Web Services with .
Net
Presented by Paul Turner
[email protected]
Overview
What is a Web Service Web Service Design Principals Exploring the Faade pattern Creating a Web Service
Soap Headers and Extensions Consuming a Web Service Deploying Web Services
IAsyncResult Security
Attributes Returning simple and complex objects
What is a Web Service
Hype, mainly generated by marketing people
What is a Web Service Really!!
The execution of code on a remote
machine The idea has been around for a long time!!!
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) WinSock (create your own protocol)
What is a Web Service cont
XML is the primary means of
communication, called SOAP Usually over port 80 (HTTP), but can use any TCP port Serializes all method calls into SOAP Returns serialized objects in a SOAP format
What is a Web Service cont
Pros
Portable across platforms IBM, Microsoft, BEA, Sun and the WC3 support it Slower than most traditional RPC methods because SOAP is VERY longwinded Still immature and undergoing change (BE WARNED)
Cons
Web Service Design Principals
Different to most popular RPC Everything is SingleCall Not Object Orientated (OO)
Stateless No properties (you can butdont) Limited OO, the more OO the slower it will be
One common pattern is the Faade
Exploring the Faade pattern
Think of an a Car steering wheel Hides complexity behind a well defined
interface Ideal for Web Services
Creating a Web Service
Create a new ASP.Net Web Service project You get an .asmx and an .asmx.cs using System.Web.Services; Derive your class from WebService Add methods to your class and mark them
with [WebMethod()]
Creating a Web Service
DEMO
basicws.asmx
WebService Attribuites
Description Provides a nice description Name Used for Aliasing Namespace Effects the WSDL output
Defaults to http://tempuri.org/
You should change this when developing your WebService and DEFINITELY before deploying it
WebMethod Attribuites
Description Provides a nice description MessageName Used for Aliasing methods with
same name but different signatures BufferResponse Speeds up responses CacheDuration Less load on resources TransactionOption Enterprise transactions EnableSession Allow you to read the IIS Session object from the Web Service
WebMethod Attributes
DEMO
Basicws.asmx
Returning Simple Types
Simple to return simple types
[WebMethod()] public int DoSomething() { return 1; } Returns a simple Xml response
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <int xmlns="http://tempuri.org/">1</int>
Sidebar
Compatibility
using System.Web.Services.Protocols; [SoapRpcMethod()] [WebMethod()] public int DoSomething() { return 1; } Returns a different style of Xml
Simple Types and SoapRpcMethod
DEMO
Basicws.asmx
Returning Simple Objects
Same as simple types Properties
Need to be read/write
Constructors
Need to have constructor with NO parameters
Methods cannot be serialized
Returning Complex Objects
using System.Web.Services.Protocols; To return a proxy of a custom type:
[XmlIncude(type)]
To customise the Body:
[XmlAttribute()] [XmlElement(elementname)]
Returning Simple and Complex objects
DEMO
Complex.asmx
Soap Headers
Allows you to pass extra information/class
to WebMethods using System.Web.Services.Protocols; Derive a class from SoapHeader Create a public object of the class you want to pass within the WebService
Soap Headers
Add the [SoapHeader(ClassInstance)]
attribute to the WebMethod Create an instance of the class Set the InstanceClassValue property of the WebService Call the WebMethod and get a handle on the SoapHeader
Soap Headers
DEMO
Headers.asmx
Soap Extensions
Allows you to inspect Soap and different stages You can modify the Soap
Encryption Compression Logging
Derive from SoapExtension Use ChainStream to get a writable stream Use SoapMessageStage in the ProcessMessage
method to process the message Implement the other required methods
Soap Extensions
ProcessMessage has several
SoapMessageStages:
BeforeSerialize intercept before serialized BeforeDeserialize intercept messages before they are deserialized * AfterSerialize intercept messages after they are serialized * AfterDeserialize intercept before processed
Soap Extension
DEMO
Consuming Web Services
Add Web Reference to your project
ASP.Net, Windows Forms, Console, Windows Service, COM+ Any .NET project Wsdl /out:proxyclassfilename.cs mywsdlfile.wsdl Add generated proxy file to project then call methods
Using WSDL.exe
Creating Proxy objects
Consuming Web Services
Call WebMethods just like ordinary
methods Update Web References when you add new stuff Regenerate proxy with WSDL.exe when you add new stuff, re-add the proxy class file
Consuming and WSDL
DEMO
IAsyncResult (Callback method)
Create an AsyncCallback Create a method that takes an
IAsyncResult parameter Call the Begin method and pass in any parameters, the AsyncCallback and the proxy
IAsyncResult (WaitOne method)
Call the Begin method and pass in any
parameters, null as the Callback and null as the proxy Call WaitOne until IsCompleted is true
Async Calls
DEMO
Security
Often security is an afterthought It IS IMPORTANT !! Credentials are NOT passed to
WebServices even when you use impersonation Web.Config file is STILL important to WebServices You must Enable it
Security
Credentials (Point-To-Point)
Set the Credentials property You can also create credentials at run-time Based on Windows accounts
Tickets (Application)
Needs to be passed with every method call Custom, roll your own Soap Header based
Security
WS-Security (End-To-End)
Emerging standard Can use Custom, Binary, Kerberos Tokens X.509 digital certificates Soap Header based Need WS Enhancements V1.0 (V2.0 in preview)
Soap Extensions
Can provide some basic message level encryption
Security
Passing Credentials
Proxy.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
You can also create your own credentials and
attach them to the request Watch out for WS-Security. things are changing
Security
DEMO
Deployment
When you Add a Web Reference the URL
property is HARD CODED WSDL contains the URL from the site it was generated To the rescue
the proxy has a URL property that you can set to point to the WebService You can implement Load Balancing
Remember the MSI
Create Web Setup projects to deploy your WebService
Deployment
DEMO
Summary
Beware of the HYPE!! Remember to design differently Use Attributes to customise your Xml
Think (consider) Async Be secure!! Use the deployment tools you have in the
box
As a minimum, set the Description and the Namespace
References
Patterns and Practices:
MSDN:
Building Secure ASP.NET Applications: Authentication, Authorization, and Secure Communication Search for Web Services
MCAD/MCSD Self Paced Training:
Developing XML Web Services and Server Components with Visual Basic.NET and Visual C#.NET, Microsoft Press
