CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.netwcfvisual-studiowcf-data-services
Matt Facer
Matt Facer

Reputation: 3105

adding a WCF to existing website or have a new service?

I am a total newbie to the WCF world. I have an ASP.net (v4) website running on our dedicated windows 2008 server box. I'll refer to the website as, webisteA.com

I'm creating a new website, websiteB.com.au and I'd like to expose the functionality in WebsiteA.com to the new site. Things like logging in, registering in the database etc.

I think the best way to do this is to create a WCF service which sits in WebsiteA.com - but I am struggling to find any tutorials on how to do this. There are lots about creating a new project, but not that many about adding a WCF service to existing websites.

Is this the best way to do it? In the future I'd also like to use the service for mobile apps in the future too - not sure if that will make a difference.

OR - do I create a new service in a new app which is totally seperate to websiteA.com and websiteB.com and host this as website0.com and expose the database via that?

The questions I don't have answers for are... is it restful? Do I use XML or JSON?

Baiscally, I want to be able to use it like an API - for example, saying "show me all the members who meet criteria X".

Thanks for any information.

ps) I have visual studio express 2010 c# (and a trial of studio pro)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 462

Answers (1)

Neil Thompson
Neil Thompson

Reputation: 6425

You can certainly include WCF within the website A project - but have you considered the ASP.NET Web API? I haven't used it yet - but did use the earlier WCF Web API which spawned it.

Neat features include Content Negotiation (if the client asks for XML the API sends XML. If it asks for JSON is gets JSON) and a lot less config cruft (WCF web.configs are dreadful and completely overcomplicated IMO)

It's probably a lot easier to make a RESTy API with the ASP.NET Web API than with standard WCF.

A great open-source .NET solution is NancyFX which is really worth a look too.

Upvotes: 2

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