Is there something like WCF/ASP.NET web services that works the way I wish they did?

Question

(Yes, I'm disgruntled, irritated and argumentative, OK I'm venting a bit here at the top, but my actual question is objective, I promise <g>)

Venting

I've just spent the last 2 weeks touring many aspect of WCF and now ASP.NET web service. This was done via. the Get Error/Google Error/Fix Error (maybe)/Repeat cycle. After hours of that (mostly in the configuration section) I'm somewhat surprised that anyone even bothers using them. Enough Venting...

The Question

I need to have a client app call code on a web server over the internet. I want the Server side code to look something like this

interface I
{
  string GetFoo(int i);
  SomeType GetBar(OtherType ot);
}

[HostAsService<I>]
class Foo : I
{
    ....
}

and the client side to look something like this this

I i = new ServiceProxy<I>(new Uri("http://my.domain.com/some/path"));

the important bit is that the configuration for this is minimal and direct: no including the service name in 12 different places, no wizards generating code and web.config entries, no hidden URLs that I need to change when I switch from testing on my local machine to testing on out server. I just want it simple

Is there anything like that?

Note: I'd actually prefer a simpler, less flexible, fewer things to break model than a more complex, more flexible model. As long as I can stuff any serializable type down the pipe that's all the flexibility I need

note2: I'm not asking how to use WCF or ASMX services (if either can be made to work like I want/need, that's good, but I don't really care what's used at this point as long as it works)

Answer 1

Actually, WCF is flexible enough that you should be able to create such a thing yourself. I don't know where you'd specify the serialization to use if you don't use a config file, though. I also don't know how you'd convey your choice of serialization to the client once you changed it on the server.

Of course, without any configuration, you're stuck with defaults. I assume you want the default to be http or https, SOAP format, document/literal, no WS-* features, etc?

I'm a little concerned that you're using the term "ASP.NET Web Services". You're not using ASMX services, are you? Don't.

Answer 2

Here is a very simple example of a WCF service. It seems pretty close to what you want.

Answer 3

You can definitely do all that in a very basic WCF scenario - if you like, you can do all your setup and configuration in code as opposed to configuration.

You need on the server side:

1) a service contract IMyService that defines the function calls 2) a service implementation MyService that implements that interface 3) a service host that will host your service - this is the part where you'll have to define things like bindings (what protocol to use) and endpoint (what address to use)

You need on the client side:

1) access to the IMyService interface (put that into its own, separate interface assembly) 2) Create a ChannelFactory 3) Have the channel factory give you a channel to communicate with the service

This can all be done in code - no external config to speak of.

Aaron Skonnard of Pluralsight has had a great series of 5-15min. screen casts on how to create your WCF services - usually showing both how to do it in code, as well as how to do it with config. The show "Endpoint.TV" on Channel 9 was actually intermixed with workflow stuff, too - but you should be able to find the basic WCF screencasts in there, too. Check it out!

Marc

PS: If you're serious about learning about WCF (and I would definitely recommend that!), you should check out Michèle Leroux Bustamante's book Learning WCF - A Hands On Guide - highly recommended.