Summary
In this chapter, we have implemented a basic WCF service, hosted it within ASP.NET Development Server, and created a command line program to reference and consume this basic WCF service. At this point, you should have a thorough understanding as to what a WCF is under the hood. You will benefit from this when you develop WCF services using Visual Studio WCF templates or automation guidance packages. The key points covered in this chapter are:
A WCF service is a class library, which defines one or more WCF service interface contracts
The
System.ServiceModelassembly is referenced by all of the WCF service projectsThe implementations of a WCF service are just regular C# classes
A WCF service must be hosted in a hosting application
Visual Studio 2010 has a built-in hosting application for WCF services, which is called ASP.NET Development Server
A client application uses a proxy to communicate with WCF services
A configuration file can be used to specify settings for WCF services
