>Arrrggghhh!! You guys are making this way too complex! DataSet.GetXml() returns exactly what you posted Viv:
>
>

><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
><People>
>  <Person>
>    <FirstName>Fred</FirstName>
>    <LastName>Bloggs</LastName>
>  </Person>
>  <Person>
>    <FirstName>Joe</FirstName>
>    <LastName>Smith</LastName>
>  </Person>
></People>
>

Hi,
I know. But I thought we were talking about whether to return a Dataset from a web service *as* a Dataset or as some other representation of the data. I was simply attempting to point out that if you know the client is a .net client then you can just return the Dataset so that it is directly usable by the client - otherwise a simpler representation will almost always be preferable. And Yes .GetXML() is a simple way of obtaining a simpler piece of XML. So, in essence, the pros and cons of 'return Dataset' v 'return Dataset.GetXML()' or similar
Best,
Viv