WCF vs. Local Database

Question

So lets say I want to develop an application which at first will be client server for simplicity. Then down the road we want to expand to utilize WCF. Is their a framework which will allow you to switch between using the data access layer a wcf front-end data access layer and the business logic layer? We have a solution which we don't think is pretty but will do the trick. I was hoping someone might have built a framework to handle switching between Direct Data Layer and WCF Data Layer.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi Sam,

This is the best I can offer ;) : ADO.NET Data Services (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/bb931106.aspx).
It provides a WCF service interface to an Entity Framework data access layer.

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Rodrigo.

Answer 2

You will need to add an extra layer of indirection in to your application so the client call goes through an abstraction to either the Data Access Layer directly or to a WCF proxy. The standard pattern for doing this is Inversion of Control and Dependency Injection

http://martinfowler.com/articles/injection.html

You might want to look at the Castle Project

http://www.castleproject.org/container/index.html

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Richard Blewett, thinktecture - http://www.dotnetconsult.co.uk/weblog2
Twitter: richardblewett

Answer 3

Hi Sam,

Here is another option : http://www.lhotka.net/cslanet/
This a framework that can do that for you. It is based about building proper OO business objects. The calls to business objects can execute locally or via WCF or other transports depending on configuration.

The main downside is that it will take you time to learn it:)

Hope this helps.