Chapter 15: Web Services

Overview

Web services are the central hub of everything that is .NET. The basic goal of Web services is to make distributed applications much easier to design and develop than ever before. They change the way Internet, intranet, extranet, or whichever-net-based applications are written. Basically, Web services put the "net" in .NET.

Web services aren't unique to Microsoft or .NET. In fact, all of the major industry players have a Web services offering. This chapter, however, focuses only on the Microsoft .NET Framework implementation of Web services.

The chapter starts by providing you with general understanding of Web services. You'll discover how to implement and consume a simple Web service using Managed C++. With the basics under your belt, you'll then be ready for a more elaborate implementation of a Web service, this time working with the ADO.NET skills you acquired back in Chapter 12.