How to call a Web Service Method

Question

I have a web service that contains this method    WebMethod  public static List lt string gt  GetFileListOnWebServer        DirectoryInfo dInfo   new DirectoryInfo HostingEnvironment MapPath    UploadedFiles         FileInfo   fInfo   dInfo GetFiles        SearchOption TopDirectoryOnly       List lt string gt  listFilenames   new List lt string gt  fInfo Length       for int i   0  i  lt  fInfo Length  i                 listFilenames Add fInfo i  Name            return listFilenames      This returns a list of filenames in a folder  When i debug the application  it works fine    What I want to do  is to call this webservice method from a winform application  I added a reference to the  dll of the webservice  and this is how I call the above method   private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        List lt string gt  files   TestUploaderWebService Service1 GetFileListOnWebServer        The above code does not work - when it enters the method  the path of the web app is null  and lots of properties from HostingEnvironment class are also null  Where is my mistake  in trying to call a web service method from another winform app   Please note that the web service is made in Visual Web Developer Express  and the winform in Visual C  express  this is why I had to add the web service dll as a reference in the winform app  I do not have Visual Studio full  which would have allowed me a single solution with both projects   I am new to web services   PS - i love the formatting of text on-the-fly here

User · Answer

The current way to do this is by using the "Add Service Reference" command. If you specify "TestUploaderWebService" as the service reference name, that will generate the type TestUploaderWebService.Service1. That class will have a method named GetFileListOnWebServer, which will return an array of strings (you can change that to be a list of strings if you like). You would use it like this:

string[] files = null;
TestUploaderWebService.Service1 proxy = null;
bool success = false;
try
{
    proxy = new TestUploaderWebService.Service1();
    files = proxy.GetFileListOnWebServer();
    proxy.Close();
    success = true;
}
finally
{
    if (!success)
    {
        proxy.Abort();
    }
}

P.S. Tell your instructor to look at "Microsoft: ASMX Web Services are a “Legacy Technology”", and ask why he's teaching out of date technology.

User · Answer

In visual studio  use the  Add Web Reference  feature and then enter in the URL of your web service   By adding a reference to the DLL  you not referencing it as a web service  but simply as an assembly   When you add a web reference it create a proxy class in your project that has the same or similar methods arguments as your web service   That proxy class communicates with your web service via SOAP but hides all of the communications protocol stuff so you don t have to worry about it

User · Answer

James  answer is correct  of course  but I should remind you that the whole ASMX thing is  if not obsolete  at least not the current method   I strongly suggest that you look into WCF  if only to avoid learning things you will need to forget

User · Answer

write return secondmethod  inside of the first method

[c#] How to call a Web Service Method?

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