>I would distinguish between a data service and Web Service where a Web Service is more like a remote API, whereas a data service is more like data backend.
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This makes a lot of sense to me - and, after fooling around with foxisapi and some of the foxisapi server samples that come with vfp, I'm leaning towards creating a Data Service com server that can be utilized through foxisapi. I assume that's what you are using (or something similar to foxisapi) when you say you just pass the raw XML over http. Any other advice you might have on foxisapi would be greatly appreciated - I see you've written several white papers on this and other related topics, so I'll be sure to check those out. Thanks.