Microsoft developed ASP.NET web development services. The development of applications capable of sending and receiving messages through SOAP over HTTP was the major purpose of Microsoft. XML Schema can be used for defining the structure of messages. A tool is also provided for facilitating the task of searializing the messages to and from .NET framework objects.

This technology is capable of generating metadata automatically in order to describe web services in WSDL (Web Service Description Language). As far as the second tool is concerned, it is provided with the objective of producing clients for web services from Web Service Description Language.

According to the ASP.NET web development service professionals, there is significant difference between ASP.NET website development services  and WCF services. This difference is based on purpose and standard of their use.

Significant Differences

• The objective of WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) is to enable .NET framework applications for the exchange of messages with other software entities.
• The use of SOAP is another difference. It is used by default.  As far as the messages are concerned, they can be in any format. And even any transport protocol can used for conveying these messages.
• XML Schema can be used for defining the structure of these messages. And when it comes to serializing the messages from and to .NET framework objects, WCF has multiple options.
• Windows Communication Foundation is capable of generating metadata in order to describe apps developed with a technology in Web Service Description Language.
• In contrast to ASP.NET development solutions, WCF has its own tool to produce clients for those applications in the WSDL.

Talking about the differences between ASP.NET services for website development and Windows Communication Foundation web services based on purpose of their use, they are totally difference in comparison to the differences based on standards.  See the two purpose based differences between ASP.NET services used for website development and WCF web services below:

Representation of Data:

Talking about the website development process, it usually kicks-off with defining any complex data types to be used by the services. It mainly depends on XmlSerializer for the translation of data that is represented by .NET framework types  to XML for the purpose of transmission  to or even from a services  and even for translating data that is received as XML into ASP.NET Framework objects.

In addition to it, ASP.net solution providers suggest that the definition of .NET Framework Classes for the purpose of defining the complex data types to be used by ASP.NET web development services.  These Classes Can be serialized to and from XML using XmlSerializer. Such classes can also be written manually. If needed, it is also possible to generate such classes using the definitions of types in XML Schema using the command line XML schemas/data types support utility and even xsd.exe.

But there are some issues that arise during this process. Mentioned below is the list of vital issues while defining .Net Framework classes. XmlSerializer can serialize these issues to and from XML:

·         Only two things are translated into XML:

o   Public Fields of XML

o   Public properties of XML

·         Instances of classes cannot not serialized into XML unless the classes implement one of the following things:

o   IEnumerable

o   ICollection

·         It is not possioble to serialize those classes into XML that implement the following:

o   IDitionary Interface like Hashtable.

As far as the great many attribute types in the System.XML.Serialization namespace, it can be added to a .NET Framework Class. It is also possible to add it to its numbers for controlling the way instance of classes are represented in XML.

ASP.NET web development processionals are of the view that the process of WCF app development kicks-off with the definition of complex types. It is possible to make WCF use the .NET framewok types that are very similar to the ASP.NET web development services.

The following two things could be added to .NET Framework Types. The objective is to indicate which instances of the types are needed to be serialized into XML and also to determine the particular fields or even the properties of the type are to be serialized:

• WCFDataContractAttributes
• DataMemberAttributes

Talking about the WCFDataContract Attribute, its objective is to indicate that Zero or more kinds of properties are required to be serialized. On the other hand, the role of DataMemberAttribute is to indicate that the other types of fields or properties are needed to be serialized. The application of WCFDataContractAttribute is possible to a class or even structures. As far as the application of DataMemberAttribute is concerned, it is possible to a field or property. Remember, the field or property to which the attribute is applied can be public or private.

Therefore, ASP.NET development solution providers advise you to know the differences between using the following three:

• WCFDataContractSerializer
• XmlSerializer
• Many attributes related to the System.XML.Serialization namespace.

Service Development:

Service development using ASP.NET has a custom of adding the following a WebService attribute to any class method to be operated on the service. At this crucial juncture, remember, ASP.NET 2.0 is responsible for the introduction of the option of adding the attribute WebService and WebMethodAttribute to an interface instead of a class and also for writing classes for implementing the interface.

ASP.NET web development services experts suggest you to prefer this option because the interface with WebService Attribute constitutes a contract for the operations that are to be carried out by the services offering reusability with various classes having the ability to implement the same contract differently.

As far as the WCF service is concerned, it is provided with the definition of one or more than one WCF endpoints. An address, binding and service contract play an important role in the process of defining an endpoint.  The address tells the location of service. The binding is for guiding about the ways of communicating with the service. The Service Contract clarifies the operations to be carried out by the service.

Remember, ServiceContractAttribute and OperationContractAttribute have to be added to an interface for defining the service contract. The role of ServiceContractAttribute is to indicate that the interface defines a WCFServiceContract. On the other hand, the OperationContractAttribute indicates which, if any, methods of interface are used in the process of defining operations of the service contract.

Once it is defined, it has to be implemented in a class. For this purpose, make sure you have the class implementing the interface used for defining the service contract.

According to the ASP.NET solutions providers, a class that   implements a   service type in WCF.

Associating an address and binding  with a service type is the next step. This task is specifically carried out in configuration file. It is done either by editing the file directly or via the use of a configuration editor that comes with WCF. Binding plays a crucial role in the task of specifying the set of protocols for ensuring communication with the app.

Have Related Read: Expert Opinion on the Future of ASP.NET Web Development Solutions as a Server Side Technology