System.ServiceModel
[This is prerelease documentation and is subject to change in future releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]
This topic describes the data types, relationships, and constraints that together provide a model of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services and clients.
System.ServiceModel Overview
The System.ServiceModel module contains the data types, relationships, and constraints that together are used to model WCF services and clients. Applications and components can use WCF services and clients to communicate across process boundaries, even when the sending and receiving objects are on different operating systems. Loosely coupled communication is ideal for applications and components that are part of widely distributed, scalable applications because they enable all parts of the application to be implemented independently of the other components in the system and yet function as one integrated unit. For more information about WCF, see Windows Communication Foundation [Oslo].
Visual tools such as the Microsoft code name “Quadrant” provide a graphical design interface in which the types and extents in this module are shown as graphical shapes that can be dragged and dropped onto a workpad to design your WCF service or client to receive or listen for messages from other endpoints visually, and then export that design into Visual Studio for precise implementation. Once you have implemented your design in Visual Studio, you can export that service or client information into the code name “Oslo” repository for deployment using the XamlToFromRepository.exe tool. For more information about Microsoft code name “Quadrant”, see "Quadrant".
If you are familiar with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) as implemented in the .NET Framework, you will find the models in this module familiar. For example, in the .NET Framework, there is a ServiceContractAttribute that is used to mark an interface or a class as describing a WCF service. The information from that attribute has a corresponding data type in the System.ServiceModel module, the ServiceContract. Likewise, while there is a ServiceEndpoint class in WCF, the same information is stored in the Endpoint, ServiceEndpoint, and ClientEndpoint data types in the System.ServiceModel module.