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Difference between Web Service and WCF

Following are the main difference between Web Service and WCF (Window Communication Foundation) Service:

Features
Web Service
WCF
File Extension
The file extension is .asmx
The file extension of WCF service is .svc
Programming
[WebService] attribute has to be added to the class
[ServiceContract] attribute has to be added to the class
Hosting
It can be hosted in IIS
WCF is flexible and it can be hosted in IIS, windows activation service, Self-hosting, Windows service.
Serialization
Done through XML serializer.
Done through DataContractSerializer
Serialization Namespace
System.XML.Serialization
System.RunTime.Serialization
Serialization Differences
Hash Table cannot be serialized.
Only public properties/fields can be serialized
The DataContractSerializer translate the Hash table into the XML.
Public/Private properties/fields can be serialized.
Supported Operations
One-way and Request- Response.
One-Way, Request-Response and Duplex
Binding
HTTP
HTTP, WS-HTTP, TCP, Custom, Named Pipes, MSMQ, P2P (Point to Point).
Encoding
XML 1.0, MTOM (Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism), DIME, Custom
XML 1.0, MTOM, Binary, Custom
Model
 [WebService] has to be added to the class
[WebMethod] attribute represents the method exposed to the client.
 [ServiceContract] attribute has to be added to the class
[OperationContract] attribute represents the method exposed to the client.
Messaging
Uses only SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
It can send/receive message in any transport protocol message format. By default it uses SOAP for communication.
Security
Less secured as compared to WCF. Using certificates we can protect the data but it is complicated. Normally we use UserName/Password for security.
More secured than WebServices. WCF does not need IIS to run, it can run as a System Service on the Server, using a command ambient. WCF is a service and not a Web Service.
Performance (In terms of serialization)
Slower than WCF
Better than WebService.
State Management
Web services are by nature stateless.

WCF service can maintain state and session
Exception Handling
Unhandled Exceptions returns to the client as SOAP faults.
Unhandled Exceptions does not return to the client as SOAP faults. A configuration setting is provided to have the unhandled exceptions returned to the Client for the purpose of debugging.
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Comments

  1. Ravi GuptaSeptember 16, 2012 at 8:34 PM

    I disagree! although we hardly ever host ASMX out of IIS but if we want there are multiple options available for the same. One of them being cassini web server, for more please refer below msdn link:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163879.aspx

    ReplyDelete
  2. SandeepSeptember 17, 2012 at 12:17 PM

    @Ravi..thanks for the details yes we can host web service with Cassini web server, but it's a workaround to host the service, and here I have included only basic differences and didn't dig in advance..:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 24, 2015 at 3:20 PM

    sd

    ReplyDelete

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