Newb to Webservices and WCF   

Hi everyone, I really was hesitant to post here for fear of seeming
foolish but I really am desparate, and do appreciate any opportunity
to get answers from real people.  So please forgive the stupid
questions.

I just recently becan learning about WCF as a way to create web
services.  I had no prior experience developing web service
architecture.

My main question is very naive -- I hope someone can be kind enough to
respond.

In VS2008 how do you publish a WCF Service Library template to a web
server?

I have successfully run a demo called WCFTicketingService from
http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/38814.  It runs easily on the local
test server by pressing F5, but I see no option to publish this to a
web server.  It appears to need compilation to run, unlike my other
working service that I just directly copy to the server using FTP.
Obviously I'm overlooking something basic.  But I've Googled this
topic for hours with nothing but long technical articles that are 99%
unrelated to my question... sorry it's getting frustrating.  Most
these articles are written by people who work with teams who all help
each other and I'm all alone so it's kind of hard as you might
imagine.

That's my main question.  But I have a couple more if nobody minds.

Since the above demo uses net.tcp protocal does that mean it won't run
on Windows 2003 Server?  That what I gather, but surprisingly the
article does not say.

If the answer to the above question is that it won't run on 2003
Server, can anyone advice me as to whether there is a way to
'eliminate server polling' with .Net, that is, have a web server send
a message to essentially 'wake up' a client application, so the client
doesn't have to constantly poll?

That's really all I initially wanted.  Just for the web server to send
a simple message so the client knows to download information from the
server.  Then I ended up learning about all these new technologies,
but still nothing that does this very basic thing.  A simple one bit
message to trigger the client, that's all I really wanted.

date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:08:24 -0700 (PDT)   author:   DaveJ

Re: Newb to Webservices and WCF   

"DaveJ"  wrote in message 
news:ec3c6dc6-3d82-4fe0-9c61-6bd61a4ddbd7@x35g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi everyone, I really was hesitant to post here for fear of seeming
> foolish but I really am desparate, and do appreciate any opportunity
> to get answers from real people.  So please forgive the stupid
> questions.
>
> I just recently becan learning about WCF as a way to create web
> services.  I had no prior experience developing web service
> architecture.
>
> My main question is very naive -- I hope someone can be kind enough to
> respond.
>
> In VS2008 how do you publish a WCF Service Library template to a web
> server?
>

For an IIS solution deployment:

1) You make a virtual directory on IIS with a Bin folder under the virtual 
directory.

2) You copy the complied binary assemblies within the Bin folder to the 
virtual directory Bin folder.

3)The Web.config and .svc are copied to the virtual directory.

4)The WCF service is now deployed to IIS. The clients can use the WCF 
service that IIS is hosting.

But you are missing key points that are not shown above there to ensure that 
the WCF service will work successfully when deployed to IIS.

For the rest of your post and even that stuff up above there, you need to 
stop dead in your tracks and go get a book that's going to give you a solid 
foundation with examples and code that you can run that will show you what 
is going on with WCF and a WCF service that can be hosted by IIS as an IIS, 
a .Net Console and .Net Windows Service application solutions, the basics.

And yes a WCF Service can run on Win 2k3 server using net.tcp, net.namedpipe 
or net.MMSQ, when a .Net Console or .NET Windows service application are 
hosting the WCF service, as an example.

Here is a book you can get or others that will show you the fundamentals 
ISBN: 978-0-470-08984-2.

Once you get the basics down, then you might want to look at how to use that 
addin tool for WCF development creation.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc487895.aspx

date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:24:26 -0400   author:   Mr. Arnold MR.

Re: Newb to Webservices and WCF   

> 2) You copy the complied binary assemblies within the Bin folder to the
> virtual directory Bin folder.

Thanks, I did not see the bin folder initially, but since you said to
use it, it occured to me to press the 'show all files' button and
there it is.

See this is great help.  I could have spent days or even months
reading books and that never would have helped me solve this.

I really appreciate your help, if I am missing key points, it is not
only because I have only been doing this for a couple weeks, and I
could not write a concise post while covering all the architectural
caviates even if I knew them all.  It really helps to have actual
people to bounce ideas and thoughts off of -- I'm sure the people who
write books have people all around them who they talk to and ask dumb
questions.

Regarding the Net.TCP question, This link (http://msdn.microsoft.com/
en-us/library/aa751792.aspx) seems to say that it will only work on
IIS7:

"Available Transports: WCF services hosted in IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0 are
restricted to using HTTP-based communication. On these IIS platforms,
configuring a hosted service to use a non-HTTP binding results in an
error during service activation. For IIS 7.0, the supported transports
include HTTP, Net.TCP, Net.Pipe, Net.MSMQ, and msmq.formatname for
backwards compatibility with existing MSMQ applications."

But I guess there are ways to get around this?  Would the addon tool
you mentioned help with this?

date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 09:07:33 -0700 (PDT)   author:   DaveJ

Re: Newb to Webservices and WCF   

"DaveJ"  wrote in message 
news:bfaa4e76-f0f9-45bc-9a20-72d5017ce524@d77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>> 2) You copy the complied binary assemblies within the Bin folder to the
>> virtual directory Bin folder.
>
> Thanks, I did not see the bin folder initially, but since you said to
> use it, it occured to me to press the 'show all files' button and
> there it is.
>
> See this is great help.  I could have spent days or even months
> reading books and that never would have helped me solve this.

I went a couple weeks in getting the basics of WCF, by reading and doing 
code examples in the book I told you about, Chapter 13 Deploying WCF that is 
5 pages long.

>
> I really appreciate your help, if I am missing key points, it is not
> only because I have only been doing this for a couple weeks, and I
> could not write a concise post while covering all the architectural
> caviates even if I knew them all.  It really helps to have actual
> people to bounce ideas and thoughts off of -- I'm sure the people who
> write books have people all around them who they talk to and ask dumb
> questions.

You should get the book I am talking about. Those authors have forms just 
like this one that the books point you to or you can even email the author, 
and they will respond.

> Regarding the Net.TCP question, This link (http://msdn.microsoft.com/
> en-us/library/aa751792.aspx) seems to say that it will only work on

You should use www.tinyurl.com

or <www.tinyurl.com>  by putting a url within <> prevents line wrap. There 
is nothing worst than having to do a cut and past of a url to a broswer's 
address line, becuase the url warppped and you just can't click it and go.

> IIS7:
>
> "Available Transports: WCF services hosted in IIS 5.1 and IIS 6.0 are
> restricted to using HTTP-based communication. On these IIS platforms,
> configuring a hosted service to use a non-HTTP binding results in an
> error during service activation. For IIS 7.0, the supported transports
> include HTTP, Net.TCP, Net.Pipe, Net.MSMQ, and msmq.formatname for
> backwards compatibility with existing MSMQ applications."
>

That only applies to IIS when when running on a Windows workstation or 
Windows server platform that supports IIS and the WCF is hosted by IIS.


> But I guess there are ways to get around this?  Would the addon tool
> you mentioned help with this?

On those same platforms above there, you don't need IIS to host a WCF 
service. The WCF service can be hosted by a .Net Windows desktop, .Net 
Windows Console Application or .NET Windows Service application hosting 
application solution with the WCF client in communications with the WCF 
service host by use of Net.TCP, NET.Pipe, or .NET MSMSQ.

Address Formats:

1) HTTP Address Http://www.DaveJ.com : 8080/djservice
2) HTTPS Address Https://www.DaveJ.com : 8080/djservice
3) TCP Address Net.tcp: //www.DaveJ.com : 8080/djservice
4) IIS Address Http://www.DaveJ.com/WCFHost\WCFhostService.svc
5) TCP Address Net.tcp: //loacalhost/DaveJ/WCFHostService
6) MSMQ Address net.msmg: //loacalhost/DaveJ/WCFHostService
7) Named Pipe net.pipe: //loacalhost/DaveJ/WCFHostService/

5-7 can be used by a  WCF Host Service running on a machine that has nothing 
to do with IIS period,  by the non IIS application solutions running on the 
machine with a WCF client using those communication types.

The addin tool only helps you design WCF solutions more quickly and 
effectively by use of the Address formats above and addresses the standard 
guidelines in developing WCF solutions from the client and host sides of the 
solution.

You need a good book and go through it, because you can't see the forest by 
looking at only one aspect. You can't do it.

date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:07:37 -0400   author:   Mr. Arnold MR.