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A guide to architecting, designing, and building distributed applications with Windows Communication Foundation

Windows Communication Foundation is the .NET technology that is used to build service-oriented applications, exchange messages in various communication scenarios, and run workflows. This guide enables developers to create state-of-the-art applications using this technology.

Written by a team of Microsoft MVPs and WCF experts, this book explains how the pieces of WCF 4.0 build on each other to provide a comprehensive framework to support distributed enterprise applications. Experienced developers will learn both theory and practical application using the familiar Wrox approach.

.NET developers will learn to design services, create a hosting environment with Dublin, build cloud-based integrations, and much more.

Coverage Includes:

• Design Principles and Patterns
• Service Contracts and Data Contracts
• Bindings
• Clients
• Instancing
• Workflow Services
• Understanding WCF Security
• WCF Security in Action
• Federated Authentication in WCF
• Windows Azure Platform AppFabric
• Creating a SOA Case
• Creating the Communication and Integration Case
• Creating the Business Process
• Hosting

Create Microsoft Office-based applications that work seamlessly in the Microsoft .NET environment—with this essential reference from Microsoft developer Andrew Whitechapel. The author provides expert advice on the various approaches you can use to build managed solutions with Office, and gives practical guidance on the most viable techniques for technical and business scenarios. You’ll begin building custom .NET-based applications with detailed, practical exercises that take you through solutions from beginning to end. Andrew shares tactics, strategies, and best practices—plus full sample code—to help you maximize your development efforts. Packed with the same information used by Microsoft’s Product Support Services team, this book is the one reference that every Office and .NET developer should have.

Discover how to:

• Develop powerful .NET solutions for Office with managed interop assemblies
• Integrate managed code with Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
• Create custom commands and functionality with managed COM and Automation add-ins
• Build custom Office features with external data using Web services, .NET remoting, and research services
• Use Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office to create document-centric solutions for Microsoft Excel and Word
• Use digital signatures, strong-naming and .NET Code Access Security
• Control Office applications using Platform Invoke, Reflection, drag-and-drop, and the IAccessible interface
• Develop managed Smart Tags and managed Smart Document solutions

Covers Microsoft Office 97, Office 2000, Office XP, and Microsoft Office System 2003 Editions

C# 2005 has enjoyed huge success in the year since its launch, firmly establishing itself as the premier language for development on Microsofts successful .NET 2.0 platform. With the launch of the .NET 3.0 extensions in early 2007, the horizons of this language are being extended, and it is becoming even more powerful as it is able to leverage the new .NET 3.0 Foundations.

In recognition of this, Apress presents Pro C# with .NET 3.0, Special Edition to provide you with a complete A-to-Z reference for using C# with the .NET 2.0 platform and the .NET 3.0 extensions. The book contains new chapters that explore the interactions between the existing framework and the new extensions, giving you an edge when you evaluate and implement .NET 3.0 for the first time. To provide even more support, a bonus PDF download will be available with each purchase, offering over 500 pages of carefully selected additional content to help broaden your understanding of both .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0.

XML is the de facto language for communication both within and between distributed applications whether they are on the Internet or a corporate network. As such, the .NET Framework 3.5 relies upon XML for much of its communication and configuration. All .NET developers need to know how to use XML and how to best take advantage of the .NET Framework's excellent XML support.

This book provides the only complete solution to XML on the .NET Framework 3.5, making it an indispensable guide. No knowledge of XML is assumed and the author shows, through many hands-on examples written in C# 2008, how to get up and running with XML in the .NET Framework. The comprehensive coverage ensures, however, that even advanced uses of XML are covered. This all-inclusive approach means a wide range of developers will find a use for the book, both as a reference and as a tutorial.

Prepare for MCPD Exam 70-519—and help demonstrate your real-world mastery of web application design and development—with this official Microsoft® Exam Ref. Written for experienced, MCTS-certified professionals ready to advance their status—this guide focuses on the critical-thinking and decision-making acumen needed for success at the MCPD level. With concise, objective-by-objective reviews, strategic case scenarios, and "Thought Experiments", you get professional-level preparation for the professional-level exam.

Optimize your exam-prep by focusing on the expertise needed to:

• Design the application architecture
• Choose the right server-side and client-side technologies
• Design the user experience
• Design data access and presentation
• Plan for security
• Choose a testing methodology
• Plan for scalability and reliability

You also get an exam discount voucher—making this book an exceptional value and a great career investment.

Language Integrated Query (LINQ), as well as the C# 3.0 and VB 9.0 language extensions to support it, is the most import single new feature of Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.x. LINQ is Microsoft's first attempt to define a universal query language for a diverse set of in-memory collections of generic objects, entities persisted in relational database tables, and element and attributes of XML documents or fragments, as well as a wide variety of other data types, such as RSS and Atom syndication feeds. Microsoft invested millions of dollars in Anders Hejlsberg and his C# design and development groups to add new features to C# 3.0—such as lambda expressions, anonymous types, and extension methods—specifically to support LINQ Standard Query Operators (SQOs) and query expressions as a part of the language itself.

Corresponding additions to VB 9.0 followed the C# team's lead, but VB's implementation of LINQ to XML offers a remarkable new addition to the language: XML literals. VB's LINQ to XML implementation includes XML literals, which treat well-formed XML documents or fragments as part of the VB language, rather than requiring translation of element and attribute names and values from strings to XML DOM nodes and values.

This book concentrates on hands-on development of practical Windows and Web applications that demonstrate C# and VB programming techniques to bring you up to speed on LINQ technologies. The first half of the book covers LINQ Standard Query Operators (SQOs) and the concrete implementations of LINQ for querying collections that implement generic IEnumerable, IQueryable, or both interfaces. The second half is devoted to the ADO.NET Entity Framework, Entity Data Model, Entity SQL (eSQL) and LINQ to Entities. Most code examples emulate real-world data sources, such as the Northwind sample database running on SQL Server 2005 or 2008 Express Edition, and collections derived from its tables. Code examples are C# and VB Windows form or Web site/application projects not, except in the first chapter, simple command-line projects. You can't gain a feel for the behavior or performance of LINQ queries with "Hello World" projects that process arrays of a few integers or a few first and last names.

This book is intended for experienced .NET developers using C# or VB who want to gain the maximum advantage from the query-processing capabilities of LINQ implementations in Visual Studio 2008—LINQ to Objects, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to DataSets, and LINQ to XML—as well as the object/relational mapping (O/RM) features of VS 2008 SP1's Entity Framework/Entity Data Model and LINQ to Entities and the increasing number of open-source LINQ implementations by third-party developers.

Basic familiarity with generics and other language features introduced by .NET 2.0, the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE), and relational database management systems (RDBMSs), especially Microsoft SQL Server 200x, is assumed. Experience with SQL Server's Transact-SQL (T-SQL) query language and stored procedures will be helpful but is not required. Proficiency with VS 2005, .NET 2.0, C# 2.0, or VB 8.0 will aid your initial understanding of the book's C# 3.0 or VB 9.0 code samples but isn't a prerequisite.

Microsoft's .NET code samples are primarily written in C#. All code samples in this book's chapters and sample projects have C# and VB versions unless they're written in T-SQL or JavaScript.

Professional ADO.NET 3.5: LINQ and the Entity Framework concentrates on programming the System.Linq and System.Linq.Expressions namespaces for LINQ to Objects, System.Data.Linq for LINQ to SQL, System.Data.Linq for LINQ to DataSet, System.Xml.Linq for LINQ to XML, and System.Data.Entity and System.Web.Entity for EF's Entity SQL.

• "Taking a New Approach to Data Access in ADO.NET 3.5," uses simple C# and VB code examples to demonstrate LINQ to Objects queries against in-memory objects and databinding with LINQ-populated generic List collections, object/relational mapping (O/RM) with LINQ to SQL, joining DataTables with LINQ to DataSets, creating EntitySets with LINQ to Entities, querying and manipulating XML InfoSets with LINQ to XML, and performing queries against strongly typed XML documents with LINQ to XSD.
• "Understanding LINQ Architecture and Implementation," begins with the namespaces and C# and VB language extensions to support LINQ, LINQ Standard Query Operators (SQOs), expression trees and compiled queries, and a preview of domain-specific implementations. C# and VB sample projects demonstrate object, array, and collection initializers, extension methods, anonymous types, predicates, lambda expressions, and simple query expressions.
• "Executing LINQ Query Expressions with LINQ to Objects," classifies the 50 SQOs into operator groups: Restriction, Projection, Partitioning, Join, Concatenation, Ordering, Grouping, Set, Conversion, and Equality, and then lists their keywords in C# and VB. VS 2008 SP1 includes C# and VB versions of the LINQ Project Sample Query Explorer, but the two Explorers don't use real-world collections as data sources. This describes a LINQ in-memory object generator (LIMOG) utility program that writes C# 3.0 or VB 9.0 class declarations for representative business objects that are more complex than those used by the LINQ Project Sample Query Explorers. Sample C# and VB queries with these business objects as data sources are more expressive than those using a arrays of a few integers or last names.
• "Working with Advanced Query Operators and Expressions," introduces LINQ queries against object graphs with entities that have related (associated) entities. This begins with examples of aggregate operators, explains use of the Let temporary local variable operator, shows you how to use Group By with aggregate queries, conduct the equivalent of left outer joins, and take advantage of the Contains() SQO to emulate SQL's IN() function. You learn how to compile queries for improved performance, and create mock object classes for testing without the overhead of queries against relational persistence stores.
• "Using LINQ to SQL and the LinqDataSource," introduces LINQ to SQL as Microsoft's first O/RM tool to reach released products status and shows you how to autogenerate class files for entity types with the graphical O/R Designer or command-line SqlMetal.exe. This also explains how to edit *.dbml mapping files in the Designer or XML Editor, instantiate DataContext objects, and use LINQ to SQL as a Data Access Layer (DAL) with T-SQL queries or stored procedures. Closes with a tutorial for using the ASP.NET LinqDataSource control with Web sites or applications.
• "Querying DataTables with LINQ to DataSets," begins with a comparison of DataSet and DataContext objects and features, followed by a description of the DataSetExtensions. Next comes querying untyped and typed DataSets, creating lookup lists, and generating LinqDataViews for databinding with the AsDataView() method. This ends with a tutorial that shows you how to copy LINQ query results to DataTables.
• "Manipulating Documents with LINQ to XML," describes one of LINQ most powerful capabilities: managing XML Infosets. This demonstrates that LINQ to XML has query and navigation capabilities that equal or surpasses XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0. It also shows LINQ to XML document transformation can replace XQuery and XSLT 1.0+ in the majority of common use cases. You learn how to use VB 9.0's XML literals to constructs XML documents, use GroupJoin() to produce hierarchical documents, and work with XML namespaces in C# and VB.
• "Exploring Third-Party and Emerging LINQ Implementations," describes Microsoft's Parallel LINQ (also called PLINQ) for taking advantage of multiple CPU cores in LINQ to Objects queries, LINQ to REST for translating LINQ queries into Representational State Transfer URLs that define requests to a Web service with the HTML GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE methods, and Bart De Smet's LINQ to Active Directory and LINQ to SharePoint third-party implementations.
• "Raising the Level of Data Abstraction with the Entity Data Model," starts with a guided tour of the development of EDM and EF as an O/RM tool and heir apparent to ADO.NET DataSets, provides a brief description of the entity-relationship (E-R) data model and diagrams, and then delivers a detailed analysis of EF architecture. Next comes an introduction to the Entity SQL (eSQL) language, eSQL queries, client views, and Object Services, including the ObjectContext, MetadataWorkspace, and ObjectStateManager. Later chapters describe eSQL and these objects in greater detail. Two C# and VB sample projects expand on the eSQL query and Object Services sample code.
• "Defining Conceptual, Mapping, and Storage Schema Layers," provides detailed insight into the structure of the *.edmx file that generates the *.ssdl (storage schema data language), *.msl (mapping schema language), and *.csdl files at runtime. You learn how to edit the *.edmx file manually to accommodate modifications that the graphic EDM Designer can’t handle. You learn how to implement the Table-per-Hierarchy (TPH) inheritance model and traverse the MetadataWorkspace to obtain property values. Four C# and VB sample projects demonstrate mapping, substituting stored procedures for queries, and TPH inheritance.
• "Introducing Entity SQL," examines EF's new eSQL dialect that adds keywords to address the differences between querying entities and relational tables. You learn to use Zlatko Michaelov's eBlast utility to write and analyze eSQL queries, then dig into differences between eSQL and T-SQL SELECT queries. (eSQL v1 doesn't support INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and ...

Web services are poised to become a key technology for a wide range of Internet-enabled applications, spanning everything from straight B2B systems to mobile devices and proprietary in-house software. While there are several tools and platforms that can be used for building web services, developers are finding a powerful tool in Microsoft's .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET. Designed from scratch to support the development of web services, the .NET Framework simplifies the process--programmers find that tasks that took an hour using the SOAP Toolkit take just minutes.

Programming .NET Web Services is a comprehensive tutorial that teaches you the skills needed to develop web services hosted on the .NET platform. Written for experienced programmers, this book takes you beyond the obvious functionality of ASP.NET or Visual Studio .NET to give you a solid foundation in the building blocks of web services, and leads you step-by-step through the process of creating your own.

Beginning with a close look at the underlying technologies of web services, including the benefits and limitations, Programming .NET Web Services discusses the unique features of the .NET Framework that make creating web services easier, including the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the namespaces used in .NET programming. Filled with numerous code examples using the C# language, the book leads you through some of the more challenging issues of web services development, including the use of proxies, marshalling of complex data types, state management, security, performance tuning and cross-platform implementation. The book also covers:

• Creating and publishing your first web service
• The UDDI project, tModels and what they mean for web service publishers Securing web service applications

Written for programmers who are familiar with the .NET Framework and interested in building industrial-strength web services, Programming .NET Web Services is full of practical information and good old-fashioned advice.

In this new edition of his popular title, "Moving to VB .NET", Visual Basic guru Dan Appleman not only updates the book to include coverage of changes to VB.NET in Visual Studio 2003, but extends those areas that have proven important to VB.Net programmers since its release. Topics such as .Net remoting, versioning and object oriented programming are further illuminated using his own personable and highly effective style. Appleman not only explains the technology features of VB .NET, but the reasons for them, and the controversies around some of those choices. Evaluating VB NET from the perspective of the developer, you'll find material that may infuriate everybody from staunch VB traditionalists to Microsoft marketing staff. Most importantly the reader will learn to write good quality VB .NET code in well-designed applications. Appleman brings the same attention to technical detail and real world attitude to "Moving to VB .NET" 2nd Edition, he has brought to all his past books, and is a sure winner with readers.

Application frameworks are absolutely vital in the development of every large application by providing common services that are used repeatedly throughout the application. These services can also be shared by multiple domain-specific applications, and hence reduce the time and cost of development.

Application framework also controls the flow of the application, such as how objects are instantiated inside the application, and how developers can customize and extend the framework to fit a specific need for their application.

This book is not a treatment of the theory of design patterns. We show design patterns applied in real-world architectural scenarios so that you can see them in action and see the benefits that they bring. It explains why it's worth spending time building design patterns into your applications, even though this may seem at odds with Rapid Application Development.

After a fast-paced introduction to design patterns, the core of this book consists of three case studies, which show how design patterns are applied in each of the main tiers of an application: the data, business, and presentation layers. These case studies flesh out the reader's understanding of design patterns, and show how they can be employed in real scenarios that will be instantly recognizable to all VB .NET programmers. The book also shows how design patterns can be used in conjunction with .NET Remoting, so that they can be applied not just within individual tiers, but across them as well. Since many VB .NET programmers may not be completely familiar with UML, we also provide a UML primer as an appendix.