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The WCF Service Website Project Template

Truth be told, there is yet another Visual Studio 2008 WCF-centric project template that you will

find in the New Web Site dialog box, activated via the File ➤ New ➤ Web Site menu option (see

Figure 25-3).

Figure 25-3.

The Visual Studio 2008 web-based WCF Service project template

This WCF Service project template is useful when you know from the outset that your WCF

service will make use of web service–based protocols rather than, for example, named pipes. This

option can automatically create a new Internet Information Services (IIS) virtual directory to con-

tain your WCF program files, create a proper Web.config file to expose the service via HTTP, and

author the necessary *.svc file (more about *.svc files later in this chapter). In this light, the web-

based WCF Service project is simply a time-saver, as the IDE will automatically set up the required

IIS infrastructure.

In contrast, if you build a new WCF service using the WCF Service Library option, you have the

ability to host the service in a variety of ways (custom host, Windows service, manually built IIS vir-

tual directory, etc.). This option is more appropriate when you wish to build a custom host for your

WCF service. 

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