Wcf-versus Web Service

There is some major differences that exist between WCF and a Web service which is listed below.

Here's a summary of the main differences between WCF and network services

• Attributes -WCF service is defined by ServiceContract and OperationContract Attributes, whereas a Web service is Defined by WebService and WebMethod attributes.

• Protocols -WCF supports a range of protocols, i.e., HTTP, Named Pipes, TCP, and MSMQ, whereas a Web service only Supports HTTP protocol.

• Hosting Mechanisms -Various activation mechanisms is there for WCF Hosting, i.e., IIS (Internet information Ser Vice), was (Windows Activation Service), self-hosting and Windows service, but a Web service are hosted only by IIS.

• Services -WCF supports a robust security, trustworthy messaging, transaction and interoperability, while a Web s Ervice only supports security services.

• Serializer -WCF Supports datacontract serializer by employing System.Runtime.Serialization, whereas a Web Servic E supports XML serializer by making use of System.Xml.Serialization.

• Tools -servicemetadata tool (SvcUtil.exe) is used for the client generation for a WCF service, while WSDL. EXE tool is used for generating the same for a Web service.

• Exception handling -in WCF, unhandled exceptions is handled in a better the by making use of faultcontract. They does not return to the client as a Web service as SOAP faults.

• Has

1. Attributes: WCF services are defined by service contracts and operational contracts, whereas Web services are defined by the WebService and WebMethod properties

2. Protocol: WCF supports a range of protocols, such as HTTP, named pipes, message queues, but Web services only support HTTP protocols

3. Hosting mechanism: WCF has a variety of mechanisms available, such as IIS (Internet Information Services), was (Windows Activation Service), self-hosting (self-hosted), and Windows services, but webservice only supports IIS

4. Services: WCF provides a robust security, reliable messaging, transactional, and interoperability. However, WebService only supports security services

5. Serializer: WCF provides a data contract serializer by using System.Runtime.Serialization, however WebService is supported by using System.Xml.Serialization to support the XML serializer

6. Tool: SvcUtil.exe is used by the client to generate a WCF service, however WebService uses the WSDL.EXE tool

7. Exception handling: In WCF, unhandled exceptions are handled in a better way by Faultcontract. WCF does not return unhandled exceptions as SOAP faults to the client as WebService does

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Wcf-versus Web Service