Yikes!! Subtle ain't the word for it! <g>

I see what you mean. My bad.

>Roger,
>
>Nope, that's where you're wrong. There's a subtle difference between a WebService that returns
>
>

return myDS;

>and one that returns
>

return myDS.GetXML();

>
>The difference is that returning the DataSet itself returns an object and if one attempts to use it from any other client other than a .NET client, one needs to use the XMLDOM to parse it out correctly. Thinking of it in these terms, getting a DataSet from a WebService and then trying to use it in VFP with XMLTOCURSOR(), you would not be able to do it. You have to go through all that crap of using the XMLDOM to parse it out correctly before you can get the data out of it. (Or, as I'm sure Rick may jump in here and tell everyone <g>) ... you can use Rick's wwXML for easier parsing. Regardless, the point is that you can't utilize that XML without doing extra stuff to it.
>
>If, however, the WebService returned myDS.GetXML() then that is a pure XML string that can be utilized as is from any other client. VFP can simply do a XMLTOCURSOR() with no problems.
>
>And it's not just VFP that would have problems with the straight DataSet ... other clients will too. It's not a standard way to return data from a WebService.
>
>
>~~Bonnie
>
>
>
>>Well, no, of course you wouldn't rip apart what you've already done.
>>
>>The original comment (if I read it right) was concern about passing DataSets to the presentation tier violating n-tier theory. Returning DataSets from a web service actually returns the XML so I don't think there is much difference between
>>

return myDS;

>>and
>>

return myDS.GetXML();

.
>>
>>Roger
>>
>>
>>
>>>Roger,
>>>
>>>I read thru a bit of that link ... looks interesting. I bookmarked it and will read more later. It sounds like an interesting concept to serialize an entire class object instead of just DataSets (I doubt if we'll change the way we do things at this point, but the concept sounds interesting anyway).
>>>
>>>We *do* use ds.GetXML() for serializing the DataSet. No sense rolling your own for that one.
>>>
>>>
>>>~~Bonnie
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hi Bonnie,
>>>>
>>>>>... we serialize the DataSets into XML to pass to and from the WebService.
>>>>
>>>>Are you using the GetXML() method of the dataset or are you rolling your own XML?
>>>>
>>>>I just read an interesting article on the web about serializing (haven't had time to play with it yet). Instead of passing DataSets (or their XML equivalent) between tiers you pass objects serialized into xml.
>>>>
>>>>(BTW, here's the link to the article: http://tiberi.us/view_article.aspx?article_id=30 )
>>>>
>>>>Let's say you have a Purchase Order class with certain public properties (say, po number, po date, vendor, and an array of POLine objects that include item number, description, quantity, price.)
>>>>
>>>>If you serialize an instance of that PO class to xml you can transfer it between tiers. .NET clients can just deserialize the xml back into an instance of the object (they will have to know about the PO and POLine class but there may be a way where they don't have to) whereas non-.NET clients can use the raw xml.
>>>>
>>>>As I understand it remoting is .NET's idea of Distributed COM (DCOM) but communicating using HTTP, SOAP, and WSDL (again, I'm getting this from my studying and haven't been able to play with it yet.)
>>>>
>>>>There's so much in .NET that my biggest problem has been staying focused on one topic at a time. I read something interesting and next thing I know half the day is gone on a sidetrack.
>>>>
>>>>Roger