Understanding The Endpoints In WCF

Article

This article explains the endpoints with address, binding and contract features. In my previous article, we saw what is the difference between web services and WCF? The series of article written on WCF are the following:

1. Endpoints

Endpoints is a client and server communication of the address.

end point

Each endpoint consists of the following three components:

Address - A
Binding - B
Contract - C

1.1 Address (Where)

Address uniquely identifies the location of the services. Specified the location of the services URL (Uniform Resource Locator) like the following:

http://localhost/MyService/HelloWorld.svc

Example: Address

http://localhost/
http://localhost/MyServices
net.tcp://localhost:81/MyService
net.pipe://localhost/MyPipeService
net.msmq://localhost/MyMsMqService
net.msmq://localhost/private/MyMsMqService

1.2 Binding (How)

A binding that specifies how the service can be accessed:

Transport protocol ( i.e. TCP or HTTP)
Encoding message (i.e. Text or Binary)
Security (i.e. SSL or SOAP message security)

Types of Binding

BasicHttpBinding
WsHttpBinding
WsDualHttpBinding
WsFederationHttpBinding
NetTcpBinding
NetNamedPipeBinding
NetMsMqBinding
NetPeerTcpBinding

BasicHttpBinding

Compatible for communicating with ASMX based services used with WS-Basic profile.
It uses HTTP transport for communication and text/XML as the default message encoding.
It does not support WS-* functionalities such as WS-Addressing, WS-Security, WS-Reliable Messaging.
It is not good in interoperability.

WsHttpBinding

Supports interoperable binding for non duplex services.
It supports WS-* functionality and secure session using SOAP security.
It uses HTTP /HTTPS transport for communication.

WsDualHttpBinding

It has the same binding approach of WsHttpBinding but additionally it supports duplex service.
It supports communication via SOAP.
It enables reliable session by default.

WsFederationHttpBinding

It supports federated security.
It supports WS-Federation protocol.

NetTcpBinding

It uses TCP protocol for communication.
It supports security, transaction and reliability.
It is provide a secure and reliable binding environment for client and server communication.

NetNamedPipeBinding

It provides a secure and reliable binding environment for on-machine cross process communication.
It provides a full support for SOAP security, transaction and reliability.

NetMsmqBinding