Pro WCF: Practical Microsoft SOA Implementation

Using the Message Class

Up until now you have been looking at the various serialization techniques and data transfer architectures available to use as part of WCF. Understanding this basic foundation and how data transfers within WCF is key. In looking at data transfers, it is important to understand the core foundation of WCF—the Message class.

As stated earlier, the Message class is one of the two pillars of WCF and serves as a general-purpose container of data for all communication between a service and the consumers of that service. However, you should use it only in a few specific scenarios. For example, you should use it if you need either an alternative way of handling an incoming message or an alternative way of creating the outgoing ...