1. WCF Data Services and Silverlight
Kevin Morillo - Consultant

2. WCF Data Services 4.0 Why is WCF DS Cool? WCF DS Security
Presentation Topics
WCF Data Services 4.0
Why is WCF DS Cool?
WCF DS Security
Entity Framework 4.0
OData
Silverlight
Demo – Creating WCF Data Service and consuming it using a Silverlight Client
6/23/2019

3. Overview: WCF Data Services 4.0
What is WCF Data Services?
Windows Communication Foundation
A framework for building service-oriented applications
Component of the .NET Framework that enables the creation of services that use the Open Data Protocol (OData)  to expose and consume data over the Web by using the semantics of representational state transfer (REST).
Ok. So what does that mean?
Provides a way to manipulate data in a stateless environment that integrates tightly into the .NET Framework, while also being adaptable to other technologies.
6/23/2019

4. Overview: WCF Data Services 4.0
Based off the notion of message-based communication
If it can be transported in a message, then it can be modeled in a uniform way in WCF DS
Remember your ABCs!
Address
URI describing where messages are sent
Binding
Describes how a message is sent
Protocol (HTTP / TCP)
Encoding (binary / text)
Security
Contract
Service Contract: specification for a group of operations
Operation Contract: specifies the parameters and return type of an operation, including error messages
Message Contract: Describes the format for a message
6/23/2019

5. Overview: WCF Data Services 4.0
Messages and Endpoints
Messages
Self contained unit of data (HTML, MSMQ, etc.)
Handled by… Endpoints!
Endpoints
Sends and receives messages
Can act as both a client and service
Contains Address and Binding
Service
Exposes one or more endpoints
6/23/2019

6. Why are WCF Data Services Cool?
Quick to setup and maintain
Even easier with the use of Entity Framework
Very customizable
Custom Endpoints, Bindings, Behaviors
Tight integration into the .NET environment
Many cross platform clients
Uses HTTP/TCP and OData-- easy to create clients
Configuration vs. Coding
Change settings through external configuration files for easy settings changes
Statically define configuration in code to retain strict control of settings
6/23/2019

7. Securable endpoints and entities
WCF DS Security
Securable endpoints and entities
Set access rights to any Entity (Read / Write)
Override service contract to filter what is returned by an endpoint
6/23/2019

8. Overview: Entity Framework
Object / Relational Mapping framework that enables developers to work with relational data as domain- specific objects.
Enables the manipulation of data through LINQ queries as strongly typed objects
Works with a variety of Databases (MS SQL Server, Oracle, DB2)
Tightly Integrated into Visual Studio
Tools to create visual models and push the SQL schema to a new or existing database
Tools to generate models from existing SQL databases
6/23/2019

9. Open Data Protocol (OData)
What is OData?:
The Open Data Protocol (OData) is a Web protocol for querying and updating data… by applying and building upon Web technologies such as HTTP, Atom Publishing Protocol(AtomPub) and JSON to provide access to information from a variety of applications and services.
Comprised of Feeds, Collections, and Entries
Feed
Collection of typed entries
Entry
Single structured record comprising of a key and a list of type properties
Can contain a payload of JSON or Atom
GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
Use GET, POST, PUT, DELETE HTTP operations to manipulate data
Metadata Document
Describes the structure and organization of all resources in EDM terms using XML
TIP: use Fiddler or another web debugger to properly view a metadata document
6/23/2019

10. Open Data Protocol (OData)
What is OData?:
Example OData Feed:
6/23/2019

11. Overview: Silverlight
Development platform for creating interactive applications for the web, desktop, and mobile devices.
Think Adobe Flash geared towards developers instead of designers
Cross platform
IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari
Windows & Mac
Windows Phone 7
Symbian (Nokia)
6/23/2019

12. Overview: Silverlight
Supporting technologies
AJAX
HTTP Networking
WCF, SOAP, ASP.NET AJAX Services
XAML
LINQ
WPF
Media streaming (Netflix)
2D graphics
VB.NET & C#.NET
Multithreading
Printing
WCF Data Services
Full compatibility matrix
6/23/2019

13. WCF Data Services Client Libraries
WCF Data Services Client Library
.NET Framework
Silverlight
OData SDK
Javascript (AJAX)
PHP
Java (RESTlet)
Android
Ruby
Windows Phone 7
Objective-C (iPhone)
SharePoint
Excel
6/23/2019

14. Overview: WCF Data Services 4.0

15. Demo Time! Overview: Creating a WCF Service
Integrating an Entity Data Model
From existing SQL DB schema
Consuming with Silverlight Website
6/23/2019

16. Resources http://www.odata.org/
- OData client for Obj-C
- REST
- Entity Framework
– Allow cross domain WCF Data Service access