CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netwcfnetwork-programmingserver
Harley Torrisi
Harley Torrisi

Reputation: 71

When and when not to use WCF, whats the alternative?

I need some help for a noob programmer. I have an application I built > assetcat.app

I am venturing into the depths of networking and looking to rebuild the app using a host / client system.

I have been building the foundation for this with WCF. But it has been a struggle with roadblocks at every breakthrough, I expected to get simple host/client environment with authentication setup no problems. But I have had issues with the network access on different IP's, certificate issues, and even just finding information on MSDN that shows example that doesn't use the app.config. As I need to do most stuff dynamically for portability.

I'm sure if I continue with WCF I will succeed but I'm starting to wonder if there is something more simple. It seams WCF is more suitable to some kind of in-house development were the company of the app also runs the server.

What I want to be able to achieve: -User installs and manages their own instance of the server software. -They create accounts witch anyone who downloads the client can point to.

So Bob wants to make a game and is working in a team, Bob installs the server app and sets up some user logins. Bobs team mates install the client app, set the pointer to the IP of his server app, and login. Everyone in his team enjoys access to content managed by the server app.

In this situation, should I continue with WCF? My concern is also around certificates, from what I have gathered I can just chare a development certificate for everyone to use. Each person who installs the server software is also going to have to create or buy a certificate? That seems like a whole lot of mucking about that nobody is gonna do.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 748

Answers (1)

Ian Robertson
Ian Robertson

Reputation: 2812

WCF has been around for a long time and before what APIs generally look like today. WCF like SOAP/WSDL allowed for strongly typed contracts and in general (before JSON was a thing) shared messages via XML documents. Many enterprises still have WCF services for integration points.

Today, the modern trend is to have less strongly typed contracts, and share messages via JSON payloads. Rather than SOAP/WSDL endpoints you have basic HTTP listeners that can accept requests (usually POSTs) and parse the JSON to business objects. Many folks prefer to create stateless and Restful (or Rest APIs) as this aids with scalability and fault tolerance.

WCF would seem like the wrong way to go for game development. Restful APIs can still use transport and message encryption, but be a lot lighter weight than WCF which adds a lot of overhead and complications (contracts etc) that you probably dont need.

In terms of encryption, you could add SSL/HTTPS using a Let's Encrypt certificates. These are free to obtain.

Upvotes: 2

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