Web Services

[HardcoreRobot]

Anybody here experienced with writing web services? Im doing the google thing and learning a lot, but looking for some resources that others have found useful. My goal is to learn the basics and a bit more, and also perhaps write a small one of my own. Any recommendations on a server that will be easy to set up?

 

[brentman]

What platform do you plan on using?

I have used ASP.NET to write a very very basic serial key validation web service. The .NET platform makes it fairly easy. I don't know what you are trying to accomplish but I had some luck with .NET.

I used the examples in the book ASP.NET Unleashed by Stephen Walther. I highly recommend this book to anyone learning ASP.NET.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

I really had no preference on the platform. I dont know much about any of them currently, so I wanted to pick one that is easily accessible and easy to pick up on. This is just a short term project so I really don't want to spend any money in the way of books or non-free software. I have a copy of visual studio .net, will that have everything I need to set up the server and application?

 

[brentman]

I just used Web Matrix (the free text editor for asp.net) to write my service and all my asp.net pages/modules. You could probably use Wsiual Studio to simplify things a bit more. Basically just use C# or VB.NET to write your functions, compile them, and place them in a web available folder for use. The service I tested was based on a webpage, just messing around learning. Not entirely sure what you have to do in the way of XML to transmit info to/from the service.

Check out the tuotirals on http://www.asp.net They are pretty good.

Edit: WebMatrix doesn't appear to be available since WebDeveloper came out. Let me know if you want me to put a link up.