 62
Instance Management .......................................................................................................................................... 66
Configuration: ............................................................................................................................................... 66
Per-Call Service ..................................................................................................................................................... 67
Per-Session Service ............................................................................................................................................... 69
Singleton Service ................................................................................................................................................... 71
Instance Deactivation ........................................................................................................................................... 73
ReleaseInstanceMode.None ......................................................................................................................... 73
ReleaseInstanceMode.BeforeCall ................................................................................................................. 74
ReleaseInstanceMode.AfterCall ................................................................................................................... 74
ReleaseInstanceMode.BeforeAndAfterCall .................................................................................................. 74
Explicit Deactivate ......................................................................................................................................... 75
Durable Service ..................................................................................................................................................... 75
Working: ........................................................................................................................................................ 75
Defining the Durable Service ........................................................................................................................ 75
How to Create Durable Service ............................................................................................................................. 76
Throttling .............................................................................................................................................................. 86
Administrative(configuration file)................................................................................................................. 86
Programming Model ..................................................................................................................................... 87
Operations ............................................................................................................................................................ 87
Request-Reply ....................................................................................................................................................... 88
One-Way ............................................................................................................................................................... 88
Definition : .................................................................................................................................................... 89
One-Way Operations and Sessionful Services .............................................................................................. 89
One-Way Operations and Exceptions ........................................................................................................... 90
Callback Service..................................................................................................................................................... 90
Defining and configuring a callback contract ............................................................................................... 91
Client Callback Setup..................................................................................................................................... 91
Service-Side Callback Invocation .................................................................................................................. 92
How to Create Callback Service in WCF ................................................................................................................ 92
Events .................................................................................................................................................................... 99
Definition ...................................................................................................................................................... 99
Transfer mode ..................................................................................................................................................... 105
Buffer transfer............................................................................................................................................. 106
Stream transfer ........................................................................................................................................... 106
StreamRequest............................................................................................................................................ 106
StreamRespone ........................................................................................................................................... 106
Configuration .............................................................................................................................................. 106
Differences between Buffered and Streamed Transfers ............................................................................ 107
Streaming ............................................................................................................................................................ 107
Supported Bindings ..................................................................................................................................... 107
Restrictions ................................................................................................................................................. 107
I/O Streams ................................................................................................................................................. 107
Streaming and Binding ................................................................................................................................ 108
Streaming and Transport ............................................................................................................................ 108
Transaction.......................................................................................................................................................... 109
Recovery Challenge ..................................................................................................................................... 109
Solution ....................................................................................................................................................... 109
Transaction Resources ................................................................................................................................ 110
Transaction Properties ................................................................................................................................ 110
Two-phase committed protocol ......................................................................................................................... 110
Transaction Propagation ..................................................................................................................................... 112
Transaction Protocols ......................................................................................................................................... 113
Transaction Mode ............................................................................................................................................... 114
How to Create WCF Transaction ......................................................................................................................... 115
What is WCF RIA service? ................................................................................................................................... 119
Domain Service ................................................................................................................................................... 120
Problem solved in RIA ......................................................................................................................................... 121
Querying/Updating data in RIA Service .............................................................................................................. 122

How to Create WCF RIA Service .......................................................................................................................... 123
Introduction to RESTful service........................................................................................................................... 130
How to create RESTful service ............................................................................................................................ 131
JSON using WCF service ...................................................................................................................................... 137
WCF Security ....................................................................................................................................................... 140
Types of Authentication ...................................................................................................................................... 140
Transfer Security Mode ...................................................................................................................................... 141
Transport Security Protection Level ................................................................................................................... 143
Message Security Level ....................................................................................................................................... 144
WCF Service Impersonation ................................................................................................................................ 144
WCF Windows Authentication ............................................................................................................................ 145
What's new in WCF 4.5 ....................................................................................................................................... 147
What's new in WCF 4.5 - Part 1 .......................................................................................................................... 149
WCF Configuration Validation .................................................................................................................... 149
Task-based Async Support .......................................................................................................................... 149
Simplified Generated Configuration Files ................................................................................................... 151
Contract-First Development ....................................................................................................................... 152
Default - ASP.NET Compatibility Mode ....................................................................................................... 153
Configuration tooltips ................................................................................................................................. 154
XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas ...................................................................................................................... 154
Streaming Improvements ........................................................................................................................... 154
Generating a Single WSDL Document ......................................................................................................... 155
WebSocket Support .................................................................................................................................... 156
Simple to expose HTTPS with IIS ................................................................................................................. 156
Configuring WCF Services in Code .............................................................................................................. 157
Compress the Binary Encoder message ...................................................................................................... 158
ChannelFactory Caching.............................................................................................................................. 158
Support for UDP Endpoint .......................................................................................................................... 159
Multiple Authentication Support ................................................................................................................ 159

Internationalized Domain Names support ................................................................................................. 160
Introduction to WCF
Windows Communication Foundation (Code named Indigo) is a programming platform and runtime system for building,
configuring and deploying network-distributed services. It is the latest service oriented technology; Interoperability is the
fundamental characteristics of WCF. It is unified programming model provided in .Net Framework 3.0. WCF is a combined
features of Web Service, Remoting, MSMQ and COM+. WCF provides a common platform for all .NET communication.
Below figures shows the different technology combined to form WCF.
Advantage
1. WCF is interoperable with other services when compared to .Net Remoting,where the client and service
have to be .Net.
2. WCF services provide better reliability and security in compared to ASMX web services.
3. In WCF, there is no need to make much change in code for implementing the security model and
changing the binding. Small changes in the configuration will make your requirements.
4. WCF has integrated logging mechanism, changing the configuration file settings will provide this
functionality. In other technology developer has to write the code.
Disadvantage
Making right design for your requirement is little bit difficult. I will try to help you on solving these difficulties in the
following article.
Development Tools
WCF application can be developed by the Microsoft Visual Studio. Visual studio is available at different edition. You can
use Visual Studio 2008 Expression edition for the development.
http://www.microsoft.com/express/product/default.aspx
Visual Studio 2008 SDK 1.1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=59ec6ec3-4273-48a3-ba25-dc925a45584d...
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

Microsoft Visual studio 2008 provides new features for WCF compared to Visual Studio 2005. These are the new features
added to VS 2008.
1. Multi-targeting
You can create application in different framework like Framework 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5
2. Default template is available for WCF
3. WCF - Test Client tools for testing the WCF service.

Microsoft provides inbuilt application to test the WCF application. This can be done by opening the Visual Studio
command prompt and type the wcfClient Serviceurl shows below. This will help the developer to test the service
before creating the client application.
4.
WCF services can be debugged now in Visual Studio 2008. Wcfsvchost.exe will do it for you because service will
be self hosted when you start debugging.
Difference between WCF and Web service

Web service is a part of WCF. WCF offers much more flexibility and portability to develop a service when comparing to
web service. Still we are having more advantages over Web service, following table provides detailed difference between
them.
Features
Hosting
Programming
Model
Operation
XML
Encoding
Web Service
It can be hosted in IIS
WCF
It can be hosted in IIS, windows activation service, Selfhosting, Windows service
[WebService] attribute has to be added to the
[ServiceContraact] attribute has to be added to the
class
class
[WebMethod] attribute represents the method
[OperationContract] attribute represents the method
exposed to client
exposed to client
One-way, Request- Response are the different
One-Way, Request-Response, Duplex are different type
operations supported in web service
of operations supported in WCF
System.Xml.serialization name space is used for
System.Runtime.Serialization namespace is used for
serialization
serialization
XML 1.0, MTOM(Message Transmission
XML 1.0, MTOM, Binary, Custom
Optimization Mechanism), DIME, Custom

Transports
Can be accessed through HTTP, TCP, Custom
Protocols
Security
Can be accessed through HTTP, TCP, Named pipes,

MSMQ,P2P, Custom
Security, Reliable messaging, Transactions
WCF Fundamental
In this part of tutorial you are going to learn about some fundamental concepts in WCF. These concepts and terms will be
used throughout this tutorial.
End Point
Bindings and Behavior
Contracts and Service host
Message and Channel
WCF client and Metadata
EndPoint
WCF Service is a program that exposes a collection of Endpoints. Each Endpoint is a portal for communicating with the
world.
All the WCF communications are take place through end point. End point consists of three components.
Address
Basically URL, specifies where this WCF service is hosted .Client will use this url to connect to the service. e.g
http://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator.svc
Binding
Binding will describes how client will communicate with service. There are different protocols available for the WCF to
communicate to the Client. You can mention the protocol type based on your requirements.
A binding has several characteristics, including the following:
Transport -Defines the base protocol to be used like HTTP, Named Pipes, TCP, and MSMQ are some
type of protocols.
Encoding (Optional) - Three types of encoding are available-Text, Binary, or Message Transmission
Optimization Mechanism (MTOM). MTOM is an interoperable message format that allows the effective
transmission of attachments or large messages (greater than 64K).
Protocol(Optional) - Defines information to be used in the binding such as Security, transaction or
reliable messaging capability
The following table gives some list of protocols supported by WCF binding.
Binding
Description
BasicHttpBinding
Basic Web service communication. No security by default
WSHttpBinding
Web services with WS-* support. Supports transactions
WSDualHttpBinding
Web services with duplex contract and transaction support
WSFederationHttpBinding Web services with federated security. Supports transactions

MsmqIntegrationBinding Communication directly with MSMQ applications. Supports transactions
NetMsmqBinding
NetNamedPipeBinding
NetPeerTcpBinding
NetTcpBinding
Communication between WCF applications by using queuing. Supports transactions

Communication between WCF applications on same computer. Supports duplex contracts and
transactions
Communication between computers across peer-to-peer services. Supports duplex contracts
Communication between WCF applications across computers. Supports duplex contracts and
transactions
Contract
Collection of operation that specifies what the endpoint will communicate with outside world. Usually name of the
Interface will be mentioned in the Contract, so the client application will be aware of the operations which are exposed to
the client. Each operation is a simple exchange pattern such as one-way, duplex and request/reply.
Below figure illustrate the functions of Endpoint
Example:
Endpoints will be mentioned in the web.config file on the created service.
<system.serviceModel>
<services>
<service name="MathService"
behaviorConfiguration="MathServiceBehavior">
<endpoint
address="http://localhost:8090/MyService/MathService.svc"
contract="IMathService"
binding="wsHttpBinding"/>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="MathServiceBehavior">
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="True"/>
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
</system.serviceModel>
Binding and Behavior

Binding
Simple definition for Binding describes how the client will communicate with service. We can understand with an example.
Consider a scenario say, I am creating a service that has to be used by two type of client. One of the client will access
SOAP using http and other client will access Binary using TCP. How it can be done? With Web service it is very difficult to
achieve, but in WCF its just we need to add extra endpoint in the configuration file.
<services>
<endpoint address="http://localhost:8090/MyService/MathService.svc"
<endpoint address="net.tcp://localhost:8080/MyService/MathService.svc"
binding="netTcpBinding"/>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
See how simple it is in WCF. Microsoft is making everything simple.cording to its scope: common behaviors affect all
endpoints globally, service behaviors affect only service-related aspects, endpoint behaviors affect only endpoint-related
properties, and operation-level behaviors affect particular operations.
Example:
In the below configuration information, I have mentioned the Behavior at Service level. In the service behavior I have
mention the servieMetadata node with attribute httGetEnabled='true'. This attribute will specifies the publication of the
service metadata. Similarly we can add more behavior to the service.
<services>
<endpoint address="" contract="IMathService"
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
Note:
Application can be controlled either through coding, configuring or through combination of both. Specification mention in
the configuration can also be overwritten in code.
Contracts and Service Host

Contracts
In WCF, all services are exposed as contracts. Contract is a platform-neutral and standard way of describing what the
service does. Mainly there are four types of contracts available in WCF
Service Contract
Service contracts describe the operation that service can provide. For Eg, a Service provide to know the temperature of the
city based on the zip code, this service is called as Service contract. It will be created using Service and Operational
Contract attribute.
To know more on Service contract see Service contract tutorial.
Data Contract
Data contract describes the custom data type which is exposed to the client. This defines the data types, that are passed to
and from service. Data types like int, string are identified by the client because it is already mention in XML schema
definition language document, but custom created class or data types cannot be identified by the client e.g. Employee
data type. By using DataContract we can make client to be aware of Employee data type that are returning or passing
parameter to the method.
To know more on DataContract see DataContract tutorial.
Message Contract
Default SOAP message format is provided by the WCF runtime for communication between Client and service. If it is not
meeting your requirements then we can create our own message format. This can be achieved by using Message Contract
attribute.
To know more on Message Contract see Message contract tutorial.
Fault Contract
Suppose the service I consumed is not working in the client application. I want to know the real cause of the problem.
How I can know the error? For this we are having Fault Contract. Fault Contract provides documented view for error
occurred in the service to client. This helps us to easy identity, what error has occurred.
To know more on Fault Contract see Fault Contract tutorial.
Service Host
Service Host object is in the process of hosting the WCF service and registering endpoints. It loads the service
configuration endpoints, apply the settings and start the listeners to handle the incoming
request. System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostnamespace hold this object. This object is created while self hosting the WCF
service.
In the below example you can find that WCF service is self hosted using console application.
//Creating uri for the hosting the service
Uri uri = new Uri("http://localhost/CategoryService");
//Creating the host object for MathService
ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(CategoryService), uri);
//Adding endpoint to the Host object
host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(ICategoryService),new WSHttpBinding(), uri);
host.Open(); //Hosting the Service
Console.WriteLine("Waiting for client invocations");
Console.ReadLine();
host.Close();
Message and Channel

Message
WCF Message is the unit of data exchange between client and service. It consists of several parts, including a body and
headers.
WCF Runtime
WCF runtime is the set of object responsible for sending and receiving message. For example formatting the message,
applying security and transmitting and receiving message using various protocol.
Channels:
Channels are the core abstraction for sending message to and receiving message from an Endpoint. Broadly we can
categories channels as
Transport Channels
- Handles sending and receiving message from network. Protocols like HTTP, TCP name pipes and MSMQ.
Protocol Channels
- Implements SOAP based protocol by processing and possibly modifying message. e.g. WS-Security and WS-Reliability.
WCF Client and Metadata

WCF Client
WCF client is a client application creates to expose the service operations as method. Any application can host a WCF
client, including an application that host a service. Therefore it is possible to create a service that includes WCF clients of
other services.
A client application is a managed application that uses a WCF client to communicate with another application. To create a
client application for a WCF service requires the following steps:
1. Get the Proxy class and service end point information

Using SvcUtil.exe we can create proxy class for the service and configuration information for endpoints. Example
type the following sentence in the Visual studio command prompt, this will generate the class file and
configuration file which contain information about the endpoints.
svcutil /language:vb /out:ClientCode.vb
/config:app.config http://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator.svc?wsdl
2. Call operations.
Add this class files in the client application. Then create the object for this class and invoke the service operation.
Configuration information we got from the above step has to be added to the client application configuration file.
When the client application calls the first operation, WCF automatically opens the underlying channel. This
underlying channel is closed, when the object is recycled.
//Creating the proxy on client side
MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyServiceProxy proxy
= new MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyServiceProxy();
Console.WriteLine("Counter: " + proxy.MyMethod());
3. Close the WCF client object.

After using the object created in the above steps, we have to dispose the object. Channel will be closed with the
service, when the object is cleared.
Metadata
Characteristics of the service are described by the metadata. This metadata can be exposed to the client to understand the
communication with service. Metadata can be set in the service by enabling the ServiceMetadata node inside the
servcieBehaviour node of the service configuration file.
<services>
<endpoint address="" contract="IMathService"
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
This metadata can be viewed while creating WCF client application using SvcUtil.exe
WCF Architecture
The following figure illustrates the major components of WCF.
Figure 1: WCF Architecture
Contracts
Contracts layer are next to that of Application layer. Developer will directly use this contract to develop the service. We are
also going to do the same now. Let us see briefly what these contracts will do for us and we will also know that WCF is
working on message system.
Service contracts
- Describe about the operation that service can provide. Example, Service provided to know the temperature of the city
based on the zip code, this service we call as Service contract. It will be created using Service and Operational Contract
attribute.
Data contract
- It describes the custom data type which is exposed to the client. This defines the data types, are passed to and from
service. Data types like int, string are identified by the client because it is already mention in XML schema definition
language document, but custom created class or datatype cannot be identified by the client e.g. Employee data type. By
using DataContract we can make client aware that we are using Employee data type for returning or passing parameter to
the method.
Message Contract
- Default SOAP message format is provided by the WCF runtime for communication between Client and service. If it is not
meeting your requirements then we can create our own message format. This can be achieved by using Message Contract
attribute.
Policies and Binding

- Specify conditions required to communicate with a service e.g security requirement to communicate with service,
protocol and encoding used for binding.
Service Runtime
- It contains the behaviors that occur during runtime of service.
Throttling Behavior- Controls how many messages are processed.

Error Behavior - Specifies what occurs, when internal error occurs on the service.
Metadata Behavior - Tells how and whether metadata is available to outside world.
Instance Behavior - Specifies how many instance of the service has to be created while running.
Transaction Behavior - Enables the rollback of transacted operations if a failure occurs.
Dispatch Behavior - Controls how a message is processed by the WCF Infrastructure.
Messaging
- Messaging layer is composed of channels. A channel is a component that processes a message in some way, for
example, by authenticating a message. A set of channels is also known as a channel stack. Channels are the core
abstraction for sending message to and receiving message from an Endpoint. Broadly we can categories channels as
Transport Channels
Handles sending and receiving message from network. Protocols like HTTP, TCP, name pipes and MSMQ.
Protocol Channels
Implements SOAP based protocol by processing and possibly modifying message. E.g. WS-Security and WSReliability.
Activation and Hosting

- Services can be hosted or executed, so that it will be available to everyone accessing from the client. WCF service can be
hosted by following mechanism
IIS
Internet information Service provides number of advantages if a Service uses Http as protocol. It does not require
Host code to activate the service, it automatically activates service code.
Windows Activation Service

(WAS) is the new process activation mechanism that ships with IIS 7.0. In addition to HTTP based communication,
WCF can also use WAS to provide message-based activation over other protocols, such as TCP and named pipes.
Self-Hosting
WCF service can be self hosted as console application, Win Forms or WPF application with graphical UI.
Windows Service
WCF can also be hosted as a Windows Service, so that it is under control of the Service Control Manager (SCM).
WCF Hosting
In this part of the tutorial we are going to see the four different way of hosting the WCF service. WCF service cannot exist
on its own; it has to be hosted in windows process called as host process. Single host process can host multiple servers
and same service type can be hosted in multiple host process. As we discussed there are mainly four different way of
hosting the WCF service.
1. IIS hosting
2. Self hosting
3. Windows Activation Service
4. Windows Service
Multiple hosting and protocols supported by WCF.Microsoft has introduced the WCF concept in order to make distributed
application development and deployment simple.
Hosting Environment
Supported protocol
Windows console and form application
HTTP,net.tcp,net.pipe,net.msmq
Windows service application (formerly known as NT services)
Web server IIS6
http, wshttp
Web server IIS7 - Windows Process Activation Service (WAS)
A summary of hosting options and supported features.
Feature
Self-Hosting
IIS Hosting
WAS Hosting
Executable Process/ App Domain
Yes
Yes
Yes
Configuration
App.config
Web.config
Web.config
Activation
Manual at startup
Message-based
Message-based
Idle-Time Management
No
Yes
Yes
Health Monitoring
No
Yes
Yes
Process Recycling
No
Yes
Yes
Management Tools
No
Yes
Yes
IIS 5/6 Hosting

The main advantage of hosting service in IIS is that, it will automatically launch the host process when it gets the first client
request. It uses the features of IIS such as process recycling, idle shutdown, process health monitoring and message based
activation. The main disadvantage of using IIS is that, it will support only HTTP protocol.
Let as do some hands on, to create service and host in IIS
Step 1:Start the Visual Studio 2008 and click File->New->Web Site. Select the 'WCF Service' and Location as http. This will
directly host the service in IIS and click OK.
Step 2: I have created sample HelloWorld service, which will accept name as input and return with 'Hello' and name.
Interface and implementation of the Service is shown below.
IMyService.cs
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMyService
{
[OperationContract]
string HelloWorld(string name);
}
MyService.cs
public class MyService : IMyService
{
#region IMyService Members
public string HelloWorld(string name)
{
return "Hello " + name;
}
#endregion
}
Step 3: Service file (.svc) contains name of the service and code behind file name. This file is used to know about the
service.
MyService.svc
<%@ ServiceHost Language="C#" Debug="true"
Service="MyService" CodeBehind="~/App_Code/MyService.cs" %>
Step 4: Server side configurations are mentioned in the config file. Here I have mention only one end point which is
configured to 'wsHttpBinding', we can also have multiple end point with differnet binding. Since we are going to hosted in
IIS. We have to use only http binding. We will come to know more on endpoints and its configuration in later
tutorial.Web.Config
<services>
<service behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehavior" name="MyService">
<endpoint address="http://localhost/IISHostedService/MyService.svc"
binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="IMyService">
<identity>
<dns value="localhost"/>
</identity>
</endpoint>
<endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="ServiceBehavior">

<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true"/>

<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
Note:
You need to mention the service file name, along with the Address mention in the config file. IIS Screen shot
This screen will appear when we run the application.
Step 5: Now we successfully hosted the service in IIS. Next we have to consume this service in client application. Before
creating the client application, we need to create the proxy for the service. This proxy is used by the client application, to
interact with service. To create the proxy, run the Visual Studio 2008 command prompt. Using service utility we can create
the proxy class and its configuration information.
svcutil
http://localhost/IISHostedService/MyService.svc
After executing this command we will find two file generated in the default location.
MyService.cs - Proxy class for the WCF service
output.config - Configuration information about the service.
Step 6: Now we will start creating the Console application using Visual Studio 2008(Client application).
Step 7: Add the reference 'System.ServiceModel'; this is the core dll for WCF.
Step 8: Create the object for the proxy class and call the HelloWorld method.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Creating Proxy for the MyService
MyServiceClient client = new MyServiceClient();
Console.WriteLine("Client calling the service...");
Console.WriteLine(client.HelloWorld("Ram"));
Console.Read();
}
Step 9: If we run the application we will find the output as shown below.
I hope you have enjoyed the Service hosted in IIS. Now let start the look on the self hosted service.
Self Hosting
In web service, we can host the service only in IIS, but WCF provides the user to host the service in any application (e.g.
console application, Windows form etc.). Very interestingly developer is responsible for providing and managing the life
cycle of the host process. Service can also be in-pro i.e. client and service in the same process. Now let's us create the WCF
service which is hosted in Console application. We will also look in to creating proxy using 'ClientBase' abstract class.
Note: Host process must be running before the client calls the service, which typically means you have to prelaunch it.
Step 1: First let's start create the Service contract and it implementation. Create a console application and name it as
MyCalculatorService. This is simple service which return addition of two numbers.
Step 2: Add the System.ServiceModel reference to the project.
Step 3: Create an ISimpleCalculator interface, Add ServiceContract and OperationContract attribute to the class and
function as shown below. You will know more information about these contracts in later session. These contracts will
expose method to outside world for using this service.
IMyCalculatorService.cs
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel;
namespace MyCalculatorService
{
[ServiceContract()]
public interface ISimpleCalculator
{
[OperationContract()]
int Add(int num1, int num2);
}
}
Step 4: MyCalculatorService is the implementation class for IMyCalculatorService interface as shown below.
MyCalculatorService.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace MyCalculatorService
{
class SimpleCalculator : ISimpleCalculator
{
public int Add(int num1, int num2)
{
return num1 + num2;
}
}
}
Step 5: Now we are ready with service. Let's go for implementing the hosting process. Create a new console application
and name it as 'MyCalculatorServiceHost'
Step 6: ServiceHost is the core class use to host the WCF service. It will accept implemented contract class and base
address as contractor parameter. You can register multiple base addresses separated by commas, but address should not
use same transport schema.
Uri httpUrl
= new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator");
Uri tcpUrl
= new Uri("net.tcp://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator");
ServiceHost host
= new ServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl, tcpUrl);
Multiple end points can be added to the Service using AddServiceEndpoint() method. Host.Open() will run the service, so
that it can be used by any client.
Step 7: Below code show the implementation of the host process.
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceModel.Description;
namespace MyCalculatorServiceHost
{
class Program
{
{
//Create a URI to serve as the base address
Uri httpUrl = new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator");
//Create ServiceHost
ServiceHost host
= new ServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
//Add a service endpoint
host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(MyCalculatorService.ISimpleCalculator)
, new WSHttpBinding(), "");
//Enable metadata exchange
ServiceMetadataBehavior smb = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
smb.HttpGetEnabled = true;
host.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);
//Start the Service
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Service is host at " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Host is running... Press <Enter> key to stop");
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
Step 8: Service is hosted, now we need to implement the proxy class for the client. There are different ways of creating the
proxy
Using SvcUtil.exe, we can create the proxy class and configuration file with end points.
Adding Service reference to the client application.
Implementing ClientBase<T> class
Of these three methods, Implementing ClientBase<T> is the best practice. If you are using rest two method, we need to
create proxy class every time when we make changes in Service implementation. But this is not the case for ClientBase<T>.
It will create the proxy only at runtime and so it will take care of everything.
MyCalculatorServiceProxy.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using MyCalculatorService;
namespace MyCalculatorServiceProxy
{
public class MyCalculatorServiceProxy :
//WCF create proxy for ISimpleCalculator using ClientBase
ClientBase<ISimpleCalculator>,
ISimpleCalculator
{
{
//Call base to do funtion
return base.Channel.Add(num1, num2);
}
}
}
Step 9: In the client side, we can create the instance for the proxy class and call the method as shown below. Add proxy
assembly as reference to the project.
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace MyCalculatorServiceClient
{
class Program
{
{
MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyCalculatorServiceProxy proxy ;
proxy= new MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyCalculatorServiceProxy();
Console.WriteLine("Client is running at " + DateTime.Now.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Sum of two numbers... 5+5 ="+proxy.Add(5,5));
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
Step 10 : End point (same as service) information should be added to the configuration file of the client application.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<client>
<endpoint address ="http://localhost:8090/MyService/SimpleCalculator"
binding ="wsHttpBinding"
contract ="MyCalculatorService.ISimpleCalculator">
</endpoint>
</client>
</configuration>
Step 11: Before running the client application, you need to run the service. Output of the client application is shown
below.
This self host shows advantage such as in-Pro hosting, programmatic access and it can be used when there need singleton
service. I hope you have enjoyed the Self hosting session, now let go for hosting using Windows Activation service.
Windows Activation Service

Windows Activation service is a system service available with Windows vista and windows server 2008. It is available with
IIS 7.0 and it is more powerful compared to IIS 6.0 because it supports Http, TCP and named pipes were IIS 6.0 supports
only Http. It can be installed and configured separately.
Hosting WCF in Activation service takes many advantages such as process recycling, isolation, idle time management and
common configuration system. WAS hosted service can be created using following steps
1. Enable WCF for non-http protocols

2. Create WAS hosted service
3. Enable different binding to the hosted service
Enable WCF for non-http protocols

Before Start creating the service we need to configure the system to support WAS. Following are the step to configure
WAS.
1. Click Start -> Control Panel -> programs and Features and click 'Turn Windows Components On or Off'
in left pane.
2. Expand 'Microsoft .Net Framework 3.0' and enable "Windows Communication Foundation HTTP
Activation" and "Windows Communication Foundation Non- HTTP Activation".
3. Next we need to add Binding to the Default Web site. As an example, we will bind the default web site
to the TCP protocol. Go to the Start menu -> Programs ->Accessories. Right click on the "Command
Prompt" item, and select "Run as administrator" from the context menu.
4. Execute the following command
5. C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv> appcmd.exe set site "Default Web Site" -+bindings.[protocol='net.tcp',
bindingInformation='808:*']
That command adds the net.tcp site binding to the default web site by modifying the applicationHost.config file located
in the "C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config" directory. Similarly we can add different protocols to the Default Web site.
Create WAS hosted service

Step 1: Next we are going to create the service, Open the Visual Studio 2008 and click New->WebSite and select WCF
Service from the template and Location as HTTP as shown below.
Step 2: Create the Contract by creating interface IMathService and add ServiceContract attribute to the interface and add
OperationContract attribute to the method declaration.
IMathService.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Text;
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMathService
{
[OperationContract]
[OperationContract]
int Subtract(int num1, int num2);
}
Step 3: Implementation of the IMathService interface is shown below.

MathService.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
public class MathService : IMathService
{
{
return num1 + num2;
}
public int Subtract(int num1, int num2)
{
return num1 - num2;
}
}
Step 4: Service file is shown below.
MathService.svc
<%@ ServiceHost Language="C#" Debug="true" Service="MathService"
CodeBehind="~/App_Code/MathService.cs" %>
Step 5: In web.Config file, create end point with 'netTcpBinding' binding and service metadata will be published using
Metadata Exchange point. So create the Metada Exchange end point with address as 'mex' and binding as
'mexTcpBinding'. Without publishing the service Metadata we cannot create the proxy using net.tcp address (e.g
svcutil.exe net.tcp://localhost/WASHostedService/MathService.svc )
Web.Config
<services>
<service name="MathService" behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehavior">

<endpoint binding="netTcpBinding"
contract="IMathService" >
</endpoint>
<endpoint address="mex"
binding="mexTcpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>


<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false"/>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors></behaviors>
Enable different binding to the hosted service

1. Go to the Start menu -> Programs ->Accessories. Right click on the "Command Prompt" item, and
select "Run as administrator" from the context menu.
2. Execute the following command C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv>appcmd set app "Default Web
Site/WASHostedServcie" /enabledProtocols:http,net.tcp
Output will be shown below.
Step 6: Now the service is ready to use. Next we can create the proxy class using service uttility and add the proxy class to
the client application. Creat the proxy class using Visual Studio Command prompt and execute the command
svcutil.exe net.tcp://localhost/WASHostedService/MathService.svc
Proxy and configuration file are generated in the corresponding location.
Step 6: Create the client application as shown below and add the reference 'System.ServiceModel', this is the core dll for
WCF.
Step 8: Add the proxy class and configuration file to the client application. Create the object for the MathServiceClient and
call the method.
Program.cs
class Program
{
{
MathServiceClient client = new MathServiceClient();
Console.WriteLine("Sum of two number 5,6");
Console.WriteLine(client.Add(5,6));
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
The output will be shown as below.
So this tutorial clearly explains about the hosting the WCF in Windows Activation Service. So next we can see how to host
the service using Windows Service
Windows Service Hosting

In this tutorial we are going to see the hosting WCF service in Windows service. We will use same set of code used for
hosting the WCF service in Console application to this. This is same as hosting the service in IIS without message activated.
There is some advantage of hosting service in Windows service.
The service will be hosted, when system starts

Process life time of the service can be controlled by Service Control Manager for windows service
All versions of Windows will support hosting WCF service.
Step 1: Now let start create the WCF service, Open the Visual Studio 2008 and click New->Project and select Class Library
from the template.
Step 2: Add reference System.ServiceModel to the project. This is the core assembly used for creating the WCF service.
Step 3: Next we can create the ISimpleCalulator interface as shown below. Add the Service and Operation Contract
attribute as shown below.
ISimpleCalculator.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace WindowsServiceHostedContract
{
[ServiceContract]
{
[OperationContract]
[OperationContract]
int Subtract(int num1, int num2);
[OperationContract]
int Multiply(int num1,int num2);
[OperationContract]
double Divide(int num1, int num2);
}
}
Step 4: Implement the ISimpleCalculator interface as shown below.
SimpleCalulator.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace WindowsServiceHostedService
{
class SimpleCalculator
: ISimpleCalculator
{
{
return num1+num2;
}
public int Subtract(int num1, int num2)
{
return num1-num2;
}
public int Multiply(int num1, int num2)
{
return num1*num2;
}
public double Divide(int num1, int num2)
{
if (num2 != 0)
return num1 / num2;
else
return 0;
}
}
}
Step 5: Build the Project and get the dll. Now we are ready with WCF service, now we are going to see how to host the
WCF Service in Windows service. Note: In this project, I have mention that we are creating both Contract and
Service(implementation) are in same project. It is always good practice if you have both in different project.
Step 6: Open Visual Studio 2008 and Click New->Project and select Windows Service.
Step 7: Add the 'WindowsServiceHostedService.dll' as reference to the project. This assembly will going to act as service.
Step 8: OnStart method of the service, we can write the hosting code for WCF. We have to make sure that we are using
only one service host object. On stop method you need to close the Service Host. Following code show how to host WCF
service in Windows service.
WCFHostedWindowsService.cs
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.Text;
namespace WCFHostedWindowsService
{
partial class WCFHostedWindowsService : ServiceBase
{
ServiceHost m_Host;
public WCFHostedWindowsService()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
if (m_Host != null)
{
m_Host.Close();
}
m_Host = new ServiceHost
(typeof(WindowsServiceHostedService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
m_Host.AddServiceEndpoint
(typeof(WindowsServiceHostedService.ISimpleCalculator), new WSHttpBinding(),
"");
m_Host.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);
//Start the Service
m_Host.Open();
}
protected override void OnStop()
{
if (m_Host != null)
{
m_Host.Close();
m_Host = null;
}
}
static void Main()
{
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
{
new WCFHostedWindowsService()
};
ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}
}
}
Step 9: In order to install the service we need to have the Installer class for the Windows service. So add new Installer class
to the project, which is inherited from the Installer class. Please find the below code for mentioning the Service name,
StartUp type etc of the service.
ServiceInstaller.cs
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.Configuration.Install;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Configuration;
namespace WCFHostedWindowsService
{
[RunInstaller(true)]
public class WinServiceInstaller : Installer
{
private ServiceProcessInstaller process;
private ServiceInstaller service;
public WinServiceInstaller()
{
process = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
process.Account = ServiceAccount.NetworkService;
service = new ServiceInstaller();
service.ServiceName = "WCFHostedWindowsService";
service.DisplayName = "WCFHostedWindowsService";
service.Description = "WCF Service Hosted";
service.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
Installers.Add(process);
Installers.Add(service);
}
}
}
Step 10: Build the project, we will get the WCFHostedWindowsService.exe. Next we need to install the service using Visual
Studio Command Prompt. So open the command prompt by clicking Start->All Programs-> Microsoft Visual Studio 2008> Visual Studio Tools-> Visual Studio Command Prompt Using installutil utility application, you can install the service as
shown below.
Step 11: Now service is Hosted sucessfully and we can create the proxy class for the service and start using in the client
applcaiton.
Binding
Binding will describes how client will communicate with service. There are different protocols available for the WCF to
communicate to the Client. You can mention the protocol type based on your requirements.
Binding has several characteristics, including the following:
Transport
Defines the base protocol to be used like HTTP, Named Pipes, TCP, and MSMQ are some type of protocols.
Encoding (Optional)
Three types of encoding are available-Text, Binary, or Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM).
MTOM is an interoperable message format that allows the effective transmission of attachments or large
messages (greater than 64K).
Protocol(Optional)
Defines information to be used in the binding such as Security, transaction or reliable messaging capability
Bindings and Channel Stacks

In WCF all the communication details are handled by channel, it is a stack of channel components that all messages pass
through during runtime processing. The bottom-most component is the transport channel. This implements the given
transport protocol and reads incoming messages off the wire. The transport channel uses a message encoder to read the
incoming bytes into a logical Message object for further processing.
Figure 1: Bindings and Channel Stacks (draw new diagram)

After that, the message bubbles up through the rest of the channel stack, giving each protocol channel an opportunity to
do its processing, until it eventually reaches the top and WCF dispatches the final message to your service
implementation. Messages undergo significant transformation along the way.
It is very difficult for the developer to work directly with channel stack architecture. Because you have to be very careful
while ordering the channel stack components, and whether or not they are compatible with one other.
So WCF provides easy way of achieving this using end point. In end point we will specify address, binding and contract. To
know more about end point. Windows Communication Foundation follows the instructions outlined by the binding
description to create each channel stack. The binding binds your service implementation to the wire through the channel
stack in the middle.
Types of Binding
Let us see more detailed on predefined binding
BasicHttpBinding
It is suitable for communicating with ASP.NET Web services (ASMX)-based services that comfort with
WS-Basic Profile conformant Web services.
This binding uses HTTP as the transport and text/XML as the default message encoding.
Security is disabled by default
This binding does not support WS-* functionalities like WS- Addressing, WS-Security, WSReliableMessaging
It is fairly weak on interoperability.
WSHttpBinding
Defines a secure, reliable, interoperable binding suitable for non-duplex service contracts.
It offers lot more functionality in the area of interoperability.
It supports WS-* functionality and distributed transactions with reliable and secure sessions using SOAP
security.
It uses HTTP and HTTPS transport for communication.
Reliable sessions are disabled by default.
WSDualHttpBinding
This binding is same as that of WSHttpBinding, except it supports duplex service. Duplex service is a service which uses
duplex message pattern, which allows service to communicate with client via callback.
In WSDualHttpBinding reliable sessions are enabled by default. It also supports communication via SOAP intermediaries.
WSFederationHttpBinding
This binding support federated security. It helps implementing federation which is the ability to flow and share identities
across multiple enterprises or trust domains for authentication and authorization. It supports WS-Federation protocol.
NetTcpBinding
This binding provides secure and reliable binding environment for .Net to .Net cross machine communication. By default it
creates communication stack using WS-ReliableMessaging protocol for reliability, TCP for message delivery and windows
security for message and authentication at run time. It uses TCP protocol and provides support for security, transaction
and reliability.
NetNamedPipeBinding
This binding provides secure and reliable binding environment for on-machine cross process communication. It uses
NamedPipe protocol and provides full support for SOAP security, transaction and reliability. By default it creates
communication stack with WS-ReliableMessaging for reliability, transport security for transfer security, named pipes for
message delivery and binary encoding.
NetMsmqBinding
This binding provides secure and reliable queued communication for cross-machine environment.
Queuing is provided by using MSMQ as transport.
It enables for disconnected operations, failure isolation and load leveling
NetPeerTcpBinding
This binding provides secure binding for peer-to-peer environment and network applications.
It uses TCP protocol for communication
It provides full support for SOAP security, transaction and reliability.
Binding configuration
Binding can be configured either through configuration file or Programming. Let us see the binding representation in each
method.
Administrative (Configuration file):

In the configuration file of the hosting application, you can add the <bindings> element inside the
<system.serviceModel> element and add the properties to particular binding type. Properties corresponding to the
particular binding type can be mentioned below. Name of the binding properties that you are going to use has to be
mention in the end point.
<services>
<service
name="MyService">
binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingName="wshttpbind" contract="IMyService">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
</services>
<bindings>
<wsHttpBinding>
<binding name="wshttpbind"
allowCookies="true" closeTimeout="00:01:00"
receiveTimeout="00:01:00" />
</wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>
Programming Model:
In the following code, I have created the WSHttpBinding object and assign the properties which to be configured. This
binding object is added to the Service endpoint for client communication. Similarly you can also create any type of
binding and add to endpoint.
ServiceHost host =
new ServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
//Create Binding to add to end point
WSHttpBinding wshttpbind = new WSHttpBinding();
wshttpbind.AllowCookies = true;
wshttpbind.CloseTimeout = new TimeSpan(0, 1, 0);
wshttpbind.ReceiveTimeout
= new TimeSpan(0, 1, 0);

host.AddServiceEndpoint
(typeof(MyCalculatorService.ISimpleCalculator), wshttpbind, "");
//Start the Service
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Host is running... Press
key to stop");
Console.ReadLine();
Note: It is always good if you configure the binding properties using configuration file, because while moving to the
production you no need to change in the code and recompile it. It is always good practice to represent in the
configuration file.
Metadata Exchange
WCF provides rich infrastructure for Exporting, Publishing, retrieving and Importing the metadata. WCF uses the Metadata
to describe how to interact with the service endpoint. Using the metadata, client will create the proxy class for the service
usingSvcUtil.exe
Exporting Service Metadata

It is the process of describing the service endpoint so that client can understand how to use the service.
Publishing Service Metadata

It is the process publishing metadata. It involves converting CLR type and binding information into WSDL or some other
low level representation.
Retrieving Service Metadata

It is the process of retrieving the metadata. It uses WS-MetadataExcahge or HTTP protocol for retrieving the metadata.
Importing Service Metadata - It is the process of generating the abstract representation of the service using metadata.
Now we are going to focus mainly on publishing metadata. There are two way to publish metadata, either we can use
HTTP-GET or through message exchange endpoint. By default service metadata is turn-off due to security reason. WCF
metadata infrastructure resides in System.ServiceModel.Description namespace. Service metadata can be used for following
purpose
Automatically generating the client for consuming service

Implementing the service description
Updating the binding for a client
Now let us understand the publishing the metadata using HTTP-GET method.
HTTP_GET Enabled Metadata

We will use ServiceBehaviour to publish the metadata using HTTP-GET. This can be configures either administratively or
Programmatically. Http and Https can expose by appending "?wsdl" to the end of the service address. For example service
address is http://localhost:9090/MyCalulatorService , HTTP-Get metadata address is given
byhttp://localhost:9090/MyCalulatorService?wsdl.

In the below mention configuration information, you can find the behavior section in the ServiceBehavior. You can expose
the metadata using ServiceMetadata node with httpGetEnable='True'.
<services>
<service behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehavior" name="MyService">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<!-Setting httpGetEnabled you can publish the metadata -->
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
Progarmming Model:
Using ServiceMetadataBehavior you can enable the metadata exchange. In the following code, I have created the
ServiceMetadataBehavior object and assigned HttpGetEnabled property to true. Then you have to add the behavior to
host description as shown. This set of code will publish the metadata using HTTP-GET.
ServiceHost host = new
ServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
(typeof(MyCalculatorService.ISimpleCalculator), new WSHttpBinding(), "");
//Enable metadata exchange using HTTP-GET
//Start the Service
host.Open();
key to stop");
Console.ReadLine();
Metadata Exchange Endpoint

Exposing the metadata using HTTP-GET has a disadvantage, such that there is no guarantee that other platforms you
interact will support it. There is other way of exposing the using special endpoint is called as Metadata Exchange Endpoint.
You can have as many metadata exchange endpoints as you want.
Address
It is basically Uri to identify the metadata. You can specify as address in the endpoint but append with "mex" keyword. For
example "http://localhost:9090/MyCalulatorService/mex"
Binding
There are four types of bindings supported for metadata exchange. They are mexHttpBinding, mexHttpsBinding,
mexNamedPipesBinding, mexTcpBinding.
Contract
IMetadataExchange is the contract used for MEX endpoint. WCF service host automatically provides the implementation
for this IMetadataExcahnge while hosting the service.
You can create the Metadata Exchange Endpoint either Administrative (configuration file) or programmatically.

In the configuration file of the hosting application, you can add metadata exchange endpoint as shown below.
<services>
<service name="MyService">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
</services>
Programming Model:
In the following code I have mention about creating the Metadata Exchange Endpoint through coding. Steps to create the
metadata endpoint are
Create the ServiceMetadataBehavior object and add to Service host description.

Create the metadata binding object using MetadataExchangeBinding

Binding mexBinding = MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexHttpBinding ();
3. Add the endpoint to the service host with address, binding and contract.
host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMetadataExchange), mexBinding, "mex");
Complete code for hosting the service with metadata exchange endpoint is shown below.
ServiceHost host = new
ServiceHost(typeof(MyCalculatorService.SimpleCalculator), httpUrl);
(typeof(MyCalculatorService.ISimpleCalculator), new WSHttpBinding(), "");
Binding mexBinding = MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexHttpBinding ();
//Adding metadata exchange endpoint
host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(IMetadataExchange), mexBinding, "mex");
//Start the Service
host.Open();
key to stop");
Console.ReadLine();
Contracts
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF, formerly known as Indigo) is built upon the foundation of web services
messaging and related standards, while at the same time makes it possible to serialize messages in a more compact binary
format, or in a more proprietary way. Still, the core message can always be represented in XML, therefore be considered
compatible with any platform that understands XML, and agrees on the contract that defines said messaging between
systems.
The contract is a platform-neutral and standard way of describing what the service does. WCF defines four types of
contracts:
Service Contract
Data Contract
Message Contract
Fault Contract
Service Contract
Service contract describes the operation that service provide. A Service can have more than one service contract but it
should have at least one Service contract.
Service Contract can be define using [ServiceContract] and [OperationContract] attribute. [ServiceContract] attribute is
similar to the [WebServcie] attribute in the WebService and [OpeartionContract] is similar to the [WebMethod] in
WebService.
It describes the client-callable operations (functions) exposed by the service

It maps the interface and methods of your service to a platform-independent description
It describes message exchange patterns that the service can have with another party. Some service
operations might be one-way; others might require a request-reply pattern
It is analogous to the element in WSDL
To create a service contract you define an interface with related methods representative of a collection of service
operations, and then decorate the interface with the ServiceContract Attribute to indicate it is a service contract. Methods
in the interface that should be included in the service contract are decorated with the OperationContract Attribute.
[ServiceContract()]
{
}
Once we define Service contract in the interface, we can create implement class for this interface.
public
{
{
return num1 + num2;
}
}
With out creating the interface, we can also directly created the service by placing Contract in the implemented class. But
it is not good practice of creating the service
[ServiceContract()]
public class SimpleCalculator
{
{
return num1 + num2;
}
}
Now you have some fundamental idea on Service contract. Next we will look into Data Contract.
Data Contract
A data contract is a formal agreement between a service and a client that abstractly describes the data to be exchanged.
Data contract can be explicit or implicit. Simple type such as int, string etc has an implicit data contract. User defined
object are explicit or Complex type, for which you have to define a Data contract using [DataContract] and [DataMember]
attribute.
A data contract can be defined as follows:
It describes the external format of data passed to and from service operations
It defines the structure and types of data exchanged in service messages
It maps a CLR type to an XML Schema
t defines how data types are serialized and deserialized. Through serialization, you convert an object
into a sequence of bytes that can be transmitted over a network. Through deserialization, you
reassemble an object from a sequence of bytes that you receive from a calling application.
It is a versioning system that allows you to manage changes to structured data
We need to include System.Runtime.Serialization reference to the project. This assembly holds

the DataContract andDataMember attribute.
Create user defined data type called Employee. This data type should be identified for serialization and deserialization by
mentioning with [DataContract] and [DataMember] attribute.
[ServiceContract]
public interface IEmployeeService
{
[OperationContract]
Employee GetEmployeeDetails(int EmpId);
}
[DataContract]
public class Employee
{
private string m_Name;
private int m_Age;
private int m_Salary;
private string m_Designation;
private string m_Manager;
[DataMember]
public string Name
{
get { return m_Name; }
set { m_Name = value; }
}
[DataMember]
public int Age
{
get { return m_Age; }
set { m_Age = value; }
}
[DataMember]
public int Salary
{
get { return m_Salary; }
set { m_Salary = value; }
}
[DataMember]
public string Designation
{
get { return m_Designation; }
set { m_Designation = value; }
}
[DataMember]
public string Manager
{
get { return m_Manager; }
set { m_Manager = value; }
}
}
Implementation of the service class is shown below. In GetEmployee method we have created the Employee instance and
return to the client. Since we have created the data contract for the Employee class, client will aware of this instance
whenever he creates proxy for the service.
public class EmployeeService : IEmployeeService
{
public Employee GetEmployeeDetails(int empId)
{
Employee empDetail = new Employee();
//Do something to get employee details and assign to 'empDetail' properties
return empDetail;
}
}
Client side
On client side we can create the proxy for the service and make use of it. The client side code is shown below.
protected void btnGetDetails_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
EmployeeServiceClient objEmployeeClient = new EmployeeServiceClient();
Employee empDetails;
empDetails = objEmployeeClient.GetEmployeeDetails(empId);
//Do something on employee details
}
Message Contract
Message
Message is the packet of data which contains important information. WCF uses these messages to transfer information
from Source to destination.
WCF uses SOAP(Simple Object Access Protocol) Message format for communication. SOAP message contain Envelope,
Header and Body.SOAP envelope contails name, namespace,header and body element. SOAP Hear contain important
information which are not directly related to message. SOAP body contains information which is used by the target.
Diagram Soap envelope
Message Pattern
It describes how the programs will exchange message each other. There are three way of communication between source
and destination
1. Simplex - It is one way communication. Source will send message to target, but target will not respond
to the message.
2. Request/Replay - It is two way communications, when source send message to the target, it will resend
response message to the source. But at a time only one can send a message
3. Duplex - It is two way communication, both source and target can send and receive message
simultaniouly.
What is Message contract?

As I said earlier, WCF uses SOAP message for communication. Most of the time developer will concentrate more on
developing the DataContract, Serializing the data, etc. WCF will automatically take care of message. On Some critical issue,
developer will also require control over the SOAP message format. In that case WCF provides Message Contract to
customize the message as per requirement.
WCF supports either RPC(Remote Procedure Call) or Message style operation model. In the RPC model, you can develop
operation with Ref and out parameter. WCF will automatically create the message for operation at run time. In Message
style operation WCF allows to customize the message header and define the security for header and body of the message.
Defining Message Contract

Message contract can be applied to type using MessageContract attribute. Custom Header and Body can be included to
message using 'MessageHeader' and 'MessageBodyMember'atttribute. Let us see the sample message contract definition.
[MessageContract]
public class EmployeeDetails
{
[MessageHeader]
public string EmpID;
[MessageBodyMember]
public string Name;
[MessageBodyMember]
public string Designation;
[MessageBodyMember]
public int Salary;
[MessageBodyMember]
public string Location;
}
When I use this EmployeeDeatils type in the service operation as parameter. WCF will add extra header call 'EmpID' to the
SOAP envelope. It also add Name, Designation, Salary, Location as extra member to the SOAP Body.
Rules :
You have to follow certain rules while working with Message contract
1. When using Message contract type as parameter, Only one parameter can be used in servicie Operation
2. [OperationContract]
3. void SaveEmployeeDetails(EmployeeDetails emp);
4. Service operation either should return Messagecontract type or it should not return any value
6. EmployeeDetails GetEmployeeDetails();
7. Service operation will accept and return only message contract type. Other data types are not allowed.
9. EmployeeDetails ModifyEmployeeDetails(EmployeeDetails emp);
Note: If a type has both Message and Data contract, service operation will accept only message contract.
MessageHeaderArray Attribute
Consider the Message contract type definition as shown below.
[MessageContract]
public class Department
{
[MessageHeader]
public string DepartmentID;
[MessageHeader]
public string DepartmentName;
[MessageHeader]
public Employees Employee();
}
In this we are having array of Employee type as message header. When this converted to SOAP Header it looks as shown
below.
<Department>
<DepartmentID>PRO1243</DepartmentID>
<DepartmentName>Production</DepartmentName>
<Employees>
<Employee>Sam</Employee>
<Employee>Ram</Employee>
<Employee>Raja</Employee>
</Employees>
</Department>
Suppose you want to show the all employee detail in same level. We can use MessageHeaderArray attribute which will
serialize the array element independently. If you use the MessageHeaderArray attribute of Employees, SOAP message will
look as shown below.
<Department>
<DepartmentID>PRO1243</DepartmentID>
<DepartmentName>Production</DepartmentName>
<Employee>Sam</Employee>
<Employee>Ram</Employee>
<Employee>Raja</Employee>
</Department>
Note: MessageHeaderArray Attribute is applicable only for Array, not for collection.
Message Contract Properties

ProtectionLevel
You can mention the MessageHeader or MessageBodyMember to be signed or Encrypted using ProtectionLevel property.
Example
using System.Net.Security;
[MessageContract]
{
[MessageHeader(ProtectionLevel=ProtectionLevel.None)]
[MessageBodyMember(ProtectionLevel = ProtectionLevel.Sign )]
public string Name;
[MessageBodyMember(ProtectionLevel = ProtectionLevel.Sign )]
[MessageBodyMember(ProtectionLevel=ProtectionLevel.EncryptAndSign)]
public int Salary;
}
In the above type definition, we have made the different protection level for body. But the protection level of the body is
determind by the highest ProtectionLevel property. By default if you are not specifying the protection level it takes
'EncryptAndSign'. So it good if you specify minimum ProtectionLevel required.
Name and Namespace:

SOAP representation of the message element can be change by mentioning Name and Namespace property of the
Header and Body member. By default namespace is the same as the namespace of the service contract that the message is
participating. In the below example, I have mention the Name property to the EmpID and Name.
[MessageContract]
{
[MessageHeader(Name="ID")]
[MessageBodyMember(Name="EmployeeName")]
public string Name;
[MessageBodyMember()]
[MessageBodyMember()]
public int Salary;
}
When SOAP message representation, its name is changed to ID and EmployeeName.
<EmployeeDetails>
<ID>45634</ID>
<EmployeeName>Sam</EmployeeName>
<Designation>Software Engineer</Designation>
<Salary>25000</Salary>
</EmployeeDetails>
Order
The order of the body elements are alpehabetical by default. But you can control the order, usiing Order property in
theMessageBody attribute.
[MessageContract]
{
[MessageHeader()]
[MessageBodyMember(Order=2)]
public string Name;
public int Salary;
}
Fault Contract
Service that we develop might get error in come case. This error should be reported to the client in proper manner.
Basically when we develop managed application or service, we will handle the exception using try- catch block. But these
exceptions handlings are technology specific.
In order to support interoperability and client will also be interested only, what wents wrong? not on how and where cause
the error.
By default when we throw any exception from service, it will not reach the client side. WCF provides the option to handle
and convey the error message to client from service using SOAP Fault contract.
Suppose the service I consumed is not working in the client application. I want to know the real cause of the problem.
How I can know the error? For this we are having Fault Contract. Fault Contract provides documented view for error
accorded in the service to client. This help as to easy identity the what error has accord. Let us try to understand the
concept using sample example.
Step 1: I have created simple calculator service with Add operation which will throw general exception as shown below
//Service interface
[ServiceContract()]
{
}
//Service implementation
public
{
{
//Do something
throw new Exception("Error while adding number");
}
}
Step 2: On client side code. Exceptions are handled using try-Catch block. Even though I have capture the exception when
I run the application. I got the message that exceptions are not handled properly.
try
{
MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyCalculatorServiceProxy proxy
= new MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyCalculatorServiceProxy();
Console.WriteLine("Sum of two numbers... 5+5 =" + proxy.Add(5, 5));
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
Console.ReadLine();
}
Step 3: Now if you want to send exception information form service to client, you have to use FaultException as shown
below.
{
//Do something
throw new FaultException("Error while adding number");
}
Step 4: Output window on the client side is show below.
Step 5: You can also create your own Custom type and send the error information to the client using FaultContract. These
are the steps to be followed to create the fault contract.
Define a type using the data contract and specify the fields you want to return.
Decorate the service operation with the FaultContract attribute and specify the type name.
Raise the exception from the service by creating an instance and assigning properties of the custom
exception.
Step 6: Defining the type using Data Contract

[DataContract()]
public class CustomException
{
[DataMember()]
public string Title;
[DataMember()]
public string ExceptionMessage;
[DataMember()]
public string InnerException;
[DataMember()]
public string StackTrace;
}
Step 7: Decorate the service operation with the FaultContract
[ServiceContract()]
{
[FaultContract(typeof(CustomException))]
}
Step 8: Raise the exception from the service
{
//Do something
CustomException ex = new CustomException();
ex.Title = "Error Funtion:Add()";
ex.ExceptionMessage = "Error occur while doing add function.";
ex.InnerException = "Inner exception message from serice";
ex.StackTrace = "Stack Trace message from service.";
throw new FaultException(ex,"Reason: Testing the Fault contract") ;
}
Step 9: On client side, you can capture the service exception and process the information, as shown below.
try
{
MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyCalculatorServiceProxy proxy
= new MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyCalculatorServiceProxy();
Console.WriteLine("Sum of two numbers... 5+5 =" + proxy.Add(5, 5));
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (FaultException<MyCalculatorService.CustomException> ex)
{
//Process the Exception
}
Instance Management
Instance management refers to the way a service handles a request from a client. Instance management is set of
techniques WCF uses to bind client request to service instance, governing which service instance handles which client
request. It is necessary because application will differ in their need for scalability, performance, durability, transaction and
queued calls.
Basically there are three instance modes in WCF:
Per-Call instance mode

Per-Session instance mode
Singleton Instance Mode
Configuration:
Instance mode can be configured using ServiceBehavior attribute. This can be specified at implementing the service
contract as shown below.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
int MyMethod();
}
[ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode=InstanceContextMode.Single)]
public class MyService:IMyService
{
public int MyMethod()
{
//Do something
}
Per-Call Service
When WCF service is configured for Per-Call instance mode, Service instance will be created for each client request. This
Service instance will be disposed after response is sent back to client.
Following diagram represent the process of handling the request from client using Per-Call instance mode.
Let as understand the per-call instance mode using example.
Step 1: Create the service contract called IMyService and implement the interface. Add service behavior attribute to the
service class and set the InstanceContextMode property to PerCall as show below.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
int MyMethod();
}
Step 2: In this implementation of MyMethod operation, increment the static variable(m_Counter). Each time while making
call to the service, m_Counter variable is incremented and return the value to the client.
[ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode=InstanceContextMode.PerCall)]
{
static int m_Counter = 0;
{
m_Counter++;
return m_Counter;
}
}
Step 3: Client side, create the proxy for the service and call "myMethod" operation multiple time.
{
Console.WriteLine("Service Instance mode: Per-Call");
Console.WriteLine("Client
making call to service...");

MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyServiceProxy proxy =
new MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyServiceProxy();
Console.ReadLine();
}
Surprisingly, all requests to service return '1', because we configured the Instance mode to Per-Call. Service instance will
created for each request and value of static variable will be set to one. While return back, service instance will be disposed.
Output is shown below.
Fig: PercallOutput.
Per-Session Service
When WCF service is configured for Per-Session instance mode, logical session between client and service will be
maintained. When the client creates new proxy to particular service instance, a dedicated service instance will be provided
to the client. It is independent of all other instance.
Following diagram represent the process of handling the request from client using Per-Session instance mode.
Let as understand the Per-Session instance mode using example.

service class and set the InstanceContextMode property to PerSession as show below.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
int MyMethod();
}
Step 2: In this implementation of MyMethod operation, increment the static variable (m_Counter). Each time while making
call to the service, m_Counter variable will be incremented and return the value to the client.
[ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode=InstanceContextMode.PerSession)]
{
{
m_Counter++;
return m_Counter;
}
}
Step 3: Client side, create the proxy for the service and call "myMethod" operation multiple time.
{
Console.WriteLine("Service Instance mode: Per-Session");
Console.WriteLine("Client
making call to service...");

Console.ReadLine();
}
All request to service return incremented value (1, 2, 3, 4), because we configured the instance mode to Per-Session.
Service instance will be created once the proxy is created at client side. So each time request is made to the service, static
variable is incremented. So each call to MyMethod return incremented value. Output is shown below.
Fig: PersessionOutput.
Singleton Service
When WCF service is configured for Singleton instance mode, all clients are independently connected to the same single
instance. This singleton instance will be created when service is hosted and, it is disposed when host shuts down.
Following diagram represent the process of handling the request from client using Singleton instance mode.
Let as understand the Singleton Instance mode using example.

service class and set the InstanceContextMode property to Single as show below.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
int MyMethod();
}
Step 2: In this implementation of MyMethod operation, increment the static variable(m_Counter). Each time while making
call to the service, m_Counter variable is incremented and return the value to the client
{
{
m_Counter++;
return m_Counter;
}
}
Step 3: Client side, create the two proxies for the service and made a multiple call to MyMethod.
{
Console.WriteLine("Service Instance mode: Singleton");
Console.WriteLine("Client 1 making call to service...");
Console.WriteLine("Client 2 making call to service...");
//Creating new proxy to act as new client
MyCalculatorServiceProxy.MyServiceProxy proxy2 =
Console.WriteLine("Counter: " + proxy2.MyMethod());
Console.WriteLine("Counter: " + proxy2.MyMethod());
Console.ReadLine();
}
When two proxy class made a request to service, single instance at service will handle it and it return incremented value (1,
2, 3, 4), because instance mode is configured to 'Single'. Service instance is created when it is hosted. So this instance will
remain till host is shutdown. Output is shown below.
Fig: SingletonOutput.
Instance Deactivation
In Instance Management System tutorial, you learn how to create sessionful service instance. Basically service instance is
hosted in a context. Session actually correlated the client message not to the instance, but to the context that host it.
When session starts, context is created and when it closes, context is terminated. WCF provides the option of separating
the two lifetimes and deactivating the instance separately from its context.
ReleaseInstanceMode property of the OberationalBehavior attribute used to control the instance in relation to the method
call.
Followings are the list Release mode available in the ReleaseInstanceMode
1.
2.
3.
4.
RealeaseInstanceMode.None
RealeaseInstanceMode.BeforeCall
RealeaseInstanceMode.AfterCall
RealeaseInstanceMode.BeforeAndAfterCall
Below code show, how to add the 'ReleaseInstanceMode' property to the operational behavior.
[ServiceContract()]
{
}
[OperationBehavior(ReleaseInstanceMode=ReleaseInstanceMode.BeforeCall]
{
return num1 + num2;
}
ReleaseInstanceMode.None
This property means that it will not affect the instance lifetime. By default ReleaseInstanceMode property is set to 'None'.
ReleaseInstanceMode.BeforeCall
This property means that it will create new instance before a call is made to the operation.
If the instance is already exist,WCF deactivates the instance and calls Dispose() before the call is done. This is designed to
optimize a method such as Create()
ReleaseInstanceMode.AfterCall
This property means that it will deactivate the instance after call is made to the method.
This is designed to optimize a method such a Cleanup()
ReleaseInstanceMode.BeforeAndAfterCall
This is means that it will create new instance of object before a call and deactivates the instance after call. This has
combined effect of using ReleaseInstanceMode.BeforeCall and ReleaseInstanceMode.AfterCall
Explicit Deactivate
You can also explicitly deactivate instance using InstanceContext object as shown below.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
void MyMethod();
}
{
public void MyMethod()
{
//Do something
OperationContext.Current.InstanceContext.ReleaseServiceInstance();
}
}
Durable Service
Durable services are WCF services that persist service state information even after service host is restarted or Client. It
means that durable services have the capability to restore their own state when they are recycled. It can use data store like
SQL database for maintain instance state. It is new feature in .Net 3.5
You might think that we can also maintain session using WCF sessions, but content in the session environment is not
persisted by default. If the service is shut down or client closes the proxy, data will be lost. But in case of Durable service it
is still maintained.
Working:
When Durable service is created with database as data store, it will maintain all its state information in the table.
When a client make a request to the service, instance of the service is serialized, a new GUID is generated. This serialized
instance xml and key will be saved in the database. We will call this GUID as instanceID. Service will send the instanceID to
the client, so later it can use this id to get the instance state back. Even when client is shut down, instanceId will be saved
at the client side. So when ever client opening the proxy, it can get back the previous state.
Defining the Durable Service

Durable service can be implemented using [DurableService()] attribute. It takes 'CanCreateInstance' and
'CompletesInstance' property to mention on which operation instance state has to be saved and destroyed.
CanCreateInstance = true: Calling this operation results in creating the serialization and inserting it
into the datastore.
CompletesInstance = true: Calling this operation results in deleting the persisted instance from the
datastore.
[Serializable]
[DurableService()]
public class MyService :IMyservice
{
[DurableOperation(CanCreateInstance = true)]
public int StartPersistance()
{
//Do Something
}
[DurableOperation(CompletesInstance = true)]
public void EndPersistence()
{
//Do Something
}
}
How to Create Durable Service

Let us understand more about the durable service by creating Simple Calculator service which persist the instance state in
SQL server database.
Step 1: Start the Visual Studio 2008 and click File->New->Web Site. Select the 'WCF Service' as shown below.
Step 2: Create interface and decorate with Service and Operation contract.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
int Add(int num);
[OperationContract]
int Subtract(int num);
[OperationContract]
int Multiply(int num);
[OperationContract]
void EndPersistence();
}
Step 3: You need to add [Serializable] And [DurableService()] attribute to the service implementation. Set
CanCreateInstance = true property to the operation in which instance state has to be persisted and set CompletesInstance
= true when state has to be destroyed. In this implementation, we are going to persist the 'currentValue' variable value to
the database.
using System.Text;
[Serializable]
[DurableService()]
public class SimpleCalculator :ISimpleCalculator
{
int currentValue = default(int);
[DurableOperation(CanCreateInstance = true)]
public int Add(int num)
{
return (currentValue += num);
}
[DurableOperation()]
public int Subtract(int num)
{
return (currentValue -= num);
}
[DurableOperation()]
public int Multiply(int num)
{
return (currentValue *= num);
}
[DurableOperation(CompletesInstance = true)]
public void EndPersistence()
{
}
Step 4: Before configuring the database information in the durable service, you need to set up DataStore environment.
Microsoft provides inbuilt sqlPersistance provider. To set up the database environment, run the these sql query located at
following location 'C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\SQL\EN'
SqlPersistenceProviderSchema.sql
SqlPersistenceProviderLogic.sql
Step 5: In order to support durable service, you need to use Context binding type. <persistenceProvider> tag is used to
configure the persistence provider.
<services>
<service name="SimpleCalculator" behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehavior">

<endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpContextBinding"
bindingConfiguration="browConfig" contract="ISimpleCalculator">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
<endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding"
contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"/>
<persistenceProvider
type="System.ServiceModel.Persistence.SqlPersistenceProviderFactory,
System.WorkflowServices, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DurableServiceStore"
persistenceOperationTimeout="00:00:10"
lockTimeout="00:01:00"
serializeAsText="true"/>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<bindings>
<wsHttpContextBinding >
<binding name="browConfig" >
<security mode="None"></security>
</binding>
</wsHttpContextBinding>
</bindings>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="DurableServiceStore"
connectionString="Data Source=saravanakumar;Initial Catalog
=DurableServiceStore;Integrated Security=True"/>
</connectionStrings>
Step 6: Create the console client application and name it as DurableServiceClient
Step 7: Add following reference to client application
System.ServiceModel
System.WorkflowService
Step 8: Add WCF service as Service Reference to the project and name it as SimpleCalculatorService
Step 9: Create the Helper class called it as Helper.cs. This helper class is used to Store, Retrieve and set the context at the
client side. Context information will be saved in 'token_context.bin' file. Copy and paste the below code to your helper file.
Helper.cs
using System.ServiceModel.Channels;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
public class Helper
{
static readonly String TokenContextFileName = "token_context.bin";
public static IDictionary<String, String> LoadContext()
{
IDictionary<String, String> ctx = null;
try
{
using (FileStream fs = new
FileStream(TokenContextFileName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))

{
BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
ctx = bf.Deserialize(fs) as IDictionary<String, String>;
fs.Close();
}
}
{
}
return ctx;
}
public static void SaveContext(IClientChannel channel)
{
IDictionary<String, String> ctx = null;
IContextManager cm = channel.GetProperty<IContextManager>();
if (cm != null)
{
ctx = cm.GetContext() as IDictionary<String, String>;
try
{
using (FileStream fs
= new FileStream(TokenContextFileName, FileMode.CreateNew))
{
BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter();
bf.Serialize(fs, ctx);
fs.Close();
}
}
{
}
}
}
public static void DeleteContext()
{
try
{
File.Delete(TokenContextFileName);
}
{
}
}
public static void SetContext(IClientChannel channel,
IDictionary<String, String> ctx)
{
IContextManager cm = channel.GetProperty<IContextManager>();
if (cm != null)
{
cm.SetContext(ctx);
}
}
}
Step 10: In the main method, I was creating the proxy for the service and calling the Add operation. Call to this method
will add instance state to the database. Now I have closed the proxy and creating new proxy instance. When I call the
Subtract and Multiply operation, it will operate on the previously saved value (instance state).
{
//Create the proxy for the service
SimpleCalculatorService.SimpleCalculatorClient client
= new SimpleCalculatorService.SimpleCalculatorClient
"WSHttpContextBinding_ISimpleCalculator");
int currentValue = 0;
//Call the Add method from the service
currentValue = client.Add(10000);
Console.WriteLine("The current value is {0}", currentValue);
//Save the Context from the service to the client
Helper.SaveContext(client.InnerChannel);
//Close the proxy
client.Close();
//Create new Instance of the proxy for the service
client = new SimpleCalculatorService.SimpleCalculatorClient
("WSHttpContextBinding_ISimpleCalculator");
//Load the context from the client to start from saved state
IDictionary<string,string> cntx=Helper.LoadContext();
//Set Context to context manager
Helper.SetContext(client.InnerChannel, cntx);
//Call the Subtract and Multiply method from service
currentValue = client.Subtract(2);
currentValue = client.Multiply(5);
//Delete the context from the client
Helper.DeleteContext();
//Remove persistance state from the server
client.EndPersistence();
Console.WriteLine("Press <ENTER> to shut down the client.");
Console.ReadLine();
client.Close();
}
End of the proxy 1, service instance saved in the database as shown below.
Serialized XML instance state save in the database is shown below.
Output of the client application.
Throttling
WCF throttling provides some properties that you can use to limit how many instances or sessions are created at the
application level. Performance of the WCF service can be improved by creating proper instance.
Attribute
maxConcurrentCalls
maxConcurrentInstances
maxConcurrentSessions
Description
Limits the total number of calls that can currently be in progress across all service instances. The
default is 16.
The number of InstanceContext objects that execute at one time across a ServiceHost. The
default is Int32.MaxValue.
A positive integer that limits the number of sessions a ServiceHost object can accept. The default
is 10.
Service Throttling can be configured either Adminstractive or Programatically
Administrative(configuration file)
Using <serviceThrottling> tag of the Service Behavior, you can configure
the maxConcurrentCalls, maxConcurrentInstances ,maxConcurrentSessions property as shown below.
<services >
<service behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehavior"
name="MyService">
<endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="IMyService">

<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true "/>
<serviceThrottling maxConcurrentCalls="500"
maxConcurrentInstances ="100"
maxConcurrentSessions ="200"/>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
Programming Model
Use ServiceThrottlingBehavior object to set concurrent calls, session and instance property.
ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(MyService));
ServiceThrottlingBehavior throttle
= host.Description.Behaviors.Find();
if (throttle == null)
{
throttle = new ServiceThrottlingBehavior();
throttle.MaxConcurrentCalls = 500;
throttle.MaxConcurrentSessions = 200;
throttle.MaxConcurrentInstances = 100;
host.Description.Behaviors.Add(throttle);
}
host.Open();
Operations
In classic object or component- oriented programming model offered only single way for client to call a method. Client
will issue a call, block while the call was in progress, and continue executing once the method returned.
WCF will support classical Request-Replay model, along with that it also supports One-Way call(call and forget operation)
and callback(service to call back the client)
Three modes of communication between client and service are
1. Request- Replay
2. One-Way
3. Callback
Request-Reply
By default all WCF will operated in the Request-Replay mode. It means that, when client make a request to the WCF
service and client will wait to get response from service (till receiveTimeout). After getting the response it will start
executing the rest of the statement. If service doesn't respond to the service within receiveTimeout, client will
receive TimeOutException.
Apart from NetPeerTcpBinding and the NetMsmqBinding all other bindings will support request-reply operations.
One-Way
In One-Way operation mode, client will send a request to the server and does not care whether it is success or failure of
service execution. There is no return from the server side, it is one-way communication.
Client will be blocked only for a moment till it dispatches its call to service. If any exception thrown by service will not
reach the server.
Client can continue to execute its statement, after making one-way call to server. There is no need to wait, till server
execute. Sometime when one-way calls reach the service, they may not be dispatched all at once but may instead be
queued up on the service side to be dispatched one at a time, according to the service's configured concurrency mode
behavior. If the number of queued messages has exceeded the queue's capacity, the client will be blocked even if it's
issued a one-way call. However, once the call is queued, the client will be unblocked and can continue executing, while the
service processes the operation in the background.
Definition :
One-way operation can be enabled by setting IsOneWay property to true in Operation contract attribute.
[ServiceContract]
{
[OperationContract(IsOneWay=true)]
void MyMethod(EmployeeDetails emp);
}
One-Way Operations and Sessionful Services

Let us see the example, what will happen when you use the one-way communication with Sessionful service.
[ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Required)]
interface IMyContract
{
[OperationContract(IsOneWay = true)]
void MyMethod();
}
As per above configuration, when client makes one-way call using MyMethod() operation and if it close the proxy. Client
will be blocked until operation completes. It will be good practice, that one-way operation should be applied on per-call
and singleton service.
Suppose If you want to make use of One-way operation in Sessionful service, use in the last operation of the service which
will terminate the session. This operation should not return any value.
[ServiceContract(SessionMode = SessionMode.Required)]
{
[OperationContract]
void MyMethod1();
[OperationContract]
string MyMethod2();
[OperationContract(IsOneWay = true, IsInitiating = false,
IsTerminating = true)]
string CloseSessionService(int id);
}
One-Way Operations and Exceptions

Suppose when we are using BasicHttpBinding or WSHttpBinding, i.e. no transport session is used, if any exception throw by
service will not affect the client. Client can make a call to the service using same proxy
[ServiceContract]
{
void MethodWithError( );
[OperationContract]
void MethodWithoutError( );
}
//Client side without transport session
MyContractClient proxy = new MyContractClient( );
proxy.MethodWithError( ); //No exception is thrown from serivce
proxy.MethodWithoutError( ); //Operation will execute properly
proxy.Close( );
In the presence of transport session, any exception thrown by service will fault the client channel. Client will not be able to
make new call using same proxy instance.
//Client side transport session
MyContractClient proxy = new MyContractClient( );
proxy.MethodWithError( );
proxy.MethodWithoutError( ); //Can not executre because channel is faulted
proxy.Close( );
Callback Service
Till now we have seen that the all clients will call the service to get the things done. But WCF also provides the service to
call the client. In which, service will act as client and client will act as service.
HTTP protocols are connectionless nature, so it is not supported for callback operation. So
BasicHttpBinding and WSHttpBinding cannot be used for this operation.
WCF support WSDualHttpBinding for call back operation.
All TCP and IPC protocols support Duplex communication. So all these binding will be used for callback
operation.
Defining and configuring a callback contract

Callback service can be enabled by using CallbackContract property in the ServiceContract attribute. In the below example
you can find the decalration of the callback contract and it is configured in the ServiceContract attribute.
public interface IMyContractCallback
{
[OperationContract]
void OnCallback();
}
[ServiceContract(CallbackContract = typeof(IMyContractCallback))]
public interface IMyContract
{
void MyMethod();
}
Client Callback Setup

As I said earlier, in callback operation client will act as service and service will act as client. So client has to expose a
callback endpoint to the service to call. In the earlier part of the tutorial I have mention that InstanceContext is the
execution scope of inner most service instance. It provides a constructor that takes the service instance to the host.
IMyContractCallback callback=new MyCallback();
InstanceContext cntx=new InstanceContext(callback);
MyServiceClient proxy = new MyServiceClient(cntx);
proxy.MyMethod();
The client must use a proxy that will set up the bidirectional communication and pass the callback endpoint reference to
the service. This can be achieved by creating the proxy using DuplexClientBase
class MyServiceClient:DuplexClientBase,IMyContract
{
public MyServiceClient(InstanceContext callbackCntx)
: base(callbackCntx)
{
}
{
base.Channel.MyMethod();
}
}
Service-Side Callback Invocation

The client-side callback endpoint reference is passed along with every call the client makes to the service, and it is part of
the incoming message. The OperationContext class provides the service with easy access to the callback reference via the
generic method GetCallbackChannel<T>( ). Service can call the client side callback method using reference e to the client
side callback instance. The following code shows the callback method invocation.
IMyContractCallback
callbackInstance=OperationContext.Current.GetCallbackChannel();
callbackInstance.OnCallback();
How to Create Callback Service in WCF

This tutorial gives hands-on to create a sample Callback service.
Step 1: Create the sample Classlibrary project using Visual Studio 2008 and name it as CallbackService
Step 2 : Add System.ServiceModel reference to the project

Step 3: Create the Callback and Service contract as shown below. You need to mention CallbackContract property in
theServiceContract attribute. Implementation of the Callback contract will be done on the client side.
IMyContract.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace CallbackService
{
public interface IMyContractCallback
{
[OperationContract]
void OnCallback();
}
[ServiceContract(CallbackContract = typeof(IMyContractCallback))]

{
void MyMethod();
}
}
Step 4: Implement the Service contract as shown below. In the below code you will find using OperationContext is used to
receive the reference to Callback instance. Using that instance we are calling the OnCallback() method from client side.
MyService.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace CallbackService
{
[ServiceBehavior(ConcurrencyMode=ConcurrencyMode.Multiple )]
public class MyService:IMyContract
{
{
//Do something
IMyContractCallback callbackInstance
=OperationContext.Current.GetCallbackChannel();
callbackInstance.OnCallback();
}
}
}
You can also note that We have set the ConcurrencyMode to Multile. If you are not using ConcurrencyMode to Multiple or
Reentent, you will be end up with deadlock exception as shown below. This is because when a client made a call to the
service, channel is created and lock by WCF service. If you are calling the Callback method inside the service method.
Service will try to access the lock channel, this may leads to deadlock. So you can
set ConcurrencyMode to Multiple or Reentent so it will release the lock silently.
Step 5: Create a Console application using Visual Studio 2008 and name it a CallbackServiceHost. This application is used
to self-host the WCF service
Step 6: Main method

{
Uri httpUrl = new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyService/");

ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(CallbackService.MyService),
httpUrl);
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Service is Hosted at {0}", DateTime.Now.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Host is running...Press
key to stop the service.");
Console.ReadLine();
host.Close();
}
Step 7: Use Duplex binding to support Callback operation.

Web.Config
<services >
name="CallbackService.MyService">
<endpoint address="http://localhost:8090/MyService"
binding="wsDualHttpBinding" contract="CallbackService.IMyContract">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
<endpoint address="mex"
binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange"/>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
Step 8: Run the host application
Step 9: Create Console Application using Visual Studio 2008 and name it as CallbackClient. This is the client application
which contain Callback implementation.
Step10: Add System.ServiceModel and CallbackService as reference to the project

Step 11: Create the proxy class as shown below. Use DuplexClientBase to create the proxy, because it will support
bidirectional communication. Create the contractor which will accept InstanceContext as parameter.
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using CallbackService;
namespace CallbackClient
{
class MyServiceClient:DuplexClientBase<IMyContract>,IMyContract
{
public MyServiceClient(InstanceContext callbackCntx)
: base(callbackCntx)
{
}
{
base.Channel.MyMethod();
}
}
}
Step12: Create the implementation for Callback Contract
class MyCallback : IMyContractCallback
{
public void OnCallback()
{
Console.WriteLine("Callback method is called from client side.");
}
}
Step 13: Implementation of main method
{
IMyContractCallback callback=new MyCallback();
InstanceContext cntx=new InstanceContext(callback);
MyServiceClient proxy = new MyServiceClient(cntx);
Console.WriteLine("Client call the MyMethod Operation from Service.");
proxy.MyMethod();
Console.ReadLine();
}
Step14: Run the client application. In the output, you can see the OnCallback method called by the service
Events
Events allow the client or clients to be notified about something that has occurred on the service side. An event may result
from a direct client call, or it may be the result of something the service monitors. The service firing the event is called the
publisher, and the client receiving the event is called the subscriber.
Publisher will not care about order of invocation of subscriber. Subscriber can be executed in any
manner.
Implementation of subscriber side should be short duration. Let us consider the scenario in which you
what to publish large volume of event. Publisher will be blocked, when subscriber is queued on previous
subscription of the event. These make publishers to put in wait state. It may lead Publisher event not to
reach other subscriber.
Large number of subscribers to the event makes the accumulated processing time of each subscriber
could exceed the publisher's timeout
Managing the list of subscribers and their preferences is a completely service-side implementation. It
will not affect the client; publisher can even use .Net delegates to manage the list of subscribers.
Event should always one-Way operation and it should not return any value
Definition
public interface IMyEvents
{
void Event1();
}
Let us understand more on Event operation by creating sample service
Step 1 : Create ClassLibrary project in the Visual Studio 2008 and name it as WCFEventService as shown below.
Step 2:
Add reference System.ServiceModel to the project
Create the Event operation at the service and set IsOnwWay property to true. This operation should not return any value.
Since service has to communicate to the client, we need to use CallbackContract for duplex communication. Here we are
using one operation to subscribe the event and another for firing the event.
public interface IMyEvents
{
void Event1();
}
[ServiceContract(CallbackContract = typeof(IMyEvents))]
{
[OperationContract]
void DoSomethingAndFireEvent();
[OperationContract]
void SubscribeEvent();
}
Step 3: Implementation of the Service Contract is shown below.

In the Subscription operation, I am using Operationcontext to get the reference to the client instance and Subscription
method is added as event handler to the service event. DoSomethingAndFireEvent operation will fire the event as shown.
MyPublisher.cs
[ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.PerCall)]
public
class MyPublisher : IMyContract
{
static Action m_Event1 = delegate { };
public void SubscribeEvent()
{
IMyEvents subscriber = OperationContext.Current.GetCallbackChannel();
m_Event1 += subscriber.Event1;
}
public static void FireEvent()
{
m_Event1();
}
public void DoSomethingAndFireEvent()
{
MyPublisher.FireEvent();
}
}
Step 4: Create the Console application using Visual Studio 2008 and name it as WcfEventServiceHost. This application will
be used to self-host the service.
Step 5: Add System.ServiceModel and WcfEventService as reference to the project.

{
Uri httpUrl = new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyPublisher/");
ServiceHost host = new ServiceHost(typeof(WcfEventService.MyPublisher),
httpUrl);
host.Open();
Console.WriteLine("Service is Hosted at {0}", DateTime.Now.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Host is running...Press
key to stop the service.");
Console.ReadLine();
host.Close();
}
Step 6: Use Duplex binding to support Callback operation.

Web.Config
<services >
name="WcfEventService.MyPublisher">
<endpoint address="http://localhost:8090/MyPublisher"
binding="wsDualHttpBinding" contract="WcfEventService.IMyContract">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
Step7: Run the host application as shown
below.
Step 8: Create the console application using visual studio and name it as WcfEventServiceClient as shown below. This
application will act a client which is used to subscribe the event from service.
Step 9: Create the proxy class as shown below. Use DuplexClientBase to create the proxy, because it will support
bidirectional communication. Create the contractor which will accept InstanceContext as parameter.
EventServiceClient.cs
class EventServiceClient:DuplexClientBase<IMyContract>,IMyContract
{
public EventServiceClient(InstanceContext eventCntx)
: base(eventCntx)
{
}
public void
DoSomethingAndFireEvent()
{
base.Channel.DoSomethingAndFireEvent();
}
public void SubscribeEvent()
{
base.Channel.SubscribeEvent();
}
}
Step 10: Implementation of IMyEvents at client side is shown below. This method will be called when service publish the
event.
class MySubscriber : IMyEvents
{
public void Event1()
{
Console.WriteLine("Event is subscribed from the
service at {0}",DateTime.Now.ToString() );
}
}
Step 11: Main method of the client side you can find the creating Subscription instance and it passed to service
usingInstanceContext
{
IMyEvents evnt = new MySubscriber();
InstanceContext evntCntx = new InstanceContext(evnt);
EventServiceClient proxy = new EventServiceClient(evntCntx);
Console.WriteLine("Client subscribe the event
from the service at {0}",DateTime.Now.ToString());
proxy.SubscribeEvent();
Console.WriteLine("Client call operation which will fire the event");
proxy.DoSomethingAndFireEvent();
Console.ReadLine();
}
Step 12: Run the client application and you see the when event is fired from the service. Subscriber got notification.
Transfer mode
In our normal day today life, we need to transfer data from one location to other location. If data transfer is taking place
through WCF service, message size will play major role in performance of the data transfer. Based on the size and other
condition of the data transfer, WCF supports two modes for transferring messages
Buffer transfer
When the client and the service exchange messages, these messages are buffered on the receiving end and delivered only
once the entire message has been received. This is true whether it is the client sending a message to the service or the
service returning a message to the client. As a result, when the client calls the service, the service is invoked only after the
client's message has been received in its entirety; likewise, the client is unblocked only once the returned message with the
results of the invocation has been received in its entirety.
Stream transfer
When client and Service exchange message using Streaming transfer mode, receiver can start processing the message
before it is completely delivered. Streamed transfers can improve the scalability of a service by eliminating the
requirement for large memory buffers. If you want to transfer large message, streaming is the best method.
StreamRequest
In this mode of configuration, message send from client to service will be streamed
StreamRespone
In this mode of configuration, message send from service to client will be streamed.
Configuration
<services >
name="MyService">
<endpoint address="" binding="netTcpBinding"

bindingConfiguration="MyService.netTcpBinding" contract="IMyService">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<bindings >
<netTcpBinding>
<binding name="MyService.netTcpBinding"
transferMode="Buffered" closeTimeout ="0:01:00" openTimeout="0:01:00"></binding>
</netTcpBinding>
</bindings>
Differences between Buffered and Streamed Transfers

Buffered
Target can process the message once it is completely
received.
Performance will be good when message size is small
Native channel shape is IDuplexSessionChannel
Streamed
Target can start processing the data when it is partially received
Performance will be good when message size is larger(more
than 64K)
Native channels are IRequestChannel and IReplyChannel
Streaming
Client and Service exchange message using Streaming transfer mode, receiver can start processing the message before it
is completely delivered. Streamed transfers can improve the scalability of a service by eliminating the requirement for
large memory buffers. If you want to transfer large message, streaming is the best method.
Supported Bindings
BasicHttpBinding
NetTcpBinding
NetNamedPipeBinding
Restrictions
There are some restriction, when streaming is enabled in WCF
Digital signatures for the message body cannot be performed

Encryption depends on digital signatures to verify that the data has been reconstructed correctly.
Reliable sessions must buffer sent messages on the client for redelivery if a message gets lost in transfer
and must hold messages on the service before handing them to the service implementation to preserve
message order in case messages are received out-of-sequence.
Streaming is not available with the Message Queuing (MSMQ) transport
Streaming is also not available when using the Peer Channel transport
I/O Streams
WCF uses .Net stream class for Streaming the message. Stream in base class for streaming, all subclasses like
FileStream,MemoryStream, NetworkStream are derived from it. Stream the data, you need to do is, to return or receive a
Stream as an operation parameter.
[ServiceContract]
{
[OperationContract]
void SaveStreamData(Stream emp);
[OperationContract]
Stream GetStreamData();
}
Note:
1. Stream and it's subclass can be used for streaming, but it should be serializable
2. Stream and MemoryStream are serializable and it will support streaming
3. FileStream is non serializable, and it will not support streaming
Streaming and Binding

Only the TCP, IPC, and basic HTTP bindings support streaming. With all of these bindings streaming is disabled by
default.TransferMode property should be set according to the desired streaming mode in the bindings.
public enum TransferMode
{
Buffered, //Default
Streamed,
StreamedRequest,
StreamedResponse
}
public class BasicHttpBinding : Binding,...
{
public TransferMode TransferMode
{get;set;}
//More members
}
StreamedRequest - Send and accept requests in streaming mode, and accept and return responses in
buffered mode
StreamResponse - Send and accept requests in buffered mode, and accept and return responses in
streamed mode
Streamed - Send and receive requests and responses in streamed mode in both directions
Buffered -Send and receive requests and responses in Buffered mode in both directions
Streaming and Transport

The main aim of the Streaming transfer mode is to transfer large size data, but default message size is 64K. So you can
increase the message size using maxReceivedMessageSize attribute in the binding element as shown below.
<bindings >
<netTcpBinding>
<binding name="MyService.netTcpBinding"
transferMode="Buffered" maxReceivedMessageSize="1024000">
</binding>
</netTcpBinding>
</bindings>
Transaction
A transaction is a collection or group of one or more units of operation executed as a whole. It provides way to logically
group single piece of work and execute them as a single unit. In addition, WCF allows client applications to create
transactions and to propagate transactions across service boundaries.
Recovery Challenge
Let us discuss more on challenge we will phased and how to recover from it.
1. Consider a system maintained in consistent state, when application fail to perform particular operation,
you should recover from it and place the system in the consistent state.
2. While doing singe operation, there will be multiple atomic sub operation will happen. These operations
might success or fail. We are not considering about sub operation which are failed. We mainly consider
about the success operation. Because we have to recover all these state to its previous consistence
state.
3. Productivity penalty has to be payee for all effort required for handcrafting the recovery logic
4. Performance will be decreased because you need to execute huge amount of code.
Solution
Best way to maintain system consistence and handling error-recovery challenge is to use transactions. Below figure gives
idea about transaction.
Committed transaction: Transaction that execute successfully and transfer the system from
consistence state A to B.
Aborted transaction: Transaction encounters an error and rollback to Consistence State A from
intermediate state.
In-doubt transaction: Transactions fail to either in commit or abort.
Transaction Resources
Transactional programming requires working with a resource that is capable of participating in a transaction, and being
able to commit or roll back the changes made during the transaction. Such resources have been around in one form or
another for decades. Traditionally, you had to inform a resource that you would like to perform transactional work against
it. This act is called enlisting. Some resources support auto-enlisting.
Transaction Properties
Transaction can be said as pure and successful only if meets four characteristics.
Atomic - When transaction completes, all the individual changes made to the resource while process
must be made as to they were all one atomic, indivisible operation.
Consistent - transaction must leave the system in consistent state.
Isolated - Resources participating in the transaction should be locked and it should not be access by
other third party.
Durable - Durable transactions must survive failures.
Two-phase committed protocol

Consider the scenario where I am having single client which use single service for communication and interacting with
single database. In which service starts and manage the transaction, now it will be easy for the service to manage the
transaction.
Consider for example client calling multiple service or service itself calling another service, this type of system are called as
Distributed Service-oriented application. Now the questions arise that which service will begin the transaction? Which
service will take responsibility of committing the transaction? How would one service know what the rest of the service
feels about the transaction? Service could also be deployed in different machine and site. Any network failure or machine
crash also increases the complexity for managing the transaction.
In order to overcome these situations, WCF come up with distributed transaction using two way committed protocol and
dedicated transaction manager.
Transaction Manager is the third party for the service that will manage the transaction using two phase committed
protocol.
Let us see how Transaction manager will manage the transaction using two-phase committed protocols.
Transaction Propagation
In WCF, transaction can be propagated across service boundary. This enables service to participate in a client transaction
and it includes multiple services in same transaction, Client itself will act as service or client.
We can specify whether or not client transaction is propagated to service by changing Binding and operational contract
configuration
<bindings>
<netTcpBinding>
<binding transactionFlow="true"></binding>
</netTcpBinding>
</bindings>
Even after enabling transaction flow does not mean that the service wants to use the clients transaction in every
operation. We need to specify the TransactionFlowAttribute in operational contract to enable transaction flow.
[ServiceContract]
public interface IService
{
[OperationContract]
[TransactionFlow(TransactionFlowOption.Allowed)]
int Add(int a, int b);
[OperationContract]
int Subtract(int a, int b);
Note: TransactionFlow can be enabled only at the operation level not at the service level.
Binding
configuration
TransactionFlowOption
transactionFlow="true"
NotAllowed
or
transactionFlow="false"
Allowed
Allowed
Mandatory
Client cannot propagate its transaction to service even client has

transaction
Service will allow to flow client transaction.
It is not necessary that service to use client transaction.
If service disallows at binding level, client also should disable at
binding level else error will be occurred.
Both Service and client must use transaction aware binding
InvalidOperationException will be throw when serice binding
Mandatory
disables at binding level.

FaultException will be thrown when client disable at its binding
level.
Transaction Protocols
As a developer we no need to concern about transaction protocols and transaction manager used by WCF. WCF itself will
take care of what kind of transaction protocols should be used for different situation. Basically there are three different
kinds of transaction protocols used by WCF.
Transaction Mode
This article explains about the how to configure the service and client transaction mode in WCF service.
Client transaction Transaction setting propagated or initiated from the client side
Server transaction Transaction setting propagated or initiated from server side
Client/Server transaction mode:

This setting ensures that service uses the clients transaction if possible or a server side transaction when the client does
not have a transaction.
1. Enable the TransactionFlow=true in binding configuration

2. Set TransactionFlowOption.Allowed in the operation contract
3. Set TransactionScopeRequired=true in the operation contract
Client transaction mode:
This settings ensures the service uses only the clients transaction
1. Enable the TransactionFlow=true in binding configuration

2. Set TransactionFlowOption.Mandatory in the operation contract
Service transaction mode:

This seeing ensures that the service always has a transaction, separated from any transaction its client may or may not
have.
1. Disable the TransactionFlow=false in binding configuration

2. Set TransactionFlowOption.NotAllowed in the operation contract
None transaction mode:
This setting ensures service does not use transaction
1. Disable the TransactionFlow=false in binding configuration

2. Set TransactionFlowOption.NotAllowed in the operation contract
3. Set TransactionScopeRequired=false in the operation contract
Below table explains about the Transaction mode activation based on the binging, contract and behavior settings
Binding Transaction flow TransactionFlowOption TransactionScopeRequired Transaction mode

False
Allowed
False
None
False
Allowed
True
Service
False
NotAllowed
False
None
False
Allowed
True
Service
True
Allowed
False
None
True
Allowed
True
Client/Service
True
Mandatory
False
None
True
Mandatory
True
Client
How to Create WCF Transaction

This article explains about the how to create a WCF service with transaction enabled. Refer Transaction Mode article to
learn more about the server side and client side transaction mode.
WCF transaction was explained with below employee service
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Create the Employee WCF service to allow client user to insert employee detail
Enable the transaction from server side by setting proper attributes
Create the client application by consuming the Employee Service and insert the employee details
Run the client application to successfully insert the employee detail
Modify the service application to throw exception explicitly after successfully insert statement execution
and check the transaction behavior.
Step 1:Create the Employee service that allows the addition of new employee details in DB. Decorate the operation
contract with TransactionFlow attribute for enabling the transaction. TransactionFlowOption take three set of values.
TransactionFlowOption.Allowed
TransactionFlowOption.Mandatory
TransactionFlowOption.NotAllowed
[ServiceContract]
public interface IService
{
[OperationContract]
[TransactionFlow(TransactionFlowOption.Allowed
)]
bool AddEmployee(int id, string name, int salary);

}
Step 2:Create the service class which implements the service contract and set the operation behavior
withTransactionScopeRequired = true . This attribute is used to enable the service transaction when the client transaction
is not available.
public class Service : IService

{
[OperationBehavior(TransactionScopeRequired = true)]
public bool AddEmployee(int id, string name, int salary)
{
try
{
//Insert the employee tables inside the transaction
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=.\eaudit;Initial
Catalog=Test01;Integrated Security=SSPI;");
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("INSERT INTO [Test01].[dbo].[Employee]
VALUES("+id.ToString ()+",'"+name +"',
"+salary.ToString ()+")", conn);
cmd.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;
conn.Open();
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
conn.Close();
return true;
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
//return false ;
throw new FaultException(ex.Message);
}
}
}
Step 3:Update the service endpoint to enable transactions for wsHttpBinding by setting the transactionFlow attribute
to true. Setting transactionFlow at config level doesnt mean that the service wants to use the clients transaction in every
operation. It is required to set the transaction at the service contract level as mention in Step 1.
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior>
<serviceDebug
includeExceptionDetailInFaults="true"/>
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true"/>
<services>
<service name="Service">
<endpoint address="" binding="wsHttpBinding"
contract="IService" bindingConfiguration="myTransactionBinding"/>
</service>
</services>
<bindings>
<wsHttpBinding>
<binding name="myTransactionBinding" transactionFlow="true" ></binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
</bindings>
Step 4:Now service creation is completed and lets starts with the client application. Create a new console application
from add Employee service as ServiceReference
Step 5:Create a new proxy object for the employee service and call the AddEmployee method.

{
bool result=false ;
using (TransactionScope ts = new TransactionScope
(TransactionScopeOption.RequiresNew))
{
try
{
EmployeeService.ServiceClient service =
new EmployeeService.ServiceClient();
result = service.AddEmployee(1, "raj", 3000);
ts.Complete();
}
{
ts.Dispose();
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
if( result == true )

Console.WriteLine("Employee details add successfully");
else
Console.WriteLine ("Error while adding employee details");
Console.ReadLine();
}
Output:
Output shows the employee detail is added successfully and DB also shows the new entry is made
Step 6:Now everything works fine, lets test the transaction by throwing the exception from server side after successful
execution of employee details insert statement
try
{
//Insert the employee tables inside the transaction
SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"Data Source=.\eaudit;
Initial Catalog=Test01;Integrated Security=SSPI;");
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("INSERT INTO [Test01].[dbo].[Employee]
VALUES("+id.ToString ()+",'"+name +"',"+salary.ToString ()+")",
conn);
cmd.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;
conn.Open();
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
conn.Close();
//Throw Exception after successful insert statement execution
throw new Exception("Sample exeception for testing");
return true;
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
//return false ;
throw new FaultException(ex.Message);
}
Step 7:Run the client application and check the output. Result clearly says that even insert statement is executed
successfully and error is thrown after insert statement, DB is not updated. Because all the code execution is comes under
the transaction so failure in any module of code will revert back all code execution.
What is WCF RIA service?

WCF RIA service is a framework to develop n-tier application for Rich Internet Application (RIA). It is mainly used in RIA
applications like Silverlight, AJAX client, etc. It solves the major problem while developing business application like
decoupling the resource access, application logic and presentation layer. WCF RIA service was introduced in Silverlight 4
with .net framework 4, and it can be developed using visual studio2010.
Main problem developer are facing while developing the n-tier RIA application will be coordinating the application logic
between middle tier and presentation tier. This problem will be solved by using WCF RIA service, it will synchronize the
code between middle and presentation tier.
WCF RIA service will allow developer to write the set of service code and this server code will be available to the client side
without manually duplicate that programming logic. RIA service client will be updated with business rule and entity
present at the server side, when your recompile your project solution.
WCF RIA service will generate the code at the client side related to the service and domain entities declared at the server
side.
RIA service exposes the data from server side to client side using Domain service, RIA service framework implements the
each domain service as WCF service to access the data as business entity.
1.
2.
3.
4.
WCF RIA Domain Service

Problems solved in RIA Service
Query/Update process in RIA
How to create Silverlight-WCF RIA service
fig: WCF RIA Serive architecture
Domain Service
Domain services are WCF services that expose the business logic of a WCF RIA Services application. Domain service
contains set of business related data operation and it is exposed as WCF service.
Below diagram explains integration of the RIA service with WCF
The DomainService class is the base class for all classes that serve as domain services.
DomainServiceHost is the hosting class for domain service; internally

DomainServiceHost uses the WCF ServiceHost class to host the application.
A domain service class must be marked with the EnableClientAccessAttribute attribute to make the service available to the
client project. The EnableClientAccessAttributeattribute is automatically applied to a domain service when you select the
Enable client access check box in the Add New Domain Service Class dialog box. When the EnableClientAccessAttribute
attribute is applied to a domain service, RIA Services generates the corresponding classes for the client project.
Example:
[EnableClientAccess()]
public class EmployeeDomainService : DomainService
{
private EmployeeData data = EmployeeData.Instance;
public IEnumerable < Employee> GetEmployees()
{
return data.EmployeeList;
}
}
DomainContext class at the client side is used to consume the Domain service by using DomainClient object.
DomainContext class available inside the name space "System.ServiceModel.DomainServices.Client"
fig: WCF RIA Domain Serive architecture
Problem solved in RIA

1. To have best performance of the RIA application, app logic need to be available in client and server
side. This problem is solved by auto generating the code at the client side while recompiling the project.
2. Asynchronous call Asynch service call are supported in Domain service by using WCF infrastructure
3. Handling large data and data across different tier Large amount of data can be access and filter using
IQueryable object. Since entity objects used in domain service are serializable and so it can be access
across different layer
4. Security/Access control ASP.Net membership frameworks are integrated with RIA service to provide
security systems to RIA service
5. Validation Entity can be validated based using adding attribute to the class members
Example:
public class Member

{
[Key]
public int MemberId { get; set; }
public string Fname { get; set; }

[Required]
public string Lname { get; set; }
public DateTime JoinDate { get; set; }
[Range(30,90, ErrorMessage="sorry, you are either too young or too old for our
club!")]
public int Age { get; set; }
}
Querying/Updating data in RIA Service

The below diagram are self explanatory to discuss about the querying or updating the data using RIA service
fig: WCF RIA to Query data
fig: WCF RIA to update data
How to Create WCF RIA Service

Let us understand more about the WCF RIA service by creating Silverlight client application which read and updated the
Employee details from WCF RIA Service.
Step 1:Start the Visual Studio 2010 and click File -> New-> Project. Enter the project name and click Create
Step 2:Select Enable WCF RIA Services. This will make your Silverlight application to user WCF RIA service
Step 3:Create Data folder and add DataModel class as shown below. This is the data class which will return list of
Employee and update the employee list
Data Model class:

{
[Key]
public int EmpId { get; set; }
}
public partial class EmployeeData

{
private static readonly EmployeeData _instance = new EmployeeData();
private EmployeeData() { }
public static EmployeeData Instance
{
get
{
return _instance;
}
}
private List < Employee > empList = new List < Employee>()
{
new Employee() { EmpId
= 1, Fname = "Sam", Lname = "kumar",
JoinDate=new DateTime(2010,7, 21), Age=30},

new Employee() { EmpId = 2, Fname = "Ram", Lname = "kumar",
JoinDate=new DateTime(2009,6,8), Age=35},
new Employee() { EmpId = 3, Fname = "Sasi", Lname = "M",
JoinDate=new DateTime(2008,3,5), Age=39},
new Employee() { EmpId = 4, Fname = "Praveen", Lname = "KR",
JoinDate=new DateTime(2010, 5,1), Age=56},
new Employee() { EmpId = 5, Fname = "Sathish", Lname = "V",
JoinDate = new DateTime(2006,12,15), Age=72},
new Employee() { EmpId = 6, Fname = "Rosh", Lname = "A",
JoinDate=new DateTime(2009,2,2), Age=25}
};
public IEnumerable< Employee > EmployeeList
{
get
{
return empList;
}
}
public void Update(Employee updEmployee)

{
Employee existing = empList.Find(p => p.EmpId == updEmployee.EmpId);
if (existing == null)
throw new KeyNotFoundException("Specified Employee cannot be found");
existing.Fname = updEmployee.Fname;
existing.Lname = updEmployee.Lname;
existing.JoinDate = updEmployee.JoinDate;
existing.Age = updEmployee.Age;
}
}
Step 4:To expose the Employee related operation to the client side, Create domain service class. By right click project file
and select Add new item.
Step 5:Add code to return the Employee list
Domain Service class:

// TODO: Create methods containing your application logic.
[EnableClientAccess()]
public class EmployeeDomainService : DomainService
{
//Create instance of the Data access layer
private EmployeeData data = EmployeeData.Instance;
public IEnumerable< Employee> GetEmployee()
{
return data.EmployeeList ;
}
public void UpdateEmployee(Employee emp)
{
data.Update(emp);
}
}
Step 6:Compile the solution After compilation RIA service will generate the application logic at the client side using
DomainContext object. Enable show all files option for the solution and view the auto generated code.
Step 7:View the DomainContext class are created at the client side.
Domain Context class at client:

///
/// The DomainContext corresponding to the 'EmployeeDomainService' DomainService.
///
public sealed partial class EmployeeDomainContext : DomainContext
{
#region Extensibility Method Definitions
///
/// This method is invoked from the constructor once initialization is complete
and
/// can be used for further object setup.
///
partial void OnCreated();
#endregion
///
/// Initializes a new instance of the < see cref="EmployeeDomainContext"/> class.
///
public EmployeeDomainContext() :
this(new WebDomainClient< IEmployeeDomainServiceContract>(new
Uri("MyFirstRIAApplication-Web-EmployeeDomainService.svc",
UriKind.Relative)))
{
}
........
........
Step 8:Add DataGrid to Main.xaml file to display the employee details query from DataModel and add two buttons to
update and reject the data changed from client side.
Main.xaml
< Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
< StackPanel Orientation="Vertical" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
>
< sdk:DataGrid x:Name="EmployeeGrid" AutoGenerateColumns="True"

RowEditEnded="EmployeeGrid_RowEditEnded" />
< Button Content="Accept" Height="23" Name="btnAccept"
Width="75" Margin="5" Click="btnAccept_Click"
< Button Content="Reject" Height="23" Name="btnReject"
Width="75" Margin="5" Click="btnReject_Click"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
Main.xaml.vb
public partial class MainPage : UserControl
{
//create instance of Doman context class
EmployeeDomainContext ctx = new EmployeeDomainContext();
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
//Load query data , Read data from DAL layer to UI
EntityQuery< Employee> query = ctx.GetEmployeeQuery();
LoadOperation< Employee> lo = ctx.Load< Employee>(query);
EmployeeGrid.ItemsSource = lo.Entities;
}
private void EmployeeGrid_RowEditEnded(object sender,
DataGridRowEditEndedEventArgs e)
/>
{
}
private void btnAccept_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//Update the DAL with user changes
ctx.SubmitChanges();
}
private void btnReject_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//Roll back the user changes
ctx.RejectChanges();
}
}
Step 9:Run the application and see the output as shown below
Introduction to RESTful service

REST Representational State Transfer
"REST, an architectural style for building distributed hypermedia driven applications, involves building Resource-Oriented
Architecture (ROA) by defining resources that implement uniform interfaces using standard HTTP verbs (GET, POST, PUT,
and DELETE), and that can be located/identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)."
Any Service which follows this REST architecture style is called as RESTful service. It became very popular because of it
behavior, it is similar to the website i.e we can load the server information using web url in the browser. similarly we can
also access/modify the server resource using Url in RESTful service
RESTful service will allow the client (written in different language)to access or modify the resource in the
server using URL.
RESTful service uses the http protocol for its communication and it is stateless
RESTful service can transfer the data in XML,JSON,RSS,ATOM
SOAP
Simple Object Application

Protocol
SOAP is a package contain
message information and it
will be delivered by HTTP
Developers are mainly
preferred to user because of
its increase interoperability
Lot of tools are available in
the market to generate the
clients code from WSDL
POX(plain-old XML)
Plain raw XML message will be

used for communication
Developers using POX had to
write their own code for XML
and HTTP for request/response
message.
So most of the developers
moved back to SOAP
REST
REST defines more of a

transport-specific model
In reality HTTP is the only
protocol that is used in
practice today for
building RESTful
architecture.
This basic REST design principle establishes a one-to-one mapping between create, read, update, and delete (CRUD)
operations and HTTP methods. According to this mapping
To create a resource on the server, use POST.

To retrieve a resource, use GET.
To change the state of a resource or to update it, use PUT.
To remove or delete a resource, use DELETE.
RESTful service can be created by using WebGetAttribute and WebInvokeAttribute attribute. RESTful service has
provided separate attribute for GET operation (WebGet) because it want to make use of complete features. Other
operations like POST,PUT,DELETE will come under the WebInvoke attribute.
1. How to create RESTful Service

2. JSON using WCF service
How to create RESTful service

This sample explains about the creating the RESTful service to create and updating the resource information available at
the sever side. This Restful service will be consumed using client console application.
Step 1: For our example we are suing EmployeeData class as Data Access Layer for storing and reading the employee
information.
Data Model class:

namespace MyFirstRESTfulService
{
[DataContract]
{
[DataMember]
public int EmpId { get; set; }
[DataMember]
[DataMember]
[DataMember ]
[DataMember]
[DataMember]
public int Salary { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string Designation { get; set; }
}
public partial class EmployeeData

{
private static readonly EmployeeData _instance = new EmployeeData();
private EmployeeData() { }
public static EmployeeData Instance
{
get
{
return _instance;
}
}
private List< Employee> empList = new List < Employee>()

{
new Employee() { EmpId = 1, Fname = "Sam", Lname = "kumar", JoinDate=new
DateTime(2010,7, 21), Age=30,Salary=10000,Designation="Software Engineer"},
new Employee() { EmpId = 2, Fname = "Ram", Lname = "kumar", JoinDate=new
DateTime(2009,6,8), Age=35,Salary=10000,Designation="Senior Software Engineer"},
new Employee() { EmpId = 3, Fname = "Sasi", Lname = "M", JoinDate=new

DateTime(2008,3,5), Age=39,Salary=10000,Designation="Projet Manager"},
new Employee() { EmpId = 4, Fname = "Praveen", Lname = "KR", JoinDate=new
DateTime(2010, 5,1), Age=56,Salary=10000,Designation="Projet Manager"},
new Employee() { EmpId = 5, Fname = "Sathish", Lname = "V", JoinDate = new
DateTime(2006,12,15), Age=72,Salary=10000,Designation="Senior Software Engineer"},
new Employee() { EmpId = 6, Fname = "Rosh", Lname = "A", JoinDate=new
DateTime(2009,2,2), Age=25,Salary=10000,Designation="Software Engineer"}
};
public List< Employee> EmployeeList
{
get
{
return empList;
}
}
public void Update(Employee updEmployee)

{
Employee existing = empList.Find(p => p.EmpId == updEmployee.EmpId);
if (existing == null)
throw new KeyNotFoundException("Specified Employee cannot be found");
existing.Fname = updEmployee.Fname;
existing.Lname = updEmployee.Lname;
existing.Age = updEmployee.Age;
}
public void Delete(int empid)
{
Employee existing = empList.Find(p => p.EmpId == empid);
empList.Remove(existing);
}
public void Add(Employee newEmployee)
{
empList.Add(new Employee
{
EmpId = newEmployee.EmpId,
Fname = newEmployee.Fname,
Lname = newEmployee.Lname,
Age = newEmployee.Age,
JoinDate = DateTime.Now,
Designation = newEmployee.Designation,
Salary = newEmployee.Salary
});
}
}
}
Step 2: Lets start create EmployeeService (simple WCF) with ServiceContract, OperationContract and DataContract as
shown below.
Interface and Implementation:

[ServiceContract()]
{
[OperationContract]
List< Employee > GetAllEmployeeDetails();
[OperationContract]
Employee GetEmployee(int Id);
[OperationContract]
void AddEmployee(Employee newEmp);
[OperationContract]
void UpdateEmployee(Employee newEmp);
[OperationContract]
void DeleteEmployee(string empId);
}
[AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode=
AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Allowed )]
public class EmployeeService: IEmployeeService
{
public List < Employee > GetAllEmployeeDetails()
{
return EmployeeData.Instance.EmployeeList;
}
public Employee GetEmployee(int id)
{
IEnumerable< Employee > empList = EmployeeData.Instance.EmployeeList.Where(x =>
x.EmpId == id);
if (empList != null)
return empList.First< Employee >();
else
return null;
}
public void AddEmployee(Employee newEmp)

{
EmployeeData.Instance.Add(newEmp);
}
public void UpdateEmployee( Employee newEmp)

{
EmployeeData.Instance.Update(newEmp);
public void DeleteEmployee(string empId)

{
EmployeeData.Instance.Delete(System.Convert .ToInt32 (empId));
}
}
Step2: This service can be hosted as normal WCF service by creating the ServiceHost object and adding endpoint with
different binding. This is already explained in ConsoledHosted WCF Service.
As it is mention in introduction section of RESTful service, all the resource located in server side can be accessed using url.
Method exposed at the server side can be call using url, to do that we need to decorate the service method with WebGet
or WebInvoke attribute as mention below
[ServiceContract()]
{
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "Employee")]
[OperationContract]
List< Employee > GetAllEmployeeDetails();
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "Employee?id={id}")]
[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "POST", UriTemplate = "EmployeePOST")]
[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "PUT", UriTemplate = "EmployeePUT")]
[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "DELETE", UriTemplate = "Employee/{empId}")]
[OperationContract]
}
Step4: In the above interface declaration, you can find that we have added UriTemplate, it is nothing but a relative path
for accessing the service method using url. These methods can be called from client application or browser by typing url
as WCf Service url + Relative Path E.g: http://localhost:8090/MyService/EmployeeService/Employee
Step 5: Method is another option we can add to the WebInvoke attribute to specify the mode of transfer like PUT,
POST, or DELETE
Step 6: Now we have completed with service implementation project. Lets start with Hosting the RESTful service. For this
example we are using console application for hosting service. WCF framework has provided new class to host the RESTful
service i.e WebServiceHost. By hosting the restful service with WebServiceHost host class will automatically set the binding
and other configuration setting. In the below code you can see that I have only mention url for the hosting.
Uri httpUrl = new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyService/EmployeeService");

WebServiceHost host = new
WebServiceHost(typeof(MyFirstRESTfulService.EmployeeService), httpUrl);
host.Open();
foreach (ServiceEndpoint se in host.Description.Endpoints)
Console.WriteLine("Service is host with endpoint " + se.Address);
//Console.WriteLine("ASP.Net : " +
ServiceHostingEnvironment.AspNetCompatibilityEnabled);
Console.WriteLine("Host is running... Press < Enter > key to stop");
Console.ReadLine();
Step 7: We can access the RESTful service using browser. Just type the url in the web browser to read all the employee
details
If we need to get specific employee details, pass the employee as query parameter as we mention in UriTemplate of the
service.
Step 8:Now we can start with client application. For this example we can create a console application to read the
employee information and add new employee to the server resource. Below code first read the employee details from the
server and add new employee and once again it read the employee details to confirm the added resource.
WebChannelFactory < IEmployeeService > cf =

new WebChannelFactory< IEmployeeService >(
new Uri("http://localhost:8090/MyService/EmployeeService"));
IEmployeeService client = cf.CreateChannel();
var d = client.GetEmployee(1);
//Load all the Employee from the server and display
foreach (Employee e in
client.GetAllEmployeeDetails() )
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("EmpID:{0}, Name:{1} {2}",e.EmpId ,e.Fname
,e.Lname ));
}
//Add new user
client.AddEmployee(new Employee() { EmpId = 11, Fname = "John", Lname = "J",
JoinDate = new DateTime(2010, 7, 24), Age = 34, Salary = 10000, Designation = "Software
Engineer" });
Console.WriteLine("******************After adding new user ****************");
//Load all the Employee from the server and display
foreach (Employee e in
client.GetAllEmployeeDetails() )
{
Console.WriteLine(string.Format("EmpID:{0}, Name:{1} {2}",e.EmpId ,e.Fname
,e.Lname ));
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
Step 9: Run the application to view the output as shown below
JSON using WCF service

This article explains about configuring the WCF service to send the response business entity as JSON objects.
JSON JavaScript Object Notation.
The JSON text format is syntactically identical to the code for creating JavaScript objects .
In most of the browser based application, WCF can be consumed using javascript or jquery. When client makes the call to
the WCF, JSON or XML is used for mode of communication. WCF has option to send the response in JSON object. This can
be configured with WebGet or WebInvoke attribute.
In this sample we can create the sample RESTful service to expose the method to read/add/update/delete the employee
information. Read the How to create REST ful Service articles for more information.
On top of the Restful service we need to update the ResponseMode attribute to send the business entity as JSON object.
Below code shows how to configure the JSON response format.
[ServiceContract()]
{
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "Employee", ResponseFormat=WebMessageFormat.Json )]
[OperationContract]
List < Employee > GetAllEmployeeDetails();
[WebGet(UriTemplate = "Employee?id={id}", ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "POST", UriTemplate = "EmployeePOST", ResponseFormat =
WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "PUT", UriTemplate = "EmployeePUT", ResponseFormat =

WebMessageFormat.Json, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]
[OperationContract]
[WebInvoke(Method = "DELETE", UriTemplate = "Employee/{empId}", ResponseFormat =
WebMessageFormat.Json)]
[OperationContract]
}
You can see that WCF response are send as JSON object while accessing data using browser.
Below sample is the ASP.Net web application is used to explains about the CRUD from WCF service with response as JSON
object.
GET Method
function RefreshPage() {
var serviceUrl = "http://saravana:8090/MyService/EmployeeService/Employee";
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: serviceUrl,
dataType: 'json',
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
success: function (data) {
var itemRow = "< table >";
$.each(data, function (index, item) {
itemRow += "<tr><td>" + item.EmpId + "</td><td>" + item.Fname +
"</td></tr>";
});
itemRow += "</table>";
$("#divItems").html(itemRow);
},
error: ServiceFailed
});
}
POST Method
function POSTMethodCall() {
var EmpUser = [{ "EmpId": "13", "Fname": "WebClientUser", "Lname": "Raju",

"JoinDate": Date(1224043200000), "Age": "23", "Salary": "12000", "Designation": "Software
Engineer"}];
var st = JSON.stringify(EmpUser);
debugger;
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "http://saravana:8090/MyService/EmployeeService/EmployeePOST",
data: JSON.stringify(EmpUser),
dataType: "json",
// Play with response returned in JSON format
},
error:ServiceFailed
});
}
<
PUT Method
function PUTMethodCall() {
var EmpUser = [{ "EmpId": "3", "Fname": "WebClientUser", "Lname": "Raju",
"JoinDate": Date(1224043200000), "Age": "23", "Salary": "12000", "Designation": "Software
Engineer"}];
$.ajax({
type: "PUT",
url: "http://saravana:8090/MyService/EmployeeService/EmployeePUT",
data: EmpUser,
dataType: "json",
},
error: ServiceFailed
});
}
<
DELETE Method
function DELETEMethodCall() {
$.ajax({
type: "DELETE",
url: "http://saravana:8090/MyService/EmployeeService/Employee/2",
data: "{}",
dataType: "json",

},
error: function (msg) {
alert(msg);
}
});
}
WCF Security
This article explains about the security system available in WCF service. When WCF service is created, it is required to
secure the service so that only required client can consume the service. This will make sure that communication channel
between client and service is secured.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Types Of Authentication
Transfer Security Mode
Transport Security Protection Level
Message Security Level
Types of Authentication
WCF Authentication is basically referred to the verification of the caller who claims to the call the service. Verification of
caller will be referring as service authentication. WCF offers various authentication mechanisms
No authentication:
Service does not authenticate its caller and it will allow all clients to access.
Windows authentication:
Services use Kerberos when a windows domain service is available or NTLM when deployed in workgroup configuration. In
this mode caller provides the windows credential tickets/token to the service authentication.
UserName/Password:
Explicit username and password is provided to authenticate the service.
X509 certificates:
In this mode of security, client will send his certificate information to the service communication. Service host will check
and validate the caller certificate information to authenticate the service.
Custom mechanism:
WCF allows developers to replace the build-in authentication mechanism by providing user own protocol and credential
type for authentication.
Issue token:
The caller and the service can both rely on a secure token service to issue the client a token that service identify and trust.
E.g windows card space
Transfer Security Mode

When we talk about the client server secured communication, we have consider the three aspects to transfer security
1. Message integrity it ensures that message used in communication is not tampered by any malicious
party.
2. Message privacy It ensures confidentiality of the msessage so that no third part can even read the
message.
3. Transfer security it ensures that only authenticated user can able to read the content of the message.
WCF supports five different modes of transfer security to accomplish above three aspects.
No transfer security mode:
This ensure that no security is applied while communication between server and client
<wsHttpBinding >
<binding name="WCFSecurityExample">
<security mode="None"/>
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
Transport security mode:
When system is configured with Transport mode, WCF uses secured communication protocol. The available secure
transports are HTTPS, TCP, IPC and MSMQ. Transport security encrypts all communication on the channel and provides
integrity, privacy and mutual authentication. It provides point-to-point security.
One of main disadvantage is that it can only guarantee transfer security point-to-point, meaning it secure only at channel
level. Message inside the channel will not get secured. In case of distributed communication, multiple intermediaries
between service and client will not be secure.
It is mainly used in intranet application
<wsHttpBinding >
<security mode="Transport"/>
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
Message security mode:
In this mode of configuration, message will get encrypted. Encrypting the message rather than transport enables the
service to communicate securely over non secure transport such as HTTP. It provides end-to-end security.
One of the disadvantages of message security is that it may introduce call latency due to its inherent overhead.
It is mainly used in internet application.
<wsHttpBinding >
<security mode="Message"/>
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
Mixed transfer security mode:
It uses Transport security for message integrity, privacy and service authentication and it uses Message security for
securing client credential.
One of disadvantage of the mixed mode is that it will secure only point-to-point as nature of Transport security.
<wsHttpBinding >
<security mode="TransportWithMessageCredential"/>
</binding>
</wsHttpBinding>
Both security modes:
This mode Both transfer security mode uses both Transport security and Message security. So message is secured using
Message security and then it is transferred to the service using secure transport. This mode will maximize the security but
overload the performance.
<netMsmqBinding >
<security mode="Both"/>
</binding>
</netMsmqBinding>
Name
None
Transport
Message
Mixed
Both
BasicHttpBinding
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
NetTcpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
No
NetNamedPipeBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
No
No
No
WsHttpBinding
Yes
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
No
WsDualHttpBinding
Yes
No
Yes(default)
No
No
NetMsmqHttpBinding
Yes
Yes
Yes(default)
No
Yes
Transport Security Protection Level

This article explains about the how to configure the service with Transport security settings and what are the protection
level available.
When configure transfer security for Transport security, not all bindings support all client credential type
Below table list client credential for different binding
Name
None
Windows
Username
Certificate
BasicHttpBinding
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
Yes
NetTcpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
No
Yes
NetNamedPipeBinding
No
Yes(default)
No
No
WsHttpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
WsDualHttpBinding
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
NetMsmqHttpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
No
Yes
Below diagram explain about how set the client credential in configuration file
While developing Intranet application, it is good to go with Transportnode for transfer security because calls are invariably
point-to-point.
In NetTcpBinding/NetNamedPipeBinding/NetMsmqBinding supports three level of protection to transfer message
>
None: Message does not get protected while transfer from client and service
Signed: this protection level make sure that message is received from authenticated user, but it
message can be tampered by any third party.
Encrypted and Signed: This level makes sure that message is received from authenticated user and it
also encrypts the message
Message Security Level

This article explains about the how to configure the service with Message security settings and what are the client
credential available for this mode.
When configure transfer security for Message security, not all bindings support all client credential type
Below table list client credential for different binding
Name
None
Windows
Username
Certificate
Issued token
BasicHttpBinding
No
No
No
Yes
No
NetTcpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
Yes
NetNamedPipeBinding
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
WsHttpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
Yes
WsDualHttpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
Yes
NetMsmqHttpBinding
Yes
Yes(default)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Below diagram explain about how set the client credential in configuration file
WCF Service Impersonation

This article explains about how to impersonate the service call, when client request for the operation
When client try to access the service resource, it does not have permission to do so. In this case, developer can
impersonate the client request authorize to access the resource.
[OperationBehavior (Impersonation = ImpersonationOption.Allowed )]

public string GetData(int value)
{
return string.Format("You entered: {0}", value);
}
Impersonation takes three level of setting
1. NotAllowed : This indicate the service should not auto-impersonate

2. Allowed : automatically impersonate the caller whenever Windows authentication is used, but it has no
effect with other authentication mechanisms
3. Required: It makes sure that Windows authentication is used else it will throw exception.
Impersonate all operation:
Impersonation can be allowed for all operation by setting the service Authorization in service behavior section as shown
below.
<serviceBehaviors>
<serviceAuthorization impersonateCallerForAllOperations="true" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
WCF Windows Authentication

This article explains about the creating the WCF service with Windows Authentication enabled.
Step 1: Create the WCF service and hosted in IIS, change the configuration sections as mention below
Step 2: Verify that only "Windows Authentication" is enabled in IIS Authentication settings
Step 3: Create client application and create the proxy for the WCF service
Step 4: Make sure that client side configuration are updated with "Windows" Authentication as mention below
Step 5: Sample client code to consume the service
Note: If Metadata Exchange Endpoint is enabled in service configuration , you will get below error. Make sure it is
commented.
Security settings for this service require 'Anonymous' Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts
this service
If Client and Service configuration is not properly configured with Windows Authentication, you will get below error.
Make sure both are using same config settings.
The HTTP request is unauthorized with client authentication scheme 'Anonymous'. The authentication header received
from the server was 'Negotiate,NTLM'.
What's new in WCF 4.5

This article explains about the new features introduced in WCF 4.5. Microsoft has brought new feautes in WCF 4.5 to
reduce the developers job and maintain the code
All new features of WCF 4.5 is explained in different parts
Task-based Async Support, Config Validation

Contract-First Development, Simplified config
XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas, Configuration tooltips
Streaming Improvements, WebSocket, Single WSDL
HTTPS with IIS, Configuring WCF Services in Code
Compress the Binary Encoder, ChannelFactory Caching
UDP Endpoint, Multiple Authentication
IDN Support
What's new in WCF 4.5 - Part 1

WCF Configuration Validation
In old version of WCF, configuration files are not validated while building the project. But in WCF 4.5 while compiling the
project, validation errors will be displayed as warning message in visual studio.
Task-based Async Support

In WCF4.5, by default Task based async service operations methods are generated while Adding Service Reference. This is
done for both synchronous and asynchronous method. This allows the client application to call the service operation using
Task based programming model.
In WCF 4.5, if you select the Generate asynchronous operations while adding service reference. Old form of async
operations methods are created in the proxy class
Fig 1: Add service Reference from WCF 3.5
Fig 2: Add service Reference from WCF 4.5
Fig 3: Service Client proxy generated using WCF 3.5
Fig 4: Service Client proxy generated using WCF 4.5

Simplified Generated Configuration Files
In old version WCF, configuration files generated at the client side will have all default setting and it looks complex. But in
WCF 4.5, when you generate the configuration file using SvcUtil.exe tool or Service Reference only non-default value will
be available in the configuration file.
Fig 1: Configuration file generated in WCF 4.0
Fig 2: Configuration file generated in WCF 4.5
Contract-First Development
In WCF4.5, Using "SvcUtil.exe" you can generate only the contract files, in old version this feature is not available. If you
create the proxy using "SvcUtil.exe", system will generate the contract, service client operation and data contract in single
"service.cs" file. If you want to generate only contract you can use this simple command "/serviceContract".
Fig 3:Contract file creation using SvcUtil.exe

Default - ASP.NET Compatibility Mode
In general WCF service hosting AppDomain can run in two different mode
Mixed Transports Mode(Default): In this mode does not participate in ASP.NET HTTP pipeline and it
behaves consistently independent of hosting environment and transport.
ASP.Net Compatibility Mode: In this mode, service will participate in ASP.Net HTTP pipeline and it is
similar to old web service (.asmx). ASP.NET features such as File Authorization, UrlAuthorization, and
HTTP Session State are applicable to services running in this mode
In WCF 4.5 default aspNetCompatibilityEnabled attribute to true in web.config

Fig 1: WCF 4.5 Configuration file
Fig 2: WCF 4.0 Configuration file
Configuration tooltips
In WCF 4.5, tooltips are provided for configuration file, this makes the developers job simple.
XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas
XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas contains configurable quota values for XML dictionary readers which limit the amount of
memory utilized by an encoder while creating a message. While these quotas are configurable, the default values have
changed to lessen the possibility that a developer will need to set them explicitly
MaxArrayLength
Int32.MaxValue
MaxBytesPerRead
Int32.MaxValue
MaxDepth
128 nodes deep
MaxNameTableCharCount Int32.MaxValue
MaxStringContentLength Int32.MaxValue

Streaming Improvements
WCF 4.5 support for true asynchronous streaming. Let see what is mean by true asynchronous streaming
In previous version, When WCF service is sending streamed messages to multiple clients. Service will be
block its thread to transfer to next client till the slow client is received the message.
But in case of WCF4.5, service does not block one thread per client anymore and will free up the thread
to service another client
How to enable asynchronous streaming?
In previous versions of WCF when receiving a message for an IIS-hosted service that used streaming
message transfer, ASP.NET would buffer the entire message before sending it to WCF. This would cause
large memory consumption.
This buffering has been removed in .NET 4.5 and now IIS-hosted WCF services can start processing the
incoming stream before the entire message has been received, thereby enabling true streaming.
Generating a Single WSDL Document

In WCF 4.0 and lower version, generated wsdl file does not contain all metadata information in single file. WSDL file will
refer the other document using import statement as shown below. So when third party try to consume the service using
WSDL has to explicitly add these references.
In WCF 4.5, service provide two option to create the wsdl, we can create wsdl information in single file
WebSocket Support
WebSocket is a web technology providing dbi directional communications channels over a single TCP connection.
WebSocket is designed to be implemented in web browsers and web servers, but it can be used by any client or server
application. The WebSocket Protocol is an independent TCP-based protocol.
Two new bindings are added in WCF4.5 to support communication over WebSocket. NetHttpBinding NetHttpsBinding

Simple to expose HTTPS with IIS
WCF 4.0
WCF 4.0 has one of new feature called default endpoint, when ever new service is created default endpoint created with
basicHttpBinding. But if you need to expose the service in HTTPS binding then you need to Explicitly create the
endpoint and provide all information.
WCF 4.5
In WCF 4.5, default endpoint can be created with HTTPS binding, by simply specifying the SSL and enabling https in IIS
setting
How to create HTTPS with default endpoint?
Step 1:Create the WCF service and browse the WSDL, you will find only basicHttpBinding as shown below
Fig 1 : default 'basicHttpBinding'
Step 2:Host the WCF service in IIS and set the https binding for the website
Step 3:Browse the wsdl file from IIS, you can see the https enabled by default. It is so simple WCF 4.5
Configuring WCF Services in Code

In general, WCF provides option to configure the service using config file or through code.
In older version of WCF (4.0 or older), if you want to configure the web hosted service, then you need to create
aServiceHostFactory that created the ServiceHost and performed any needed configuration.
But in case of WCF 4.5 it is very simple, you need to define a public static method called Configure with the following
signature in your service implementation class. This method will be called before service host is opened.
Note: If static Configuration() method is specified, setting mention in app.config or web.config file will be ignored.
Code sample:
public class Service : IService
{
public static void Configure(ServiceConfiguration config)
{
ServiceEndpoint se = new ServiceEndpoint(new ContractDescription("IService1"),
new BasicHttpBinding(), new EndpointAddress("basic"));
se.Behaviors.Add(new MyEndpointBehavior());
config.AddServiceEndpoint(se);
config.Description.Behaviors.Add(new ServiceMetadataBehavior {
HttpGetEnabled = true });
config.Description.Behaviors.Add(new ServiceDebugBehavior {
IncludeExceptionDetailInFaults = true });
}
public string GetData(int value)
{
return string.Format("You entered: {0}", value);
}
}

Compress the Binary Encoder message
Begging from WCF 4.5 onwards, WCF binary message encoder supports message compression. Type of compression can
be mention in the binding settings
Points to remember:
1. Both the client and the service must configure the CompressionFormat property, if service is configured
with compression and client is not configured then system will throw exception.
2. Compression will work for HTTP, HTTPS and TCP protocol
3. You need to create the custom binding to use this feature
4. Compression is mostly useful if network bandwidth is a bottleneck. In the case where the CPU is the
bottleneck, compression will decrease throughput.
<customBinding>
<binding name="BinaryCompressionBinding">
<binaryMessageEncoding compressionFormat ="GZip"/>
<httpTransport />
</binding>
</customBinding>
ChannelFactory Caching
In some client application ChannelFactory is used to create a communication between Client and Service. Creating
ChannelFactor will increase the overhead by following operation.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Constructing the ContractDescription tree

Reflecting all of the required CLR types
Constructing the channel stack
Disposing of resources
In order to avoid this overhead, WCF 4.5 introduced the caching mechanism for ChannelFactor.
Caching will take three types of values
CacheSetting.AlwaysOn - All instances of ClientBase within the app-domain can participate in caching
CacheSetting.AlwaysOff - Caching is turned off for all instances of ClientBase
CacheSetting.Default - Only instances of ClientBase created from endpoints defined in configuration
files participate in caching within the app-domain
ClientBase < IService>.CacheSetting
= CacheSetting.AlwaysOn;
foreach (string id in lstEmpIds)

{
using (TestClient proxy = new TestClient(new BasicHttpBinding(),
new EndpointAddress(address)))
{
// ...
proxy.GetEmployeeDetails(id);
// ...
}
}

Support for UDP Endpoint
WCF 4.5 allows to use the UDP protocol for communication, so that developer can create the oneway operation
message(fire and forget). In certain scenario UDP is much faster than TCP protocol, because TCP add extra validation to
check message are delivered in order. But in case of UDP data deliver is not guaranteed
Configuration settings
<service name="TestService" behaviorConfiguration="MyServiceBehaviour">
<endpoint address="" binding="udpBinding" bindingConfiguration
="MyBindingSetting"
contract="iservice">
<identity>
</identity>
</endpoint>
</service>
Multiple Authentication Support

When you develop an ASP.Net application, multiple authentication modes are enabled by changing the Authentication
setting on virtual directory
Similarly WCF4.5 provides multiple authentications for single endpoint when using the HTTP transport and transport
security. In old version WCF, multiple authentications for single service can be provided by creating different endpoint. But
in case of WCF4.5 multiple authentications can be configured using single endpoint.
Steps to enable Multiple Authentication in WCF

Step 1: Create WCF service in host in IIS, Set the authentication as mention below
Step 2: Set the security mode to Transport or TransportCredentialOnly and clientCredentialType to

"InheritedFromHost"
<security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
<transport clientCredentialType="InheritedFromHost"/>
</security>

Internationalized Domain Names support
Internationalized domain name is a domain name that contains non-ASCII characters. Now WCF 4.5 support the IDN.
Means ?
1. Ability to host WCF with IDN name

2. Client can call the service by using IDN name
Fig 1: Display the config settings
Uri has two properties Host and DnsSafeHost. These properties contain Unicode or Punycode values depending upon the
IDN configuration settings
"None" - no conversions are performed by Uri.Host or Uri.DnsSafeHos

"AllExceptIntranet" - uri.Host remains Unicode and uri.DnsSafeHost is converted to Punycode
"All" - uri.DnsSafeHost is converted to Punycode for internet addresses, and remains Unicode for
intranet addresses
Note:This setting is not required to be configured for Windows 8 and newer versions.

Road Map For WCF

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Table of Contents

Introduction to WCF ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Service Runtime ............................................................................................................................................ 19

Service Contract .................................................................................................................................................... 54

Querying/Updating data in RIA Service .............................................................................................................. 122

What's new in WCF 4.5 - Part 8 .......................................................................................................................... 160

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

2. Default template is available for WCF

3. WCF - Test Client tools for testing the WCF service.

Difference between WCF and Web service

[WebService] attribute has to be added to the

[ServiceContraact] attribute has to be added to the

[WebMethod] attribute represents the method

[OperationContract] attribute represents the method

One-way, Request- Response are the different

One-Way, Request-Response, Duplex are different type

operations supported in web service

of operations supported in WCF

System.Xml.serialization name space is used for

System.Runtime.Serialization namespace is used for

XML 1.0, MTOM(Message Transmission

XML 1.0, MTOM, Binary, Custom

Optimization Mechanism), DIME, Custom

Can be accessed through HTTP, TCP, Custom

Can be accessed through HTTP, TCP, Named pipes,

Basic Web service communication. No security by default

Web services with WS-* support. Supports transactions

Web services with duplex contract and transaction support

WSFederationHttpBinding Web services with federated security. Supports transactions

Communication between WCF applications by using queuing. Supports transactions

Binding and Behavior

Contracts and Service Host

Message and Channel

WCF Client and Metadata

1. Get the Proxy class and service end point information

3. Close the WCF client object.

Figure 1: WCF Architecture

Policies and Binding

Throttling Behavior- Controls how many messages are processed.

Activation and Hosting

Windows Activation Service

Windows console and form application

Windows service application (formerly known as NT services)

Web server IIS6

Web server IIS7 - Windows Process Activation Service (WAS)

A summary of hosting options and supported features.

Executable Process/ App Domain

IIS 5/6 Hosting

This screen will appear when we run the application.

MyService.cs - Proxy class for the WCF service

output.config - Configuration information about the service.

Step 2: Add the System.ServiceModel reference to the project.

Windows Activation Service

1. Enable WCF for non-http protocols

Enable WCF for non-http protocols

Create WAS hosted service

Step 3: Implementation of the IMathService interface is shown below.

Enable different binding to the hosted service

Windows Service Hosting

The service will be hosted, when system starts

Bindings and Channel Stacks

Figure 1: Bindings and Channel Stacks (draw new diagram)

Administrative (Configuration file):