RESTful .NET: Build and Consume RESTful Web Services with .NET 3.5

by Jon Flanders

Overview

RESTful .NET is the first book that teaches Windows developers to build RESTful web services using the latest Microsoft tools. Written by Windows Communication Foundation (WFC) expert Jon Flanders, this hands-on tutorial demonstrates how you can use WCF and other components of the .NET 3.5 Framework to build, deploy and use REST-based web services in a variety of application scenarios.

RESTful architecture offers a simpler approach to building web services than SOAP, SOA, and the cumbersome WS-* stack. And WCF has proven to be a flexible technology for building distributed systems not necessarily tied to WS-* standards. RESTful .NET provides you with a complete guide to the WCF REST programming model for building web services consumed either by machines or humans. You'll learn how to:

• Program Read-Only (GET) services
• Program READ/WRITE services
• Host REST services
• Program REST feeds
• Program AJAX REST clients
• Secure REST endpoints
• Use workflow to deliver REST services
• Consume RESTful XML services using WCF
• Work with HTTP
• Work with ADO.NET Data Services (Astoria)

RESTful .NET introduces you to the ideas of REST and RESTful architecture, and includes a detailed discussion of how the Web/REST model plugs into the WCF architecture. If you develop with .NET, it's time to jump on the RESTful bandwagon. This book explains how.

"While REST is simple, WCF is not. To really understand and exploit this part of WCF requires a knowledgeable and experienced guide. I don't know anybody who's better suited for this role than Jon Flanders. ...Jon is first-rate at explaining complicated things. This book is the best introduction I've seen to creating and using these services with WCF." —David Chappell, Chappell & Associates

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596519209
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/28/2008
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Although Jon Flanders spent the first few years of his professional life as an attorney, he quickly found chasing bits more interesting than chasing ambulances. After working with ASP and COM, he made the move to .NET. Jon is most at home spelunking, trying to figure out exactly how .NET (specifically ASP.NET and Visual Studio .NET) works. Deducing the details and disseminating that information to other developers is his passion.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Preface; Who This Book Is For; How This Book Is Organized; What You Need to Use This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; How to Contact the Author; Comments and Questions; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: REST Basics; 1.1 Architecture of the World Wide Web; 1.2 SOAP; 1.3 REST; 1.4 Implementing a Simple RESTful Service Example; 1.5 Processes; 1.6 Summary; Chapter 2: WCF RESTful Programming Model; 2.1 Isn’t WCF All About SOAP?; 2.2 Channels and Dispatching; 2.3 HTTP Programming with WCF 3.0; 2.4 Web Programming in WCF 3.5; 2.5 UriTemplate; 2.6 Summary; Chapter 3: Programming Read-Only Services; 3.1 Using WebGetAttribute and UriTemplate; 3.2 Data Formats; 3.3 Summary; Chapter 4: Programming Read/Write Services; 4.1 POST, PUT, and DELETE; 4.2 Using WebInvokeAttribute; 4.3 Summary; Chapter 5: Hosting WCF RESTful Services; 5.1 WCF REST Hosting Isn’t a Special Case; 5.2 Self-Hosting; 5.3 Hosting in IIS; 5.4 Custom ServiceHostFactory; 5.5 Hosting Wrap-Up; 5.6 Summary; Chapter 6: Programming Feeds; 6.1 Building a Feed with WCF; 6.2 Exposing a Feed on a Live URI; 6.3 Feed Validation; 6.4 Adding Links to a Feed; 6.5 Summary; Chapter 7: Programming Ajax and Silverlight Clients; 7.1 WCF Web Services and Ajax; 7.2 JSON; 7.3 ASP.NET Ajax; 7.4 Silverlight 1.0; 7.5 Silverlight 2.0; 7.6 Returning JSON and XML Conditionally with a Single Method; 7.7 Summary; Chapter 8: Securing REST Endpoints; 8.1 Authenticating: Self-Hosted Endpoints; 8.2 Authenticating: Managed Hosting Endpoints; 8.3 Authorizing Endpoints; 8.4 Summary; Chapter 9: Using Workflow to Deliver REST Services; 9.1 Consuming REST Services from WF; 9.2 The SendActivity Instance; 9.3 The ReceiveActivity Instance; 9.4 Stateless Workflow Services; 9.5 Stateful Workflow Services; 9.6 Summary; Chapter 10: Consuming RESTful XML Services Using WCF; 10.1 Defining the Client; 10.2 Client Extensibility; 10.3 Summary; Chapter 11: Working with HTTP; 11.1 Programming HTTP with WCF; 11.2 Status Codes; 11.3 Conditional GET; 11.4 Caching; 11.5 Summary; WCF 3.5 SP1; Atom Publishing Protocol; UriTemplate Changes; Attribute-Free DataContract Serialization; Summary; ADO.NET Data Services; Building an ADO.NET Data Service; ADO.NET Data Services and AtomPub; Summary; ADO.NET Entity Framework Walkthrough; Creating the Data Model; Colophon;