ColdFusion WS Consumer for a WS Created in VS2003 - First example
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The Web Service with VS2003 IDE
Creating the Web Service
Step 1: This is a very simple example. The web service when called returns a HTML page which contains a single line of text, which is linked to a web site. To create this, click File ->New->Project to open the following window. It is suggested that you give a descriptive name to your project instead of WebService1. Notice that the project will be on your localhost.
Step 2: Click OK to the above window to open the project. The project comes with a default Service1.asmx page. Again it is recommended that you use an identifiable name. Only methods or properties will be used in the tutorial, therefore switch to the code view. The code view already has a template for web service called HelloWorld () commented out (in green). This is a functioning program.
You will create a program as shown in the next screen shot of the code view. You will be adding everything between <WebMethod ()> ...End Function after removing the default HelloWorld () code.
Step 3: Your code is now ready. Just browse the Service1.asmx file in your preferred browser. Highlight Service1.asmx and right click. You can browse the file with your default browser. Or, if you prefer, you can the Browse With option, in which case you can either choose one from your listed browsers, or use an internal browser (similar to the Cassini browser). What you will see will be the following display,
The Service Description hyperlink will take you to what is called the WSDL. Make sure you read the linked items at the bottom of the page, as it provides links to the underlying protocols for web services. You may also get a bird's eye view of what it is by reading my other article.
Step 4: Click on the FindJay hyperlink to open the following window. This window shows the Soap Request/Response that goes with the HTTP Request/Response to the server and back. You may also test the Webservice by clicking on the Invoke button, which executes the Web method () on the server. The result of this is the XML response shown in the following display:
Step 5: Now how does the client, your ColdFusion client know where the Service1.asmx file of the above web service is? This information is what is available in the Service Description hyperlink discussed above. It gives all the details. The details can be captured by appending the query ?WSDL to the URL as follows: http://localhost/FindJay/Service1.asmx?WSDL.
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