Summary

This chapter has provided a lightning-quick introduction to XML Web services. I've steered away from many conventional topics (such as an examination of the SOAP standard), which are discussed to excess in most introductory .NET texts. Instead, this chapter has honed in on some more useful XML Web service topics, including cross-platform development, serialization, and ASP.NET platform services. The coming chapters show how you can work with XML Web services in even more flexible ways, including using asynchronous requests and authentication. I haven't introduced these topics yet because they represent techniques that can be applied with benefit to both XML Web services and .NET components exposed through .NET Remoting.

This chapter also touched on some topics that we won't return to in any detail, including ASP.NET pages and IIS configuration. If you would like to learn more about the ASP.NET platform and how to configure a Web server, you might be interested in a dedicated ASP.NET book, such as my ASP.NET: The Complete Reference (Osborne McGraw-Hill, 2002). Of course, you'll need to return to this book to learn many of the best practices to follow when you implement these features in an enterprise application.

Finally, if you would like to try interacting with a prebuilt XML Web service, the Internet provides many choices. You can try creating client applications for the following:

• Microsoft's TerraService (http://terraservice.net), which provides a free gateway to TerraServer, the multiterabyte database of satellite photography. You can use TerraService to download satellite images and display them in your .NET applications.

• Microsoft's MapPoint, which enables you to access high-quality maps and geographical information. MapPoint isn't free, but you can use a free trial of the XML Web service. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnmapnet/html/mapintronet.asp for information.

The basic services are on GotDotNet (http://www.gotdotnet.com/playground/services); they include tried-and-true favorites such as the thumbnail generator, the mail sender, and the quote of the day. Best of all, you can also see the .NET implementation code for the XML Web services.