Should I create a web service or not?

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Mardy - 30 May 2005 00:47 GMT

I'm a long time asp developer but new to asp.net and web services. I have
been asked to develop an asp.net application and I'm not sure if I should
create it as a web forms app or a web service. Requirements are as follows:
-Must be able to use session variables or some other approach to store user
information and probably some datasets.
-Must implement a role based security model to restrict access to data.
-Application will be used on an Intranet but some users will browse in from
the internet through a firewall.
-SQL Server backend, integration with Microsoft Reporting Services for
reporting.
-Will serve as a template for identical applications deployed at other
clients.

Thanks for your help

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Sami Vaaraniemi - 31 May 2005 08:52 GMT

A Web Service has no user interface per se. If your application needs to
expose a user interface, then you need to do a Web forms application. In
addition, it might make sense to implement a Web Service as a facade through
which to expose business logic, but that depends entirely on your
requirements.

Regards,
Sami

> I'm a long time asp developer but new to asp.net and web services. I have
> been asked to develop an asp.net application and I'm not sure if I should
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Thanks for your help

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Chad Z. Hower aka Kudzu - 31 May 2005 11:36 GMT

> I'm a long time asp developer but new to asp.net and web services. I
> have been asked to develop an asp.net application and I'm not sure if I
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> -Will serve as a template for identical applications deployed at other
> clients.

It really depends on what your UI will be. Webforms makes a web UI,
WebServices does not.

--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Blog: http://blogs.atozed.com/kudzu

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Mardy - 31 May 2005 14:51 GMT

I know that I'd still need a UI to connect to the web sevice and I would do
that in web forms.

What I'm strugging with is whether it makes sense to create a web service
(containing the methods that will perform the business logic) versus a web
forms application or web site. In my situation, I don't have a client or
interface requiring xml (I'm more concerned that an xml-based web service
would hurt performance). What I do have is a set of security requirments that
may be harder to implement in a web service (???). I guess that's my main
concern. I don't want to go down this path unless I can find a good reason
why a web service makes more sense.

Thanks for all the advice

Mardy

> > I'm a long time asp developer but new to asp.net and web services. I
> > have been asked to develop an asp.net application and I'm not sure if I
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Blog: http://blogs.atozed.com/kudzu

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Registered User - 31 May 2005 14:59 GMT

>I'm a long time asp developer but new to asp.net and web services. I have
>been asked to develop an asp.net application and I'm not sure if I should
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>-Will serve as a template for identical applications deployed at other
>clients.

The requirements are ... well let us not go there.

Create the "application" as a web service using the desired security
mechanism. Clients of this web service can be either desktop apps or
web form apps run in a browser.

You'll need a mule to test the web service so write a web forms
client. Next write a desktop client for the webservice. Ideally the
same business-logic classes can be used in both clients.

That pretty much covers all the bases. Everything else is just details
most of which lie within/behind the web service.

regards
A.G.

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Should I create a web service or not?

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