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The Visual Studio WCF Project Templates

As will be explained in more detail later in this chapter, a WCF application is typically represented

by three interrelated assemblies, one of which is a *.dll that contains the types that external callers

can communicate with (in other words, the WCF service itself ). When you wish to build a WCF serv-

ice, it is perfectly permissible to select a standard Class Library project template (see Chapter 15) as

a starting point and manually reference the WCF assemblies. 

Alternatively, you can create a new WCF service by selecting the WCF Service Library project

template of Visual Studio 2008 (see Figure 25-2). This project type automatically sets references to

the required WCF assemblies; however, it also generates a good deal of “starter code,” which you will

more likely than not simply delete. 

Figure 25-2.

The Visual Studio 2008 WCF Service Library project template

One benefit of selecting the WCF Service Library project template is that it also supplies you

with an App.config file, which may seem strange since we are building a .NET *.dll, not a .NET

*.exe. This file, however, is very useful in that when you debug or run your WCF Service Library

project, the Visual Studio IDE will automatically launch the WCF Test Client application. This pro-

gram (WcfTestClient.exe) will read the settings in the App.config file in order to host your service

for testing purposes. You’ll learn more about the WCF Test Client later in this chapter.