I have a desktop C# app that I want to split into two parts – server part and client part. My app is already split into two very independent parts that communicate by exchanging some (complex!) objects.
If I want to put one part of my app on some web server, what kind of technology should I use for passing those custom complex objects between the server part and client part? I was thinking about WCF, but…I’m not sure that WCF can easily handle (send/receive) custom objects (composed by many other custom objects). I don’t need WCF because I’m not planning to offer my service to any third-party, I’m not planning to port my client app to other OS…
That’s why I’m confused and need your help: what kind of remoting technology should I use in my case?
Well, DataContracts in WCF support complex objects, so I don’t see a problem with that (how complex are your objects); however you should probably use the technology that is sufficient in your case. You can use Remoting, hell, even Sockets; but it is in almost all cases overkill and going too low in .NET stack for nothing; you will just be wasting your time in implementation.
If you have no reason against WCF, I would go that way, because it is very simple and powerful. There are also standard ASP.NET ASMX web services if you’d like.
One thing to note, whichever the technology, you should have your code structured in a distribution layer, exposing coarse-grained methods.