The .NET Framework 3.0 is installed by default on Windows Vista. On Microsoft Windows Server 2008, you can install the .NET Framework 3.0 as a Windows feature using the Roles Management tools. .NET Framework 3.0 is an extension of the existing .NET Framework 2.0 CLR and runtime environment.
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the next-generation presentation subsystem for Windows. It provides developers and designers with a unified programming model for building rich Windows smart client user experiences that incorporate UI, media, and documents. WPF is designed to build applications for client-side application development and provide either a richer Windows Forms application or a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that is designed to run on the application client workstation.
- Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a part of the .NET Framework 3.0 that enables developers to create workflow-enabled applications. Activities are the building blocks of workflow. They are a unit of work that needs to be executed. They can be created by either using code or composing them from other activities. Microsoft Visual Studio contains a set of activities that mainly provide structure—such as parallel execution, if/else, and call Web service. Visual Studio also contains the Workflow Designer that allows for the graphical composition of workflows by placing activities within the workflow model. For developers, this feature of the designer can be rehosted within any Windows Forms or ASP.NET application. WF also contains a rules engine. This engine enables declarative, rule-based development for workflows and any .NET application to use. Finally, there is the Workflow Runtime. This is a lightweight and extensible engine that executes the activities that make up a workflow. The runtime is hosted within any .NET process, enabling developers to bring workflow to anything from a Windows Forms application to an ASP.NET Web site or a Windows Service. WF provides a common UI and API for application developers and is used within Microsoft’s own products, such as SharePoint Portal Server 2007.
- Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is Microsoft’s unified framework for building reliable, secure, transacted, and interoperable distributed applications. WCF was completely designed with service orientation in mind. It is primarily implemented as a set of classes on top of the .NET Framework CLR. Support for the WS-* protocols means that Web services can easily take advantage of interoperable security, reliability, and transaction support required by businesses today. Developers can now focus on business logic and leave the underlying plumbing to WCF. Windows Communication Foundation also provides opportunities for new messaging scenarios with support for additional transports such as TCP and named pipes and new channels such as the Peer Channel. More flexibility is also available with regard to hosting Web services. Windows Forms applications, ASP.NET applications, console applications, Windows services, and COM+ services can all easily host Web service endpoints on any protocol. WCF also has many options for digitally signing and encrypting messages, including support for Kerberos and X.509.
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