Creating and Accessing Web Services Walkthroughs

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Web services provide programmatic access to application logic using standard Web protocols, such as XML and HTTP. Web services can be either stand-alone applications or sub-components of a larger Web application. Web services are accessible from just about any other kind of application, including other Web services, Web applications, Windows applications and console applications. The only requirement is that the client must be able to send, receive, and process messages to and from the Web service. For more information, see Programming the Web with Web Services.

These walkthroughs cover two logically separate development paths, creating Web services and accessing Web services. Although you may be both the creator and the user of a particular Web service, the processes are distinctly separate. Of course, you need to create a Web service before you can access it.

The creating Web services walkthroughs use two separate technologies for implementing a Web service. In all cases, you create the same Web service functionality; the only difference is the method of implementation.

The accessing Web services walkthroughs focus on the steps necessary to access Web services from managed code and unmanaged code. In each walkthrough, the client application accesses the Web service using a proxy class generated by Visual Studio.

Note

In each walkthrough you will access a Web service created in one of the above "Creating a Web Service..." walkthroughs. As such, it is necessary to complete at least one of the "Creating a Web Service..." walkthroughs prior to attempting one of the "Accessing a Web Service..." walkthroughs.