Microsoft® Visual C#® .NET 2003 Kick Start

Creating Web Services

We've seen Windows services, and many people are familiar with them on a day-to-day basis. But what about Web services? They're less familiar than Windows services to most people, but the idea is the same—they're code components—on Web servers this time—that your code can call and that can return data, much as you'd work with a Windows service.

For example, Web services can connect to databases, letting you retrieve data from data sources, and you can connect to Web services from either Windows or Web applications. Using Web services, you can implement custom logic such as performing a credit check before approving a loan. Web services are often used as middle-tier business objects, which work with and transfer data in three-tier ...