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Karl · Guest

D2005, update 3

I'm trying to learn an acceptable way to marshal complex data between an
ASP.NET web service and an ASP.NET web client. Initially, it will be
enough for the client to display the data from the service, but
eventually, I'll have to write a client that will allow for modification
of the data and return it to the service.

I gather from bits and pieces that I'm reading that I can convert the
data into an XML document and it is this document which is sent to the
client over an HTTP connection. Is this assumption correct?

If so, what's the best way to convert the data into XML? Specifically, I
have this class:

TMyClass = class
private
FNo: Integer;
FDate: TDateTime;
FValue1: Extended;
FValue2: Extended;
FNotes: String;
end;

and in turn, instances of this class are managed by an instance of
TObjectList, FMyObjectList

I've been fooling around with XmlSerializer (System.xml.serialization),
since that seems as if it will convert the "My.." class instances to
formatted XML. On the other hand, all the Microsoft docs talk about
writing the XML to a file, which is not what I want to do.

Can someone put me on the right track please? (Ultimately, do I want to
write a function [Webmethod] in the service which returns an XML
document? Is this even possible?)

TIA.

Karl · Guest

Got it. I had not understood that .NET would automatically marshal complex
types. Though, I've not written a client to consume the service, I've
changed the WebMethod to return the TObjectList and all seems to be working.

"Karl" <kthompson (AT) nospam (DOT) pine-grove.com> wrote