Asp net web api web service discovery and client creation

ASP.NET is a popular programming language used for developing web applications. One of its key features is the ability to create web services using the ASP.NET Web API framework. In this article, we will explore how to discover and create a client for an ASP.NET Web API web service.

To begin with, let's understand what a web service is. A web service is a software system that allows different applications to communicate with each other over the internet. It provides a standardized way for applications to exchange data and perform various operations.

Web Service Discovery

Before we can create a client for a web service, we need to discover the available web services. ASP.NET provides a built-in mechanism for discovering web services called Service Discovery. This mechanism allows us to find the available web services on a given server.

To discover web services in ASP.NET, we can use the following code:

using System;
using System.Web.Services.Discovery;

public class WebServiceDiscovery
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        DiscoveryClientProtocol discoveryClient = new DiscoveryClientProtocol();
        discoveryClient.Discover("http://example.com/service.asmx");

        foreach (object reference in discoveryClient.References)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(reference.Url);
        }
    }
}

In the above code, we create an instance of the `DiscoveryClientProtocol` class and call the `Discover` method with the URL of the web service. This method retrieves the available web services and stores them in the `References` property. We can then iterate over the `References` property to get the URLs of the discovered web services.

Web Service Client Creation

Once we have discovered the web service, we can create a client to consume its functionality. ASP.NET provides a tool called “Add Service Reference” that generates a client proxy for the web service. This client proxy allows us to call the web service methods as if they were local methods.

To create a client for a web service in ASP.NET, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on the project in Visual Studio and select “Add Service Reference”.
2. Enter the URL of the web service in the “Address” field and click “Go”.
3. Visual Studio will discover the web service and display its available methods and types.
4. Enter a namespace for the client proxy and click “OK”.

Visual Studio will generate the client proxy code and add it to your project. You can now use the client proxy to call the web service methods.

using System;
using MyWebServiceClient.ServiceReference;

public class WebServiceClient
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        MyWebServiceClient client = new MyWebServiceClient();
        string result = client.MyWebServiceMethod();

        Console.WriteLine(result);
    }
}

In the above code, we create an instance of the client proxy class generated by Visual Studio. We can then call the web service methods using the client proxy. In this example, we call the `MyWebServiceMethod` and print the result to the console.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how to discover and create a client for an ASP.NET Web API web service. We learned about web service discovery using the `DiscoveryClientProtocol` class and creating a client proxy using the “Add Service Reference” tool in Visual Studio. By following these steps, you can easily consume web services in your ASP.NET applications.

ASP.NET provides a powerful framework for building web applications, and web services are an integral part of it. With the ability to discover and create clients for web services, you can leverage the functionality provided by other applications and systems in your own applications.