Basics of Windows Communication Foundation

Windows Communication foundation is one of the four major features introduced in the Microsoft .Net 3.0 freamework.

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.
Let us see what all enhancements are made by Microsoft in this coming version:

Windows Communication Foundation has some important enhancements in comparison with preceding technologies.
· It merges all older separate technologies in one place and allows you to do things easier.
· It has rich communication capabilities.
· It comes with many powerful and ready to use enterprise features.
· It can be integrated with other technologies and has great interoperability.

Fundamental Concept

In Windows Communication Foundation your services can have communication with clients by sending and receiving messages.

Windows Communication Foundation consists of three main concepts:
· Services: Programs that respond to clients. They can send or receive messages.
· Clients: Programs that ask for a service. They can send or receive messages.
· Intermediaries: Programs that sit between services and clients. They can work as a firewall or can rout messages. In all cases neither services nor clients need to be aware of intermediaries.

Most of the time, developers deal with services and clients and do not need to work much with intermediaries.
Services and clients have communications by sending and receiving messages, but again most of the time you do not work directly with messages and Windows Communication Foundation does this for you.

Here you should learn that a service can have more than one client and each service can be a client of another service itself.

Each of these main concepts has important concepts in its core or beside it. Some other concepts that you will deal with frequently are Channels, Bindings, Contracts, Behaviors, Addresses and Endpoints.