WCF Data Services

Question

Does WCF Data Services have anything similar to the DomainDataSource used in RIA Services? I'm looking for something that can be used as a source for the DataGrid/DataPager controls but do paging/sorting/filtering server side using a data service.

Answer 1

I need to bring out this point wcf ria really is geared toward wcf ria entity framework if you need to use any custom data it has to be geared as same datamodel even if you are using mvvm

If you are planning to use a custom data source wcf data service is more flexable, however you will have to use more tweeks to use it with silverlight...POCO or t4 templates(custom)  are  the most flexable and they use old fashioned oop repository pattern

here are the patterns you can use in wcf data services  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd672591.aspx 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee256141.aspx poco validation

if you use entity framework you can set entity rules http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc668788.aspx 

    

Answer 2

@billsm - Sorry if my initial post wasn't clear, but I'm looking for something that my Silverlight DataGrids can bind to that will connect to a WCF Data Service and handle paging, sorting, etc.  I wasn't asking about models for the actual data service itself.

I'm not using RIA Services, but I've seen that it has a DomainDataSource control that can do all this. I was hoping there would be an equivalent that would work with Data Services.

Answer 3

angiel  I am sorry I was not as clear  also I should have mentioned this below

 unfortunately I do no think this is possible in wcf data services -here's some proof below   

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/dataservices/thread/296f7c39-ac97-423d-9840-def57a30f46d

http://www.microsoftpdc.com/2009/FT55  here's a restful talk here

I have looked at domain service  you have to reference from  wcf ria only....

By the   have been researching this..however it looks to me....     

1 Wcf data  services is very good if you are using a custom data  poco class and using the wcf  restful architecture

    

2 wcf  ria really    is geared more to silverlight using  entity framework(which uses domain service  you are mentioning)

you can think of wcf ria being more specialized http://stackoverflow.com/questions/984670/what-is-the-difference-between-wcf-and-the-ria-services-domain-service-class

      http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/t/190435.aspx  I was very disappointed that no one really commented

about using wcf data services authentication.By the way I read this in msdn magazine you have to create  custom poco  data classes for authentication       

  

Answer 4

Thanks for replying billsm, but I don't think we're on the same page here. Those links aren't really related to my question.

Since no one else has responded, I would guess that Silverlight doesn't support this.

Answer 5

Hi Angiel,

The Datagrid/DataPager sorting/Paging support in Silverlight is based on the ICollectionView, IEditableCollectionView  and IPagedCollectionView interfaces. To get support for server-side paging/sorting in Silverlight for WCF Data Services you would need to implement the above interfaces and then hookup the appropriate API calls to Server-side queries.
I've been toying with an implementation of the above for some of my applications and haven't had any time to properly test/document it . The Silverlight OData Explorer hosted at http://silverlight.net/ODataExplorer uses this library to provide Sorting/Paging support for the datagrid.

If  you want to be a test subject  for this library, please send me an email at

PhaniRaj(Remove)@(Remove)Microsoft.com

Answer 6

 Hi angiel,

WCF Data Service doesn't provide built-in classes which support sorting/filtering like WCF RIA Service, but silverlight does. Silverlight has CollectionViewSource and PagedCollectionView which supports these functionalities. Please check below document on how to use a CollectionViewSource and set the its Source to be the result returned by WCF Data Servie:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681614%28v=VS.95%29.aspx

Answer 7

Thanks phanatic. I'll check out the ODataExplorer sample. It looks like creating a custom collection view is the only way to get the functionality I need.

Answer 8

Frank,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the example you link to still loads ALL pages of query results and does paging client side.  I haven't found any way to use CollectionViewSource or PagedCollectionView with a DataPager and have just the current page of results loaded.

Answer 9

Hi,

Sorry for mistake, I didn't realize it's the server side paging we're talking about.