Professional WCF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows® Communication Foundation

Chapter 9. Transactions and Reliable Sessions

The first half of this book spent a considerable amount of time looking at the foundation, those pieces and components that make up the basic underlying architecture of Windows Communication Foundation. With all that you have learned so far you should be able to begin building WCF services. You should also be able to build client applications that can access and communicate with those services.

However, the first eight chapters are just the beginning. There is so much more to Windows Communication Foundation, and the rest of this book discusses this functionality.

This chapter discusses two topics or concepts that are fundamental in building successful WCF services:

• Windows Communication Foundation transactions

• Reliable messaging/sessions

Transactions

Whether you know it or not, you deal with transactions on daily basis. Many times it may not be obvious, but transaction processing occurs nearly everywhere. This section discusses transactions and how they work within the realm of Windows Communication Foundation.

Overview

A transaction is a collection or group of one or more units of operation executed as a whole. Another way to say it is that transactions provide a way to logically group single pieces of work and execute them as a single unit, or transaction.

For example, when you place an order online, a transaction occurs. Suppose you order a nice 21-inch wide-screen flat-panel monitor from your favorite online hardware source. Assume you were ...