what is a web services proxy

[j_joensuu]

Hi all,

this might sound like a stupid question, but as a total newbie to web
services, I would like to know what is the purpose / function of a web
services proxy? What I am looking for is the answer to the "why"
question, as in why is the proxy necessary? Or is it even always
necessary?

thanks in advance,

JJ

 

[HG]

Hi JJ

Well, you can do web services without proxies..but I would call that doing
SOAP instead.

When you add a web reference in Visual Studio (VS), VS generates a proxy
class for you.. The proxy handles all the plumbing...that is contacting the
server, serializing and deserialization of parameters and return values,
construction a SOAP envelope... It acts as a proxy, which in design pattern
terminology is "a lightweight class that mimics the behaviour of the real
class, that included delegation method calls to the real class"

So, the real class, does the hard work...The proxy is lightweight and just
delegates calls on to the real class. Same applies for the proxy in
WebServices..

It makes the world, quite a bit easier, than writeing the SOAP envelope
yourself.

Hope that did clear things a bit up

Regards

Henrik