Windows Developer Power Tools

3.4 Avoiding XML Configuration Files with the Service Configuration Editor

Configuration files are an important cornerstone of an application. They control critical application functionality, such as:

• Protocols used by the application

• Authentication requirements for client/server communication

• Logging configurations

• Endpoint information, consisting of address, binding, and contract information

.NET configuration files are in XML format, so they involve a bewildering hierarchy of tags, attributes, and element values. Adding the Windows Communication Foundation to the mix greatly increases the complexity of application configuration files. Trying to keep all of this straight to create and maintain a configuration file can be rather difficult, especially since you probably don’t work with them often.

Fortunately, the Service Configuration Editor (SCE), part of the Windows SDK, lets you focus on the details of your communication infrastructure instead of worrying about what attributes go to which elements in your XML files.

Service Configuration Editor at a Glance
Tool	Service Configuration Editor
Version covered	3.0.3906.22
Home page	http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/
Power Tools page	http://www.windevpowertools.com/tools/88
Summary	Create and maintain complex configurations for WCF applications without having to deal with XML files
License type	Microsoft EULA
Online resources	Forums, WCF team blogs
Supported ...