WCF for mobile: what's the difference - wcf

We will write WCF service for our windows mobile client. Although we have the experience in WCF development, we know there are some difference when developing wcf for mobile.
Can you tell me where I can find the difference. Thank you.

See Windows Communication Foundation (Compact Edition) and the story of the Lunch Launcher and Write an IM App with the .NET Compact Framework

Related

Bundle WCF service along with Universal Windows App

I realize that we cannot directly access SQL Server database from a UWP app, and have to use a WCF service as a mediator for this. (Which is totally stupid, since even competitors like MySQL provides API for Microsoft's runtime, while Microsoft's own RDBMS does not!)
I don't have any experience with WCF, but after going through some tutorials, I believe I can make a WCF service to communicate with my SQL Server (although I do not like making my simple application use a 3-tier architecture, which shouldn't be imposed on me). Anyways, I do not want to host this WCF service on my website, since I'm making this only for this UWP app. Is there a way I can bundle/pack this WCF service along with UWP app itself, such that service runs on client machine only when thhe start my app, and stops later when app is closed/suspended/minized.
The UWP app I'm developing, also have a WPF version and a web version (in ASP.NET), all of which were connected to MySQL database till now, and it worked flawless. Recently I decided to shift to SQL Server since I'm using Microsoft technologies for all my softwares and thought SQL Server will have better integration and support. But now I find it rather opposite, and thinking to switch back to MySQL database.
You can not bundle a WCF service (or REST api) with your Universal Windows app. UWP apps run in a sandbox environment on a different .NET runtime than your WCF service. You could run the WCF service in IIS, or even better create a self-hosted ASP.NET WebAPI project (so no need for IIS) to access your database. But this service will have to be installed separately from the app.
Note that because UWP apps run in a sandbox, some in-app databases like SQLite are inside this sandbox and can not be accessed by your other apps (WPF, website) by default (there are some hacks to bypass this).
So I think your best bet is to stick with MySQL and use the MySQL connector.

Need advice: SignalR support for Windows XP (.NET 4.0)

I am developing some kind of communication and data-interchange system to use in various applications that my company is producing. There will be SignalR hub for messaging and WCF service for file streaming.
I was thinking of developing a Hub library in .NET 4.5. Also I plan to enable Hub hosting in some windows process and IIS.
Thing that bothers me is that I have to support Windows XP clients, so I cannot use .NET 4.5 for developing a client library.
My question is: Are there bad effects of providing a .NET 4.0 client library for all clients, even though there are more clients with Windows 7 or Windows 8? My concern is about performance and features - am I going to lose any of that if I go with .NET 4.0 client?

Start developing with MVC4 Web Api today, using Beta?

I am struggeling...
Is it safe to start developing with MVC4 Web Api (BETA) in a project that will be released live 2012 Q2.
I have heard that final version of MVC4 will be released 2012 Q3.
Since I really believe in MVC4 Web API and its capabilities, using some other technique will feel bad and will make the project look old fast.
I also think, building REST services with WCF is a step in the wrong direction since it was not designed for that.
Any suggestions here?
Yes, it is safe to start using MVC 4 Beta Web API. It has a go live license which means you can deploy it to a live server (though keep in mind that it is Beta software subject to change).
We are not commenting right now on exact release schedules and that Q3 quote does not sound reliable at all.

WCF communication with a Silverlight application

I have previously built WPF apps that host their own WCF service running on a custom port. Which is a great simple way for other apps to send messages between each other.
I have recently inherited a Silverlight 4 app from a client and they would like a way to send messages to it. I figured that WCF would be a simple way, but it is not possible to host a service in Silverlight.
What is a good, simple, way to send messages/communicate with a Silvelight app?
I have seen a little about the LocalMessageSender but I have no experience with it, can a WPF app, running on a different machine send a message to a Silverlight application using the LocalMessageSender class?
(Polling from the Silverlight app is not a prefered option)
I dont mind having to run the app in out of browser mode to get around some issues if need be.
EDIT Updated question
You can add Silverlight enabled WCF services and communicate with them like you did in the WPF app.
just so you know, SL only supports basicHttpBinding and (new in SL4) netTcpBinding. The later is intended for Intranet scenarios. As tchrikch said, you should be able to reference your service just by adding a simple reference in Visual Studio. As for the communication part, this may prove to be a little difficult. I would suggest looking at HTML5 WebSockets and see if you can push messages to the client from the server that way. I've only recently started looking at this as a solution for one of our projects but haven't had time to look any deeper.
HTH
Steve

Desktop Based Application

What is a better platform/language for developing Windows/desktop based application that can run offline (sometimes)? .NET (C#, ASP) or Java or any other development tool? This application requires to store data into a database(involves some GIS) and later Synch both ways with the main server (SQL/Oracle) during off hours or when initiated by a user or event or when online? ALso the tool/IDE recommended should allow us in the future to migrate this desktop application as a Web based application to the corporate server with less pain or re-work when internet/nw access is available to all of our remote sites/users. Any input/advice is appreciated.
If you are strictly doing Windows desktop application development, C# or VB.NET would be an excellent choice. There is a ton of documentation out there for .NET developers. Although the framework is a free download from Microsoft, any serious work is cumbersome and tedious without the IDE.
If you needed the potential to support your application on multiple operating systems besides Microsoft Windows, then I think it might be worth looking into Java.
For web solutions, in .NET you have ASP.NET, Java you have JSP and Tomcat.
You could try Adobe AIR. It seems like it would serve most of your desktop needs and it should be the easiest to migrate into a web app (Flex).
C#/WPF for desktop with Silverlight, XBAP or even ASP as the online options.
Since you mentioned the desire to web-enable this application at some point I'd look into Silverlight. Out-of-browser capabilities were introduced in Silverlight 3. That means that the app can run directly on the desktop, and the internet connection is optional. However, when the internet connection is available it has built-in support for auto-updating itself.
And now in Silverlight 4 it's possible to run an out-of-browser Silverlight app with elevated trust. Silverlight 4 also finally introduced things like right-click support, clipboard access, full keyboard support in fullscreen mode, etc. So if you're just now starting development, I'd most definitely use version 4.
You'll have to communicate with something like a WCF service for a lot of the database operations. But going with Silverlight should allow you to build something that'll work on the desktop and the web alike without having to manage two systems.
Going web-based after you already developed a desktop application is a really bad idea. There is no reason the desktop application cannot use a internet connection, and be updated from a server.
You could try Delphi. It's a rapid application development tool. Very different, but very quick to use. Well suited to Oracle integration. Data sync is probably going to need to be custom, unless you're using something like Sybase SQL Anywhere.