Ways to make your WCF services compatible with non-.NET consumers
- by Mayo
I'm working on adding a WCF services layer to my existing .NET application. This layer will be hosted in IIS and will be consumed by a variety of UIs, at least one of which will not use Microsoft technologies.
I can make a Web service in WCF that is consumed by my .NET application. However, I'm concerned about things that work in the .NET world but not with other technologies.
For example, simply throwing an exception from my WCF service works fine in .NET. But according to this article, one should approach exception handling with fault contracts to ensure compatibility with non-.NET consumers. The author labels this lack of foresight as The Fallacy of the .NET-Only World.
Does anyone have any high level suggestions or links to articles that cover interoperability between WCF and non-.NET consumers?
I realize I'm potentially working against the YAGNI principle. I'm only really looking to avoid things that will be incredibly difficult to overcome later when the developers of the non-.NET consumer report problems to me.