WPF, WCF, WWF, WCS

1. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).
2. WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)
3. WF (Windows Workflow Foundation)
4. WCS (Windows Card Space)


1. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation)


New era for Windows Desktop Application UI designing. Following are some of the main features

• Now onwards there are no WinForm Controls that we are using till .net 2.0. Everything is XML. Whatever you write will be the XML for the desigining. Officially Microsoft gives its name XAML

• Because of this XML everything you can do in Html pages will now possible in Winform design also

• Cascading Style like web is possible in Winform also

• Designer draw the screen in Photoshop just like they where doing for web page. And then you can do the same step as you were doing to convert that layout in html

• Provides new type of application known as "WPF Browser based application", which can run in Internet Explorer just like the ActiveX and Applets are running

• 3D modeling.

• Animation like GIF file can be possible for the windows form.

Links
WPF Architecures and functionality
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnlong/html/wpf101.asp
WPF for beginners
http://wpf.netfx3.com/
Find the features in detail for WPF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Presentation_Foundation
Introduction Videos
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/episode.aspx?xml=episodes/en/20060817wpfkg/manifest.xml
First Hands on lab
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=05755a9d-98fa-4f16-bfdc-023e3fd34763&DisplayLang=en
2. WCF (Windows Communication Foundation)


New era for Communication methods for the Distributed application development and Grid Computing with much flexibility that we never have before. This is something they are calling Service Oriented Application Architecture.

• Web service, WSE, Remorting, MSMQ... all of this is now a mapped in single API

• Easy to deploy and integration with Application.

• XML web service access speed will no more issue with the help of WCF.

Links
Learning WCF (Architecture and Foundation)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnlong/html/wcfarch.asp
Introduction of Developing WCF
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnlong/html/introtowcf.asp
3. WF (Windows Workflow Foundation)


This is really really very cool features that Microsoft comes up with .net 3.0. With the help of this foundation you can implement any complex Business logic which you could not even think for it. Just within a few hours you can implement few weeks of work. The features are

• Draw the Flow chart and the coding part will be written automatically. Of course you have to feed some line of code

• Represent your logic on document which is actually the code you implement

• No more syntax and commenting for Code, because your logic is in form of Flow charts

• Maintain the State of Object (Application Objects) with the Help of State Chart. Draw the state diagram for your Object and it will reach exactly in the state as per you have drawn with in IDE

• I could not believe on my eyes when I saw the demonstration of Parallel Computing and Multi threading application development. Just to draw the flow chart with some parallel Flow in sequence, that’s all to do. Not to think anything for the thread and multi process management

Links
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnlong/html/hmnwkfwwf.asp
Understanding Components in WF
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/12/windowsworkflow/
4. WCS (Windows Card Space)


It is formerly known as the code named "InfoCard" that helps to protect user’s digital identities against spoofing, phishing and tampering. It enables end users to provide digital identity to online services in a simple and trusted way.
Here is how it works…
Instead of authenticating users with passwords, websites authenticate users with security tokens. Submit identity token to the website with just a few clicks of a mouse. The website accepts this token presented by the user, decrypts the token, validates this credential and uses this information internally to identify the user. Cryptographic techniques along with responsible protocols are used for identification of the user. CardSpace includes a self-issued identity provider, which runs on the local Windows system and it can produce information cards just like any other identity provider.
Users download cards from identity providers such as their bank, employer, government agency, membership organization, or create their own self-issued cards. When a Website or Web service requests a user’s credentials, CardSpace will be invoked and allow the user to select a card to present. CardSpace then retrieves a verifiable credential from the selected identity provider, or the self-issuing authority as the case may be, utilizing interoperable protocols. It then forwards the credential to the target application. This provides users with a simple, secure and familiar sign-on experience that is consistent across all Websites and Web services.
We can enjoy the technology, simplicity, consistency and mainly security that Card Space gifts us.