Introduction

In this chapter, we show you step-by-step how to build a real-world Web Service, using all the tools and techniques covered in the previous chapters. This Web Service case study will take you through all the important factors to be considered when creating a Web Service application.

Together, we create a two-tier Web Service consisting of the following:

• A business logic layer (middle tier) written in C#

• A database backend using SQL Server 2000

We also show you how to access this service through a Windows Forms-based front-end portal application. While developing this application, we cover a range of subjects relevant to real-world Web Service projects. We start off by offering some suggestions for proper Web Service application architecture. We then discuss how to pass structured data from your Web Service to your client application, including basic marshalling and complex object serialization. We talk about namespaces and extended Web Service attributes, and how to properly use them. Further topics include how to secure Web Services, how to generate client proxies, error handling both on the server and on the client, working with Event Logs, and the automatic generation of documentation.