Access WCF from COmpact Framework

Access WCF from COmpact Framework

• mabster

  NETCF supports the compact version of WCF only in its v3 timeframe. Thus in order to use BasicHttpBinding etc, you will need v3 which is not yet released. (There might be CTPs that you can play around with in the meantime).

  V2 of netcf should still be able to talk to a WCF service as long as the service is configured to run in interoperability mode. You should be able to find WCF docs about how you would configure the service to run in interop mode.

   

  I believe you should be able to host the service in any manner and it should behave the same way. All ways of hosting are not equal in the benefits they offer to the service, but from a client functionality perspective, it should look similar.

   

  Thanks,

  Sandy

  
  

• abuck

  Once I have a WCF service in place I hope to move it to be hosted as a Windows Service instead of IIS hosted, for various reasons. Thus the interest in WCF on the server side.

  From a client perspective there seems to be very little info out there about simply utilizing a WCF service from a NetCF 2.0 client. I'm surprised the NetCF team doesn't have a few examples out there. Everything I'm finding seems to revolve around actual WCF support in NetCF, which I understand does not yet exist and is not what I'm after.

  
  

• pukla

  But I was under the impression that WCF had support for non-WCF clients It would seem incredibly limiting if a WCF service could only work with clients that are WCF aware. I suspect the WCF server side has to be setup in a particular way, like using basicHttpBinding, but otherwise I would think it could work.

  Am I off base here or should it be possible to talk to a WCF service from a client that is running plain old Net 2.0, or Net CF 2.0

  
  

• Tryin2Bgood

  I have a fairly simple ASP.NET 2.0 web service that I access from a NetCF 2.0 app. I am migrating the web service to WCF and am hoping to host it in a Windows Service. I can manage the server side, but I'm not sure how to get my NetCF 2.0 app modified to access the new service. Do I create a new proxy from the WCF service or can I modify my existing proxy

  What's really unclear to me is that since there is no WCF on NetCF 2.0 how do I create an appropriate proxy for it, especially when my service is not hosted in IIS.

  Any advice in this area

  
  

• Jim_Olap

  I have similar questions.. Though im looking to use a webservice and also possibly a custom TCP socket.

  Currently out CF App talks to an Application on our server via TCP socket.. it also talks to a hosted web service. We need to bring the web service and tcp server into a single windows service app, so wfc seems to be the logical choice.

  What i dont understand is do i need to generate a proxy class for the CF app, if not what do i use and how is the service going to be exposed for me to connect to

  There is such little useful info out there on this type of thing..

  Cheers

  
  

• Carl Daniel

  To expand on this, I'm really looking for help in a couple of areas.

  The first is simply the confirmation that I can access a WCF service from a Net CF 2.0 app, and any details that go with that. I'm looking for any sample code or discussion of exactly how to accomplish this.

  Second, I am wondering if the hosting environment of the WCF service makes any difference I would like to host it in a Windows Service rather than in IIS. Can a Net CF 2.0 app access it if it is not hosted in IIS

  In my experimentation I have created a WCF service hosted simply as a console app. If I try to add a Web Reference to it the Web Reference dialog can't see it. Ok, so I thought I'd try adding the path of adding a service reference, but this uses svcutil to generate the WCF bits to talk to the service, which I assume just won't work with Net CF 2.0.

  Help!

  
  

• Wicket

  I believe you’re correct and that would work in certain cases. However, it’s not exactly clear to me why would you spend time and money to get something you already have

  I’m also not sure how much testing was done with NETCF V2 for that scenario.

  Anyway, you can certainly try it and let us know how it goes. You should be able to add web reference the same way as with normal WS.

  
  
  

• DarrellMerryweather

  Hi George!

  As you noted, there is no current support for WCF on Compact Framework. If you haven't read it, here's an interesting blog entry on the subject:

  http://blogs.msdn.com/romanbat/archive/2006/10/21/windows-communication-foundation-compact-edition-and-the-story-of-the-lunch-launcher.aspx

  Regarding your other questions, I think they would be best answered on the Compact Framework forum, where there are other questions about exactly that!

  See: http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx PostID=347530&SiteID=1

  
  

• tattoo

  It's very easy - you don't. Since NETCF V2 has no support for WCF there's no way for you to consume WCF service from NETCF. You should keep your Web Service for a while till you move on to next version of NETCF with WCF support.

  
  
  

• GregDude

  True enough. I guess I've had a hard time determining if my questions belong here or over in the WCF forum, I think I started there and got bounced here. Sounds like I should head back over there and find out the compatibility issues in making a WCF service work with clients that know about basic web services.

  Thanks...

  
  

• Nicolas Mueggler

  Assuming WCF setup you’re trying to switch to is fully compatible with traditional WS you're using now (and it must be or you won't be able to use it without client changes) there should be no difference whatsoever on a client side, right Since there are no changes just repeat what you’ve done on a client side for traditional WS and you all set. Now, server side might be another story but that would not be NETCF question but WCF question.

  
  
  
• Access WCF from COmpact Framework