Windows Communication Foundation

The Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), previously known as Indigo, is a

.NET Core 1.0, released 2016, did not support WCF server side code. WCF support was added to the platform with support for .NET Core 3.1, .NET 5, and .NET 6 in 2022.^[3]

The architecture

WCF is a tool often used to implement and deploy a service-oriented architecture (SOA). It is designed using service-oriented architecture principles to support

Endpoints

A WCF client connects to a WCF service via an endpoint. Each service exposes its contract via one or more endpoints. An endpoint has an address (which is a URL specifying where the endpoint can be accessed) and binding properties that specify how the data will be transferred.

The

With the release of the .NET Framework 3.5 in November 2007, Microsoft released an encoder that added support for the JSON serialization format to WCF.^[4]

Behaviors

Behaviors are types that modify or extend service or client functionality. Behaviors allow the developer to create custom processing, transformation, or inspection that is applied to messages as they are sent or received. Some examples of uses for behaviors are:

• Controlling whether metadata is published with a service.
• Adding security features to a service, such as impersonation, authorization,^[5] or managing tokens
• Recording information about messages, such as tracking, tracing, or logging
• Message or parameter validation
• Invoking all additional operations when messages are received—such as notifying users when certain messages arrive

Behaviors implement the IServiceBehavior interface for service extensions, the IEndpointBehavior for endpoints, the IContractBehavior interface for service contracts, or the IOperationBehavior for operations. Service behaviors are used for message processing across a service, rather than processing that would be specific to a single operation.

Interoperability

WCF supports interoperability with WCF applications running on the same Windows machine or WCF running on a different Windows machines or standard Web services built on platforms such as Java running on Windows or other operating systems. In addition to SOAP, WCF 4 supports non-SOAP XML, RSS, JSON, and binary formats for external communication via HTTP or HTTPS.^[6]

See also

• Microsoft Connected Services Framework
• Web Services Enhancements
• Service Component Architecture (SCA) and Service Data Objects (SDO), which are alternatives to WCF in the Java world standardized by OASIS.
• WCF Data Services

References

• "What Is Windows Communication Foundation".
  MSDN
  . Microsoft. 10 August 2023.
• "Windows Communication Foundation Architecture". MSDN. Microsoft. 15 September 2021.

Further reading

• Craig McMurtry, Marc Mercuri, and Nigel Watling: Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation: Hands-On, SAMS Publishing, May 26, 2004,
  ISBN 0-672-32877-1
• Steve Resnick, Richard Crane, Chris Bowen: Essential Windows Communication Foundation (WCF): For .NET Framework 3.5, Addison-Wesley, February 11, 2008,
  ISBN 0-321-44006-4
• Craig McMurtry, Marc Mercuri, Nigel Watling, Matt Winkler: Windows Communication Foundation Unleashed (WCF), Sams Publishing, March 6, 2007,
  ISBN 0-672-32948-4
• Juval Löwy: Programming WCF Service, O'Reilly Media, Inc., February 20, 2007,
  ISBN 0-596-52699-7
• Pablo Cibraro, Kurt Claeys, Fabio Cozzolino, Johann Grabner: Professional WCF 4: Windows Communication Foundation with .NET 4, Wrox, June 15, 2010,
  ISBN 0-470-56314-1
• Andrew Zhu: Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0 Cookbook:Chapter 3, Packt Publishing, September 2010,
  ISBN 978-1-84968-078-3

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: .NET Development Foundation

• Windows Communication Foundation, MSDN Windows Communication Foundation portal.
• MSDN Library: Windows Communication Foundation
• WCF Security Guide Archived 2011-03-14 at the Wayback Machine, Microsoft Patterns & Practices - Improving Web Services Security: Scenarios and Implementation Guidance for WCF. Released Aug 1, 2008.
• Understanding WCF Services in Silverlight 2 Archived 2011-03-12 at the Wayback Machine - In depth explanation of WCF services for Silverlight clients.
• David Chappell: "Introduction to WCF" and "Dealing with Diversity", two papers covering WCF. November 2007.
• Getting Started with WCF RIA Services - part 1 of the series articles on WCF RIA Services