In short: I discuss Sidebar Gadgets, and I show you how to invoke a CardSpace-protected WCF service from a simple Gadget. Full source code is provided, along with detailed commentary on the road I've followed for getting there. Added bonus: the code shows how to apply an arbitrary configuration file to WCF, an issue often encountered when hosting WCF code in processes you don't control. Sidebar Gadgets are mini applications which live in the Sidebar, a UI element on the Windows Vista desktop. They are extremely handy for keeping an eye on information you are often interested to; they are also very good at providing you a quick-reach UI for tasks you perform often. As you know I wear the server guy hat, so I'm not really the best person for explaining the advanteges of Gadget: I would suggest visiting Michael and Jaime blogs if you want more details on the subject. When I thought of how the gadget model could be useful for me, I realized that much of the information I'd like to keep an eye on happens to be confidential (like being notified if I received a wire transfer, or getting the access statistics from my website); the actions I want to take when I react to changes in those data are also requiring high security levels (like accessing a portion of my home banking for giving approval for a certain utility bill to be paid). So, would not be great if we could use CardSpace for authenticating the services accessed by a Gadget? I thought for few nights about the issue, devised a
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