Developing a WCF Service Library and Hosting it with a Custom App Using VS2K8
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In this article, we will focus on developing a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) library, hosting it using a custom application and finally test it by developing a simple WCF client using Windows Forms. This article can serve as an excellent walk through resource for beginners.
A
downloadable zip file is available for this article.
In my previous article, we focused on developing a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) library, turning it into a WCF web service, hosting it on an IIS web server and finally tested it by developing a simple WCF client using Windows Forms. This article is quite different from the previous one as we will develop a custom application from scratch to host a WCF library.
Please be aware that we are not directly creating a WCF web service in this article. In fact, Visual Studio 2008 beta 2 includes two templates, "WCF Service Application" and "WCF Service Library." "WCF Service Application" itself is a direct web service application relying on WCF technology (which is similar to the ASP.NET web service development). "WCF Service Library" however is a compiled component which can be deployed as a web service or a Windows service or even as a part of a customized hosting application.
If you have not configured IIS after installing Visual Studio 2008 beta 2, it is highly advised that you run the following (for proper mappings and automated IIS configuration):
ServiceModelReg.exe /i /x
The entire source code for this article is available in the form of a downloadable zip file. The solution was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. I didn't really test it in any other environment. I request that you post in the discussion area if you have any problems with execution.
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