This easy-to-use introduction to Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is ideal for developers who want to learn to build services on a company network or as part of an enterprise system. Built into Windows Vista and Longhorn, and available for Windows XP and Windows 2003, WCF provides a platform for service-oriented architecture (SOA) that enables secure and reliable communication among systems within an organization or across the Internet. With WCF, software developers can focus on their business applications and not the plumbing required to connect them. Furthermore, with WCF developers can learn a single programming API to achieve results previously provided by ASMX, Enterprise Services and .NET Remoting. Learning WCF removes the complexity of using this platform by providing detailed answers, explanations and code samples for the most common questions asked by software developers. Windows Communication Foundation (or WCF, formerly code name "Indigo") provides a set of programming APIs that make it easy to build and consume secure, reliable, and transacted services. This platform removes the need for developers to learn different technologies such as ASMX, Enterprise Services and .NET Remoting, to distribute system functionality on a corporate network or over the Internet. The first truly service-oriented platform, WCF provides innovations that decouple service design and development from deployment and distribution - creating a more flexible and agile environment. WCF also encapsulates all of the latest web service standards for addressing, security, reliability and more.

Provides information and examples on using Windows Communication Foundation to build service-oriented applications.

Programming WCF Services is the authoritative, bestselling guide to Microsoft's unified platform for developing modern service-oriented applications on Windows. Hailed as the definitive treatment of WCF, this book provides unique insight, rather than documentation, to help you learn the topics and skills you need for building WCF-based applications that are maintainable, extensible, and reusable. Author Juval Löwy -- one of the world's top .NET experts -- revised this edition to include the newest productivity-enhancing features of .NET Framework 4 and the Azure AppFabric Service Bus, as well as the latest WCF ideas and techniques. By teaching you the why and the how of WCF programming, Programming WCF Services will help you master WCF and make you a better software engineer. Learn about WCF architecture and essential building blocks, including key concepts such as reliability and transport sessions Use built-in features such as service hosting, instance and concurrency management, transactions, disconnected queued calls, security, and discovery Master the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus, the most revolutionary piece of the new cloud computing initiative Increase your productivity and the quality of your WCF services by taking advantage of relevant design options, tips, and best practices in Löwy's ServiceModelEx framework Discover the rationale behind particular design decisions, and delve into rarely understood aspects of WCF development "If you choose to learn WCF, you've chosen well. If you choose to learn with the resource and guidance of Juval Löwy, you've done even better... there are few people alive today who know WCF as well." --Ron Jacobs, Senior Technical Evangelist for WCF, Microsoft Corporation

Written by Microsoft software legend Juval Lowy, Programming WCF Services is the authoritative introduction to Microsoft's new, and some say revolutionary, unified platform for developing service-oriented applications (SOA) on Windows. Relentlessly practical, the book delivers insight, not documentation, to teach developers what they need to know to build the next generation of SOAs. After explaining the advantages of service-orientation for application design and teaching the basics of how to develop SOAs using WCF, the book shows how you can take advantage of built-in features such as service hosting, instance management, asynchronous calls, synchronization, reliability, transaction management, disconnected queued calls and security to build best in class applications. Programming WCF Services focuses on the rationale behind particular design decisions, often shedding light on poorly-documented and little-understood aspects of SOA development. Developers and architects will learn not only the "how" of WCF programming, but also relevant design guidelines, best practices, and pitfalls. Original techniques and utilities provided by the author throughout the book go well beyond anything that can be found in conventional sources. Based on experience and insight gained while taking part in the strategic design of WCF and working with the team that implemented it, Programming WCF Services provides experienced working professionals with the definitive work on WCF. Not only will this book make you a WCF expert, it will make you a better software engineer. It's the Rosetta Stone of WCF.

“Whether this is the first time or the fifty-first time you’re using WCF, you’ll learn something new by reading this book.” --Nicholas Allen, Program Manager, Web Services, Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is the easiest way to produce and consume Web services on the Microsoft platform. With .NET 3.5, WCF has been extensively revamped--and Visual Studio 2008 gives developers powerful new tools for utilizing it. Essential Windows Communication Foundation shows developers exactly how to make the most of WCF with .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008. Drawing on extensive experience working with early adopters, three Microsoft insiders systematically address the topics developers ask about WCF. The authors approach each subject with practical advice and present best practices, tips, and tricks for solving problems. Throughout, you’ll find detailed explanations, solutions for the “pain points” of WCF development, and an extensive collection of reusable code examples. Coverage includes Using WCF contracts to define complex structures and interfaces Understanding WCF’s channel stacks and channel model architecture Configuring the WCF communication stack to use only the protocols you need Using standard and custom service behaviors to manage concurrency, instances, transactions, and more Serializing data from .NET types to XML Infosets and representing Infosets “on the wire” Hosting WCF services via IIS, managed .NET applications, and Windows Activation Services WCF security, in depth: authentication; transport and message-level security; and Internet and intranet scenarios Improving reliability: exception handling, diagnostics, and more Workflow services: new integration points between WCF 3.5 and Windows Workflow Foundation Building client-to-client, peer network-based applications Utilizing WCF for non-SOAP Web services: AJAX and JSON examples and .NET 3.5 hosting classes Microsoft’s Steve Resnick, Richard Crane, and Chris Bowen are technology experts at the Microsoft Technology Center in Boston. They specialize in helping customers improve their technical agility by applying WCF and related technologies. Resnick has specialized in Internet technologies and distributed computing at Microsoft since 1995. He is a frequent speaker at Microsoft events and is now technology director for the U.S. Microsoft Technology Centers. Crane has more than 15 years of experience in senior software development roles. He specializes in large-scale Web sites, distributed computing, transactional systems, and performance analysis. Bowen has been an architect and developer for more than 15 years at companies such as Monster.com and Staples and is co-author of Professional Visual Studio 2005 Team System. Foreword xxv Preface xxvii Chapter 1: Basics 1 Chapter 2: Contracts 33 Chapter 3: Channels 91 Chapter 4: Bindings 111 Chapter 5: Behaviors 181 Chapter 6: Serialization and Encoding 241 Chapter 7: Hosting 287 Chapter 8: Security 315 Chapter 9: Diagnostics 375 Chapter 10: Exception Handling 403 Chapter 11: Workflow Services 423 Chapter 12: Peer Networking 459 Chapter 13: Programmable Web 503 Appendix: Advanced Topics 537 Index 553

A guide to architecting, designing, and building distributed applications with Windows Communication Foundation Windows Communication Foundation is the .NET technology that is used to build service-oriented applications, exchange messages in various communication scenarios, and run workflows. This guide enables developers to create state-of-the-art applications using this technology. Written by a team of Microsoft MVPs and WCF experts, this book explains how the pieces of WCF 4.0 build on each other to provide a comprehensive framework to support distributed enterprise applications. Experienced developers will learn both theory and practical application using the familiar Wrox approach. .NET developers will learn to design services, create a hosting environment with Dublin, build cloud-based integrations, and much more. Coverage Includes: Design Principles and Patterns Service Contracts and Data Contracts Bindings Clients Instancing Workflow Services Understanding WCF Security WCF Security in Action Federated Authentication in WCF Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Creating a SOA Case Creating the Communication and Integration Case Creating the Business Process Hosting

Built on the Microsoft .NET Framework and around the Web Services architecture, Windows Communication Foundation (formerly known as Indigo ) is a technology for building and running connected systems providing reliable and secure transactional messaging.This book, targeted for developers currently developing applications using the .NET Framework and related technologies, will discuss the new Windows Communication Foundation technologies available from Microsoft, the next generation of configuring and deploying network-distributed services. Some of the topics covered include:· Addresses· Binding· Contracts· Clients· Services· Security· Deployment· Management· Hosting