Vista Series: Windows Communication Foundation
05 Jun 2006 SearchVB.com


In the first installment of this 3-part series, we covered the Windows Presentation Foundation. Now we'll tackle the Windows Communication Foundation (formerly known as "Indigo"). WCF is a unified programming model that merges existing Microsoft distributed technologies into a single service-oriented framework. This unification approach – along with support for the most important WS-* standards – means that your life as a Microsoft developer just got a little easier ...and a little broader. Browse the resources below to learn how to simplify application-to-application communication in a cross-platform world.
Don't miss the first guide in this Vista Series covering the Windows Presentation Foundation or the concluding guide on the Windows Workflow Foundation. If you'd like to submit additional resources for this series or suggest other topics for new learning guides, please send us an e-mail and let us know.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WCF Quickstart
WCF Downloads and Samples
WCF Hands-On Labs
WCF Articles and Columns
WCF Tutorials and How-To's
WCF Webcasts and Video
WCF Reference and Documentation
WCF Forums and Blogs
VISIT OUR OTHER LEARNING GUIDES


QUOTED FROM MICROSOFT.COM...
"Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code-named "Indigo") is a set of .NET technologies for building and running connected systems. It is a new breed of communications infrastructure built around the Web services architecture. Advanced Web services support in Windows Communication Foundation provides secure, reliable, and transacted messaging along with interoperability. The service-oriented programming model of Windows Communication Foundation is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework and simplifies development of connected systems. Windows Communication Foundation unifies a broad array of distributed systems capabilities in a composable and extensible architecture, spanning transports, security systems, messaging patterns, encodings, network topologies, and hosting models."

WCF Quickstart
Table of Contents
FAQ: Windows Communication Foundation FAQ (windowscommunication.net)
FAQ: Windows Vista Developer FAQ (Microsoft)
FAQ: Go-Live license for WinFX Runtime Components (Microsoft)
Article: The Windows Communication Foundation: A Primer (Laurence Moroney)
Article: What is the Windows Communication Foundation? (Microsoft)
White Paper: Introducing Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft)
Overview: Windows Communication Foundation architecture (Microsoft)
Overview: Vista: Communication infrastructure (Microsoft)
Overview: Basic Windows Communication Foundation programming (Microsoft)
Roadmap: Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft)

WCF Downloads
Table of Contents
Download: Windows Vista, Windows SDK and WinFX beta (Microsoft)
Demo App: Newtellivision (Newtellivision.tv)
Samples: Custom Channels (Microsoft)
Samples: Interop (Microsoft)
Samples: Miscellaneous (Microsoft)
Samples: Peer Channel (P2P) (Microsoft)
Samples: REST and RSS (Microsoft)
Samples: Security (Microsoft)
Samples: Visual Studio Code Snippets (Microsoft)
Samples: WCF/Indigo code examples from DevConnections (Michele Bustamante)
Tool: Service Model Metadata Utility (Svcutil.exe)
Tool: Find Private Key (FindPrivateKey.exe)
Tool: ServiceModel Registration (ServiceModelReg.exe)
Tool: TraceViewer (SvcTraceViewer.exe)
Tool: WCF Credential Manager (IndCred)
Tool: COM+ Service Model Configuration (ComSvcConfig.exe)
Tool: Configuration Editor (SvcConfigEditor.exe)
Tool: WS-AT Configuration (wsatConfig.exe)
Download: Resources for Custom Channel Authors (Microsoft)
Project: Web Service Software Factory (gotdotnet)
Chapter 3: Programming Indigo: The programming model (David Pallmann)
Chapter 5: Programming Indigo: Contracts (David Pallmann)

WCF Hands-On Labs
Table of Contents
Microsoft: "Try out 2 new Virtual Labs that will walk you through the latest functionality of the exciting new features of Windows Communication Foundation. Windows Communication Foundation (previously codenamed "Indigo") is Microsoft's unified framework for rapidly building distributed applications. With WCF, you can build secure, reliable, transacted Web services applications that interoperate with applications built on other platforms and integrate with the applications you're building on today's .NET technologies. These labs will guide you through the fundamentals of building powerful WCF services. You don't even need to install the bits—just use the Virtual Labs to see what WCF can do for you. You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module. You can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks at any time."
Lab: The fundamentals of programming the Windows Communication Foundation
Lab: Reliable and transacted messaging with the Windows Communication Foundation

WCF Articles
Table of Contents
Article: Connecting Web services with the System.ServiceModel, Part 1 (SearchVB.com)
Article: Connecting Web services with the System.ServiceModel, Part 2 (SearchVB.com)
Article: Designing service contracts with Windows Communication Foundation (SearchVB.com)
Q&A: Microsoft's DeVadoss on what WCF brings to SOA, Part 1 (SearchWebServices.com)
Q&A: Microsoft's DeVadoss on what WCF brings to SOA, Part 2 (SearchWebServices.com)
Article: What is the Windows Communication Foundation? (Microsoft)
Article: Introduction to building Windows Communication Foundation services (Microsoft)
Article: From .NET remoting to the Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft)
Article: Making your application a Windows Vista application (Microsoft)
Article: Windows Communication Foundation Architecture overview (TheServerSide.NET)
Article: Versioning WCF service contracts (Das Blonde)
Article: Introducing Indigo: An early look (Microsoft)
Article: Introduction to building Windows Communication Foundation services (Microsoft)
Article: Best Practices: Data contract versioning (Microsoft)
Article: Service Versioning (Microsoft)
Article: WCF: Steroids for your enterprise service-oriented architecture (Part 1) (ASP Alliance)
Article: WCF: Steroids for your enterprise service-oriented architecture (Part 2) (ASP Alliance)
Article: The good, the bad, and the ugly of service-oriented architecture (ASP Alliance)
Article: Discover mighty instance management techniques for developing WCF apps (MSDN Magazine)
Article: Learn the ABCs of programming Windows Communication Foundation (MSDN Magazine)
Article: The Windows Communication Foundation: A primer (Microsoft)
Article: Windows Communication Foundation: The security model (Microsoft)
Article: Getting started with Windows Communication Foundation transactions (Philotic Tech Blog)
Article: Windows Communication Foundation: Service reliability is the key (Philotic Tech Blog)
Article: Vista development: What's out for IIS; what's in for P2P (TheServerSide.NET)
Article: Digging into channel types (Microsoft)

WCF Tutorials
Table of Contents
Tip: WCF: Microsoft's 'newest' services way (SearchWebServices.com)
Tip: Windows Communication Foundation with Windows Vista and UAC (Mark Michaelis' Weblog)
Tip: Getting out of code snippet hell (Das Blonde)
Tutorial: Connecting Web services with the System.ServiceModel (TheServerSide.NET)
Tutorial: Windows Communication Foundation and WinFX (CodeProject)
Tutorial: Developing reliable Web services using Indigo and WASP (Longhorn Corner)
Tutorial: Content-based routing Web services in .NET and J2EE (Longhorn Corner)
Tutorial: Creating a simple WCF service for use with "Atlas" (ASP.NET)
Tutorial: How to enable WCF tracing (Madhu Ponduru)
Tutorial: How to write a simple WCF service and client (Microsoft)
Tutorial: Define a Windows Communication Foundation service contract (Microsoft)
Tutorial: WCF Message Logging (Microsoft)
Tutorial: WCF Tracing (Microsoft)
Tutorial: WCF Performance Counters (Microsoft)
Tutorial: WCF Event Logging (Microsoft)
How-to: Implement a Windows Communication Foundation Service Contract (Microsoft)
How-to: Run a Basic Windows Communication Foundation Service (Microsoft)
How-to: Create a Simple Windows Communication Foundation Proxy Class (Microsoft)
How-to: Configure a Basic Windows Communication Foundation Client (Microsoft)
How-to: Use a Windows Communication Foundation Proxy (Microsoft)
How-to: Create a Request-Response Contract (Microsoft)
How-to: Create a One-Way Contract (Microsoft)
How-to: Create a Duplex Contract (Microsoft)
How-to: Select a Serializer (Microsoft)
How-to: Create a Basic Data Contract For a Class or Structure (Microsoft)
How-to: Select a Serializer (Microsoft)
How-to: Specify a Service Binding in Configuration (Microsoft)
How-to: Host a WCF Service in a Managed Application (Microsoft)
How-to: Host a WCF Service in IIS (Microsoft)
How-to: Control Service Instancing (Microsoft)
How-to: Consume Services with Duplex Contracts (Microsoft)
How-to: Use the ChannelFactory (Microsoft)
How-to: Basic Security How To Topics (Microsoft)
How-to: Send SOAP Messages Reliably (Microsoft)
How-to: Configure Service Settings (Microsoft)
How-to: Use the COM+ Service Model Configuration Tool (Microsoft)
How-to: Register and Configure a WCF Service Moniker (Microsoft)
How-to: Specify Channel Credentials (Microsoft)
How-to: Use the WCF Service Moniker without Registration (Microsoft)

WCF Webcasts
Table of Contents
Audio: Michele Leroux Bustamante gets hard on Indigo (.NET Rocks!)
Audio: Michele Leroux Bustamante talks WSE, Indigo, and security (.NET Rocks!)
Audio: Mood Indigo (.NET Rocks!)
Podcast: Secure, reliable transacted messaging with WCF (Part 1) (Channel 9)
Podcast: Secure, reliable transacted messaging with WCF (Part 2) (Channel 9)
Podcast: Richard Turner & Payam Shodjai, Indigo Road Show (PodcastStudio.com)
Video: WCF interop plug-fest (Channel 9)
Video: MIX06: Windows Communication Foundation (Channel 9)
Video: Angela Mills: From UDDI to Indigo (Channel 9)
Video: Steve Millet: What is Indigo? (Channel 9)
Webcast: The Indigo programming model with Steve Swartz (TheServerSide.NET)
Webcast: Introduction to Indigo (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Build services today (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Indigo security in a nutshell (MSDN TV)
Webcast: BizTalk Server and "Indigo" (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Connecting people, programs and devices using WinFX (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Reliable messaging in Windows Communication Foundation (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Introducing system.transactions in .NET framework 2.0 (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Generic APIs in the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (MSDN TV)
Webcast: Introduction to Indigo (Microsoft)
Webcast: Programming the Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft)
Webcast: Building secure and reliable services using Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft)
Webcast: Building connected systems using Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation (Microsoft)

WCF Reference and Documentation
Table of Contents
Bug List: Windows Communications Foundation bugs and feedback (Microsoft)
Chart: Graphic illustrating the major layers of WCF (Microsoft)
Class Library: System.ServiceModel Namespace (Microsoft)
Schema: system.ServiceModel and dataContractSerializer (Microsoft)
Overview: Vista: Communication Infrastructure (Microsoft)
Overview: Windows Communication Foundation Security (Microsoft)
Overview: Windows Communication Foundation Queues (Microsoft)
Overview: Reliable Sessions (Microsoft)
Reference: Windows Communication Foundation conceptual overview (Microsoft)
Reference: Windows Communication Foundation Documentation (Microsoft)
Guidelines: Windows Vista Guidelines (Microsoft)
Guidelines: Top Rules for the Windows Vista User Experience (Microsoft)
Guidelines: Top Guidelines Violations (Microsoft)

WCF Forums and Blogs
Table of Contents
Where peers share know-how and experience: ITKnowledge Exchange (SearchVB.com)
Forum: Windows Communication Foundation (Microsoft)
Forum: Transactions Programming (Microsoft)
Forum: General Windows Vista Development Issues (Microsoft)
Forum: Windows Vista SDK (Microsoft)
Forum: Software Development for Windows Vista (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.indigo (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.announcements (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.aero (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.avalon (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.collaboration (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.fundamentals (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.general (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.sdk (Microsoft)
Forum: windows.developer.winfx.winfs (Microsoft)
Blog: Don Box's Spoutlet (Don Box)
Blog: Nicholas Allen's Indigo Blog (Nicholas Allen)
Blog: MADHU BLOG : Windows Communication Foundation (Madhu Ponduru)
Blog: Omri Gazitt's Weblog (Omri Gazitt)
Blog: Don Smith's Blog (Don Smith)
Blog: Kenny Wolf's Thoughts of the Moment (kennyw.com)
Blog: Understand WCF (Mike Vernal)
Blog: WCF documentation and sample code (Ralph Squillace)
Blog: Julie Lerman's Blog (Julie Lerman)
Blog: Distilled (Andy Milligan)
Blog: Yasser Shohoud's Blog (Yasser Shohoud)
Blog: Shy Cohen's WebLog (Shy Cohen)
Blog: Willy-Peter Schaub (Willy-Peter Schaub)
Blog: That Indigo Girl (Michele Bustamante)
Blog: Das Blonde (Michele Bustamante)
Blog: David Boschmans' Weblog (David Boschman)
Blog: Ami Vora's WebLog (Ami Vora)
Blog: Craig McMurtry's WebLog (Craig McMurtry)
Blog: Sowmy Srinivasan's WCF Blog (Sowmy Srinivasan)