Introduction

The main benefit of using SQLXML Web Services is that these services simplify the interaction between SQL, multiple platforms, and various languages including versions of Oledb (ADO), ODBC, JDBC, and so on. SQLXML Web Services help to better connect databases over an extranet, an intranet, or the Internet through the use of Active Server technologies. This enables multiple platforms to access the same services and attain the same results. In this chapter we will look at all the functionality that SQL Web Services can bring to our applications. One of the benefits of SQLXML Web Services is that they essentially cut out all use of Active Data Objects (ADO). By using a Web Service to complete our data interaction we can remove a level of complexity and thus remove a layer of potential errors, for instance, ADO recordset object errors. Like all database driven applications, you must always provide the back-end before designing and building the front-end application. By using SQLXML Web Services, deployment time is reduced considerably and resources are increased by virtually killing two birds with one stone. SQLXML Web Services also opens the back-end to multiple front-ends that may be built by third parties, with no additional development work.

There are some added features that need to be installed before we can get started. The main thing is to have all the current service packs for SQL 2000 and Windows 2000 Server installed before going forward. In the overview we will cover how to install and...