[dba-VB] Access data across the internet

Gustav Brock Gustav at cactus.dk
Sun Aug 30 16:24:42 CDT 2009


Hi John

I'll have to second Shamil. When I joined an early presentation of Windows Communication Foundation it was the first time I began understanding what web services are about - all other info had been bits and pieces, some working but none with the big picture. WCF is so well thought out that you can say "this time MS got it right".

Also note, that the guy at the blog is not having an issue with WCF but states that "I still need to get the WCF client to talk to this unusual endpoint".
Unfortunately, this is an example of how blogs can be a total waste of time. This guy obviously knows what he talks about but - like Shamil - I browsed the comments (before reading Shamil's message here on the same) only to find them talking in East and West with no useful or educating info except one - the same that Shamil has quoted previously.

For any other project than your current very simple one I would happily go with WCF.

/gustav


>>> shamil at smsconsulting.spb.ru 30-08-2009 20:13 >>>
Hi John,

OK.

<<<
What I found daunting was the gobbledegook of terms and technologies being
discussed.
>>>
John, if I'd tell you - do not bother about this "gobbledegook" now would
you accept my advice?
I mean you do not need to know all that stuff until you'll really need it -
you can just start developing and releasing SOAP Web Services - it's not
that complicated. 

I do share Ben Kloosterman's opinion: "The problem is not with WCF (or Axis)
(or SOAP) but with people who choose overly complicated scenarios"...

I called comments "junk" because most of them are not constructive, and they
do not help, even disturb beginner .NET developers to start developing and
releasing Web Services - they disturb by creating wrong impression that
developing Web Services using MS software is a very complicated task. And it
isn't.

Thank you.

--
Shamil

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com 
[mailto:dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 7:21 PM
To: Discussion concerning Visual Basic and related programming issues.
Subject: Re: [dba-VB] Access data across the internet

Shamil,

I understand that only people who have problems write comments about the problems they have.  I also 
understand that if someone uses VS.Net to write both ends of the channel then the probability of 
problems drops dramatically.

I would not characterize such comments a "junk" however, I believe that such problems are very real, 
particularly when you are dealing with disparate technologies on either end. The article itself was 
found in the C# start page, and he was having problems using .Net to try to talk to a service 
created in some other technology (from the little I actually understood).

What I found daunting was the gobbledegook of terms and technologies being discussed.  It certainly 
appeared to me that the majority of these "junk" comments were .Net developers trying to use .Net to 
subscribe (if that is the correct phrase) to services that were created in some other technology. 
Who had to do so for business reasons, in their work.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com 


Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:
> Hi John,
> 
> I did read comments from the ref you quoted here - they are a usual "junk"
-
> I mean real developers who use MS software do not waste time on writing
> comments how bad this MS software is :) I can assure you (as many other
> developers here) it's not that bad as you can find reading all that "junk
> comments".
> 
> BTW, I liked this comment, which I classify as very helpful, and coming
from
> experienced developer (as I also am BTW :)O:
> 
> <<<<<<<<<<
> Ben Kloosterman, 21 June 2009, 20:38:34 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
> 
> The problem is not with WCF (or Axis) but with people who choose overly
> complicated scenarios. WCF is far superior to Axis though because Services
> framework allow things people use them. 
> 
> eg 
> - Security 95% of the time no transport security/encryption is sufficient.
> - Use custom headers dont fudge it like the article , this method is very
> common .
> - Use complicated types , inheritcance , interfaces , collections etc ..
> KISS and use the DTO pattern. ( DOnt pollute your business domain with the
> need to tranport it)
> 
> The big advantage REST has is you cant do the fancy things but everything
> you can do with REST you can do with WCF and keep it or even more simple. 
> 
> Ben
> 
> And BTW, my current proposal is to use SOAP (ASP.NET 2.0) Web Services for
> starters - they are easier to start with = you can create such Web
Services
> within VS2008. Later on you can convert them to WCF/REST web services -
> you'll just need to change interface/façade in most of the cases.
> 
> And a sample Web Service I created here is exactly a SOAP web service:
> 
> http://shamils-4.hosting.parking.ru/MSAccess/MSAccessWebService.asmx 
> 
> You can find comments on its interface in P.S. of this message. And you
can
> consume this web service using sample code I provided in my previous
> postings within this thread. (All the C# code for this Web Service
including
> comments is about 270+ code lines long - and that's all you have to write
-
> no need to code manually .wsdl etc. )
> 
> Some of my experience with Web Services:
> 
> 1) One of my overseas customers (WA) did use web service running on my
> hosting site (Moscow, Russia, and it runs within common application pool)
> for several months. And this web service was queried dozen times within a
> second from his programs running on 5+ computers from his LAN there.
Result:
> no any major trouble at all.
> 
> 2) Another customer does use web service developed here to synchronize
> two-way "field-force automation" local MS SQL Express databases with
central
> MS SQL database running behind large ASP.NET application. No problem.
> 
> Etc.
> 
> Recap: Stop reading "junk comments", start acting.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> --
> Shamil





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