Pro WCF: Practical Microsoft SOA Implementation

Learning the ABCs of WCF

What are the ABCs of WCF? This is a common question that is asked of WCF lovers. In short, ABC stands for address, binding, and contract:

• The address specifies where the messages can be sent (or where the service lives).

• The binding describes how to send the messages.

• The contract describes what the messages should contain.

Obviously, clients need to know the ABCs of a service to be able to use the service. An endpoint acts as a "gateway" to the outside world. Usually you can refer to these three items as the endpoint of a service defined in WCF. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is meant to describe service endpoints in a standardized way. A WSDL file describes what a service can do, how a service can be accessed, ...