Beginner's Guide to Windows Communication Foundation

This page contains resources to help developers get up to speed on developing with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). For more resources see the Learning Resources page.

Introductory Videos

In this video series, Aaron Skonnard from PluralSight guides the viewer through how to create, manage and use WCF Services.

Creating Your First WCF Service	Configuring Services with Endpoints	Hosting WCF Services in IIS
Self-hosting WCF Services	Creating Your First WCF Client	Configuring WCF Service References

Tutorials & Articles

Introducing Windows Communication Foundation in .NET Framework 4
This paper introduces Windows Communication Foundation, examining what it provides and showing how it’s used. The goal is to make clear what WCF is, illustrate the problems it addresses, and show how it solves those problems.

A Developer's Introduction to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) .NET 4
An overview of the most important new features and improvements in WCF, with enough technical detail and code to help you as a developer understand how to use them.

Learn The ABCs Of Programming Windows Communication Foundation
This article introduces you to WCF programming and shows you how to get started. (This is an older article, but the core concepts demonstrated are still valuable)

Introduction to Windows Communication Foundation
This tutorial series covers the basics of WCF programming and walks you through coding, configuring, and testing WCF services.

Product Documentation

Samples & downloads

Windows Communication Foundation 4 Samples
Find a series of easy to understand samples and solutions to quickly ramp up on Windows Communication Foundation in .NET 4.

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit
The Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Training Kit includes presentations, hands-on labs, and demos. This content is designed to help you learn how to utilize the Visual Studio 2010 features and a variety of framework technologies including: LINQ, C#, Visual Basic, WCF, WF, WPF, ASP.NET AJAX, VSTO, CardSpace, SilverLight, Mobile and Application Lifecycle Management.

Additional Resources

Virtual Lab: Understanding Windows Communication Foundation

After completing this lab, you will be better able to demonstrate the capabilities and tools of Windows Communication Foundation.

Webcast series: Windows Communication Foundation Top to Bottom: Overview

In this webcast, we introduce you to WCF as a technology for service-orientated architecture (SOA), discuss the programming model, and provide a short overview of core features.

Instructor-led Training: Visual Studio 2008: Windows Communication Foundation (3 days)

This three-day instructor-led course provides students with the knowledge and skills to build and configure a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) solution. This course is intended for application developers who know how to build and consume Web services in Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and how to use the common features of the base class library.

Exam: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4

This exam is designed to test the candidate's knowledge and skills for developing applications using Windows Communication Foundation and the .NET Framework 4.

Books on WCF


Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation Step by Step	Learning WCF: A Hands-on Guide