WCF Data Services vs WCF RIA Services
I spent a little time today taking a high level look at these (largely) data access solutions as I was a little confused, along with the rest of the developer population it seems, as to when and why they should be used.
Here are some of the useful links I located care of google:
http://wildermuth.com/2009/09/29/Choosing_a_Data_Access_Layer_for_Silverlight_3
http://wildermuth.com/2010/2/21/The_State_of_Data_Access_in_Silverlight
http://wildermuth.com/2010/7/8/State_of_Data_Access_in_Silverlight_4
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/endpoint/archive/2010/01/04/wcf-data-services-ria-services-alignment-questions-and-answers.aspx
http://ayende.com/blog/4390/a-marketing-mistake-wcf-data-services-wcf-ria-services
http://jack.ukleja.com/wcf-data-services-vs-wcf-ria-services/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee707344(v=vs.91).aspx
http://andrewtokeley.net/archive/2009/11/01/ria-services-ndash-ado.net-data-services-and-wcf.aspx
I was a little disappointed in the conclusions I was able to derive from the above: that the benefits to were marginal overall compared to 'rolling your own' WCF service to deliver similar functionality.
In terms of the differences between the technologies themselves there seems to be one major difference in that WCF Data Services offers greater interoperability support between different platforms where as WCF RIA Services are targeted at Rich Internet Applications (surprise, surprise) and particularly Silverlight. There are other differences, for example RIA takes more of a strict service interface approach while Data Services allows LINQ querying/ projections from the client based on the exposed data source. RIA also has strong validation framework support.
This exercise was to have the focus of providing a decision making basis as to which would be better to use for Propona's next project ... but given that there was no clear guidance available the decision may well be deferred and made on the basis of the project requirements, as perhaps should be the case anyway.
Perhaps in parallel:
a) the next release of these products and any associated released guidance from Microsoft will make the picture clearer
b) I should get my hands dirty and try them
c) I should look at the 3rd party products also available (see the above links), budgetary requirements permitting.
Watch this space though as this is my first 'proper' post, perhaps not with bated breath!
Here are some of the useful links I located care of google:
http://wildermuth.com/2009/09/29/Choosing_a_Data_Access_Layer_for_Silverlight_3
http://wildermuth.com/2010/2/21/The_State_of_Data_Access_in_Silverlight
http://wildermuth.com/2010/7/8/State_of_Data_Access_in_Silverlight_4
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/endpoint/archive/2010/01/04/wcf-data-services-ria-services-alignment-questions-and-answers.aspx
http://ayende.com/blog/4390/a-marketing-mistake-wcf-data-services-wcf-ria-services
http://jack.ukleja.com/wcf-data-services-vs-wcf-ria-services/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee707344(v=vs.91).aspx
http://andrewtokeley.net/archive/2009/11/01/ria-services-ndash-ado.net-data-services-and-wcf.aspx
I was a little disappointed in the conclusions I was able to derive from the above: that the benefits to were marginal overall compared to 'rolling your own' WCF service to deliver similar functionality.
In terms of the differences between the technologies themselves there seems to be one major difference in that WCF Data Services offers greater interoperability support between different platforms where as WCF RIA Services are targeted at Rich Internet Applications (surprise, surprise) and particularly Silverlight. There are other differences, for example RIA takes more of a strict service interface approach while Data Services allows LINQ querying/ projections from the client based on the exposed data source. RIA also has strong validation framework support.
This exercise was to have the focus of providing a decision making basis as to which would be better to use for Propona's next project ... but given that there was no clear guidance available the decision may well be deferred and made on the basis of the project requirements, as perhaps should be the case anyway.
Perhaps in parallel:
a) the next release of these products and any associated released guidance from Microsoft will make the picture clearer
b) I should get my hands dirty and try them
c) I should look at the 3rd party products also available (see the above links), budgetary requirements permitting.
Watch this space though as this is my first 'proper' post, perhaps not with bated breath!
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