- WCF Tutorial
- WCF - Home
- WCF - Overview
- WCF - Versus Web Service
- WCF - Developers Tools
- WCF - Architecture
- WCF - Creating WCF Service
- WCF - Hosting WCF Service
- WCS - IIS Hosting
- WCF - Self-Hosting
- WCF - WAS Hosting
- WCF - Windows Service Hosting
- WCF - Consuming WCF Service
- WCF - Service Binding
- WCF - Instance Management
- WCF - Transactions
- WCF - RIA Services
- WCF - Security
- WCF - Exception Handling
- WCF Resources
- WCF - Quick Guide
- WCF - Useful Resources
- WCF - Discussion
WCF - Versus Web Service
There are some major differences that exist between WCF and a Web service which are listed below.
Attributes − WCF service is defined by ServiceContract and OperationContract attributes, whereas a web service is defined by WebService and WebMethod attributes.
Protocols − WCF supports a range of protocols, i.e., HTTP, Named Pipes, TCP, and MSMQ, whereas a web service only supports HTTP protocol.
Hosting Mechanisms − Various activation mechanisms are there for WCF hosting, i.e., IIS (Internet Information Service), WAS (Windows Activation Service), Self-hosting and Windows Service, but a web service is hosted only by IIS.
Services − WCF supports a robust security, trustworthy messaging, transaction and interoperability, while a web service only supports security services.
Serializer − WCF Supports DataContract serializer by employing System.Runtime.Serialization, whereas a web service supports XML serializer by making use of System.Xml.Serialization.
Tools − ServiceMetadata tool (svcutil.exe) is used for client generation for a WCF service, while WSDL.EXE tool is used for generating the same for a web service.
Exception Handling − In WCF, unhandled exceptions are handled in a better way by making use of FaultContract. They do not return to the client like in a web service as SOAP faults.
Hash Table − It is possible to serialize a Hash Table in WCF, but this is not the case in a web service.
Bindings − WCF supports several types of bindings like BasicHttpBinding, WSDualHttpBinding, WSHttpBinding, etc., while a web service supports only SOAP or XML.
Multithreading − WCF supports multithreading by using the ServiceBehavior Class, whereas this is not supported in a web service.
Duplex Service Operations − WCF supports duplex service operations apart from supporting one-way and request-response service operations, whereas a web service does not support duplex service operations.