Using WCF for providing web serviceWCF (Windows Communication Foundation) is a technology for communication built in the framework of .Net 2.0. It combines the communication services of .Net which are remoting, MSMQ, Web services and COM+ that were released in the earlier versions.
WCF is based on the principle of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). It has been mainly designed to provide better interoperability and service orientation that helps to build manageable applications. It satisfies the various communication requirements for the current web-based applications like performance, interoperability, security and transaction support. It is built such that it provides smooth transition for a developer to build code in a service oriented approach from the traditional object oriented methodology. Overview on WCF WCF consists of runtime and a set of APIs to facilitate development of systems to communicate with other web applications. A WCF service consists of endpoints which define what messages to be sent, where and how to be sent, etc. This information called metadata, is used to help design the clients for availing a WCF service. An endpoint contains the following: Address:: where the service is located Binding : how to communicate with the service Contract:: operation that service can execute WCF provides different bindings needed for communication, some of which are defined as: BasicHttpBinding: Communication through SOAP over HTTP to connect to Web services that conform to WS-I Profile specification WsHttpBinding: Communication with Web services and clients that support the WS-* protocols over HTTP NetTCPBinding: Reliable, secure and high performance communication between two WCF entities over TCP NetNamedPipesBinding: WCF-to-WCF communication between processes residing on same Windows based systems NetMsmqBinding: Communication between two software entities in WCF using MSMQ WCF allows different mechanisms for encoding the message that specifies how it is formatted. Following are the standard options, in addition to the customized option that can be used with the help of built-in extension points: • Text
encoding – used for interoperability
One-way: One-way communication, client does not wait for the response and hence methods of this type return void. Duplex: Two-way communication where the client initiates a call on the service and also provides a callback URI so that the server notifies the client through the callback channel after service. Request-Reply: Client expects a reply for the method called on the server which usually returns values correlated to the request as per the terms of the contract Specifications of WCF WCF adheres to all the specifications defined by WS-*. These are the standards defined by group companies like IBM, Microsoft, etc. for exposing a service in the web through a common protocol. Due to its adherence, WCF is compatible with other languages (like Java) and leverage the features provided in languages of .Net like C# & VB.net. Following are the specifications: Messaging (WS-Addressing) – helps to make SOAP to be independent of underlying protocol for carrying address information Security – (WS-Security, WS_Trust and WS-Secure Conversation) – define authentication, data integrity and privacy features for the service Reliability (WS-Reliable messaging) – Ensures end-to-end communication when multiple Web services are involved during message traversal Transactions (WS-Co-ordination and WS_Atomic Transaction) – Enables transactions that occur during web conversations Metadata (WS-Policy and WS-Metadata exchange) – Information about a web service that specifies dynamic behavior and that cannot be stated in WSDL form is expressed as metadata WCF provides better tools for deploying and maintaining applications like configuration editor, trace viewer, message logging tool, a vast number of performance counters and support for Windows Management Instrumentation. Following are the different ways of hosting WCF service: • Self-hosting
which means service exists as long as the Service host class exists WCF, thus provides a layered architecture for building distributed applications with many options for encoding, transport, message pattern, etc. Hence, while designing a WCF service, care needs to be taken to select the suitable option for satisfying the given requirement. For example, if performance is the main concern, the message content can be in SOAP format but encoded and communicated in binary form for transport. Also, decision to migrate from existing technology (remoting, ASP.net web services, etc.) to WCF should be made based on the need to leverage its features such as interoperability, security, transaction support and better management facilities. To host a web service using WCF, following are the steps need to be followed: a) Define the service contract which specifies the operations that the service supports. Each contract is created by defining an interface (in C or Visual Basic or C++) and each method in it represents the service operation. Each interface must have ServiceContractAttribute applied to it and each operation must have OperationContractAttribute applied so that they are exposed. b) Implement the contract by defining a class that implements the interface with the code for executing the business logic of the contract.
Benefits of WCF: • Adherence
to WS-* specifications gives the ability to integrate with applications
written in other languages like JAVA and C++ along with high level of
interoperability WCF is a right concept introduced by Microsoft to meet the current expectations of development of distributed applications in terms of several requirements for the agile business needs.
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