Automatic Format Selection in WCF REST/HTTP Services

REST/HTTP Services in WCF is nothing new, it’s been there since 2008, version 3.5 of the framework. Yesterday I came across a question that whether a particular operation can support both XML/JSON format and return response in the suitable format as demanded by the client program. To my knowledge the answer was a both Yes [...]

Serialization in WCF–Part I

In general, when we work with WCF services Serialization/Deserialization is taken care by the framework under the hood.We rarely bother about what serializer is used and how it works.But it’s important to understand this as the message payload generated is fully controlled by serializer you use. So a better understanding of the serialization process /techniques [...]

Identity & ServiceSecurityContext in WCF

In an Windows environment every process(or code) executes under some valid user identity which is nothing but a authenticated Windows account.In .NET Framework we have the interface System.Security.Principal.IIdentity which provides the basic definition of identity.

WCF & MetaData Exchange – Part 1

Web Services have to expose metadata so that clients can understand how to interact with and make use of that service endpoint.This metadata is generally exchanged in the form Web Services Description Language(WSDL) and XSD schemas describing the bindings,network addresses,messages to be exchanged & also operations and data types.WCF provides a very rich infrastructure and [...]

Fileless Activation of WCF Service in .NET 4.0

Every WCF service needs to have a host process.It can be a windows service,IIS or any other .NET program.This host process will create an instance of the System.ServiceModel.ServiceHost class or any custom class deriving from System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.This host class will manage the service configurations, behaviors, channels and make it accessible to the outside world.When a service [...]

RIA Services in .NET – A Closer Look

The RIA Services provides a mechanism of exposing data and business logic for consumption by the Rich Internet Applications like Silverlight.These are basically WCF services with some additional plumbing which makes it very easy to develop and consume service from Silverlight applications.Since these are basically WCF services they can be  consumed from other types of [...]