How This Book Is Structured

This book is divided into three parts, with a total of 13 chapters. The following sections describe each part. The book also has three appendixes, where you'll find a description of the sample application (QuickReturns Ltd), a history of Microsoft web service implementations, and WCF installation information.

Part 1: "Introducing Windows Communication Foundation"

This part of the book introduces web service standards and the fundamental components of SOA. We will also discuss how these principles are illustrated in WCF. Once you understand some of these concepts, including the business and technological factors, you can appreciate the simplicity and flexibility of WCF. Chapter 1 will cover the service standards. Then we will introduce WCF in Chapter 2. This is followed by a discussion of the WCF programming model in Chapter 3.

Part 2: "Programming with WCF"

In this part, we'll discuss the WCF technical features in detail. We'll concentrate on the programming aspects of WCF with the assistance of a fictitious QuickReturns Ltd. stock market application in Chapter 4. We'll initially guide you through installing WCF components. Then we'll walk you through creating services and hosting these services with WCF in Chapter 5. We will discuss all the hosting options available in WCF in detail. Finally, in Chapter 6, we'll cover the management options available to manage WCF services to obtain the best return on investment for your application.

Part 3: "Advanced Topics in WCF"

Real-world SOA applications will have many demanding features to implement. These complex real-world web service implementations will address security issues (both client and service), reliable messaging, transactions, COM+ integration, data integration issues, and peer-to-peer communications. An enterprise can achieve the eventual "value proposition" by utilizing these advanced features of WCF. In Chapters 7 through 12, you will concentrate on these topics. In addition, you'll investigate the WCF interoperability options available to seamlessly communicate with non-Microsoft platforms in Chapter 13.