The WCF subset supported by NetCF
[Updated: 21Nov07 to clarify that custom headers are supported, but not in NetCFSvcUtil proxy generation]
[Updated: 27Aug07 to correct Gzip sample, and clarify on transports & extensibility]
[Updated: 23Aug07 to add SecurityAlgorithmSuite enumerable]
Many people have been asking about what subset of .NET 3.0's Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) will be supported by the .NET Compact Framework 3.5. Well, here is a table I put together with the answer to that question:
| Feature | Desktop WCF | Compact WCF |
| Bindings: | | |
| · BasicHttpBinding | Yes | Yes |
| · CustomBinding | Yes | Yes |
| · WindowsMobileMailBinding | N/A | Yes |
| · ExchangeWebServiceMailBinding | Yes, via NetCF install | Yes |
| Formatters: | | |
| · SoapFormatter | Yes | Yes |
| · BinaryFormatter | Yes | No |
| Encoders: | | |
| · TextMessageEncoder | Yes | Yes |
| · BinaryMessageEncodingBindingElement | Yes | No |
| · MTOMEncoder | Yes | No |
| · GzipEncoder | Sample available | Sample available |
| Transports: | | |
| · HttpTransportBindingElement | Yes | Yes |
| · HttpsTransportBindingElement | Yes | Yes |
| · MailTransportBindingElement | Yes, via NetCF install | Yes |
| · MsmqTransportBindingElement | Yes | No |
| · TcpTransportBindingElement | Yes | No |
| · (other transports) | Yes | No |
| XmlDictionaryReader/Writer | Yes | Yes; stub around XmlTextReader/Writer |
| DataContractSerializer | Yes | No; but can be wire-compatible with DCS via XmlSerializer |
| Service proxy generation | Yes; via SvcUtil.exe | Yes; via NetCFSvcUtil.exe, not integrated into VS2008 |
| · Non-HTTP transports in generated proxies | Yes | Not built-in |
| · Custom headers in generated proxies | Yes | Not built-in |
| WS-Addressing | Yes | Yes |
| WS-Security message level security | | |
| · X.509 | Yes | Yes |
| · Username/password | Yes | No |
| · SecurityAlgorithmSuite.Basic256Rsa15 | Yes | Yes |
| · SecurityAlgorithmSuite.Basic256 | Yes | No |
| WS-ReliableMessaging | Yes | No |
| Patterns | | |
| · Service model | Yes | No |
| · Message layer programming | Yes | Yes |
| · Buffered messages | Yes | Yes |
| · Streaming messages | Yes | No |
| · Endpoint descriptions in .config files | Yes | No |
| Channel extensibility | Yes | Yes |
| Security channel extensibility | Yes | No |
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