CRUD Operations in ASP.Net Using WCF Service

Overview

In this article we will do Create, Retrieve, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations using the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services. In other words, in this article we will create two applications, the first for the WCF Service and the second to use the service. So before starting anything with it we should be familiar with WCF. So let's learn about it.

WCF is a framework for building service-oriented applications. So using WCF services, we can send data asynchronously from one service endpoint to another. Where endpoint can be part of a continuously available service hosted by IIS. In WCF services three important things are necessary to understand. We commonly callthem the ABCs of WCF Services, in other words:

• Address
  
• Binding
  
• Contract

Where address specifies where the service is, binding specifies what type of binding mode we want to use (where binding mode may be HTTP, TCP, MSMQ and so on) and contract specifies what service you want to provide. Let's learn about it, how we will do it.

Application I: WCF Service

Step 1

First we will create a WCF Service Application.

In Visual Studio 2010 select "File" -> "New" -> "Project..." and select "WCF" -> "WCF Service Application". For more see Figure 1.

Figure1

Step 2

Now watch in Solution Explorer, there will be the three files there IService1.cs, Service1.svc and Web.config. It is unnecessary to rename the file. For increased convenience, IService1 -> IEmployeeService and Service1 -> EmployeeService. After renaming the file your Solution Explorer will look like Figure 2.

Figure 2

Step 3

Some default lines of code we will see in all these three files. So we can change it depending on our requirements. So in this article we will create a service for Employee Records that can add an employee, update employee information, search for an employee, display an employee and delete an employee.

IEmployeeService.cs: Replace the default code of this file with the following code.

Basically in the preceding code we have declared the four methods for CRUD operations. Now we will implement these methods in EmployeeService.cs.

Step 4

In EmployeeService.cs we will define the body of all these four methods. So replace the default line of code with the following code.

Step 5

Now configure the Web.config file using the following code.

Note:

Now build your application and run the service (F5), then you will see the following in the web browser.

Now copy the URL from the browser, the URL will look like the following: http://localhost:5530/EmpService.svc. To use this service we will create another application.

Application II: Web Application

We can use this service in any type of application but for this example article we will create a web application.

Step I

In Visual Studio 2010 select "File" -> "New" -> "Project..." and select "Web" -> "ASP.NET Web Application".

*WebApplication

So for doing the CRUD operations we will create four aspx pages in this applciation. First create a master page.

1. AddNewEmployee.aspx
   
2. DisplayEmployeeRecord.aspx
   
3. UpdateEmployee.aspx
   
4. DeleteEmployee.aspx

MasterPage: Employee.Master

To use the CRUD services, we need to make reference to this current service that is running on IIS. To make the reference use the following procedure.

In Solution Explorer, right-click on the application name and move to "Add Service Reference...". For more see the following Figure 3.

Figure 3:

Step III