How to: Distribute XML Web Services

  • Article

Support for XML Web services in Visual FoxPro provided by the Microsoft SOAP Toolkit make it possible for you to publish Visual COM Servers (OLEPUBLIC) as XML Web services that can be accessed from the Web. The extensions and objects available in the SOAP Toolkit provide publishing capabilities for XML Web services. For information about publishing Visual FoxPro COM Servers as XML Web services, see Walkthrough: Creating XML Web Services with Visual FoxPro.

Specifying a Default Location for XML Web Services

Before you publish an XML Web service, you can specify a default location for publication. This location is a local Web server Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or a virtual directory that you use to store XML Web service support files, such as ASP listeners and WSDL files. Although this location is optional, it can simplify the process of publishing XML Web services.

Note

The Visual FoxPro XML Web Service Location dialog box appears the first time you select Web Services on the Wizards menu. If you do not provide a default location, Visual FoxPro prompts you for the default location each time you publish a new XML Web service. You can change the location later by clicking Advanced in the Visual FoxPro XML Web Services Publisher dialog box.

For more information, see Visual FoxPro XML Web Service Location Dialog Box and Visual FoxPro XML Web Services Publisher Dialog Box.

To specify a default location for an XML Web service

  1. On the Tools menu, point to Wizards, and click Web Services.

  2. In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

  3. In the Visual FoxPro XML Web Service Location dialog box, to select an existing location to publish your XML Web service, click Existing and select a location in the Select Location (Virtual Directory) box.

    -or-

    To select a new location, click New, select a location in the Select Location (Virtual Directory) box, click the Ellipsis (...) button to specify a file output path if desired, and type a name for the directory in the New Virtual Directory Name box.

Settings for each XML Web service are preserved so that you can easily update the XML Web service, for example, if the content of the WSDL changes. These settings are stored in the FoxWS3.dbf table in the same directory as the FoxCode.dbf table (_FOXCODE).

Publishing XML Web Services

You can publish a Visual FoxPro COM Server as an XML Web service to make it available on the Web.

Note

Publishing XML Web services through the Visual FoxPro Web Services Publisher dialog box is supported only for generating WSDL files containing a single service and port or class. If you want to select multiple classes, you should use the wizard available in the SOAP Toolkit.

To publish an XML Web service

  1. On the Tools menu, click Task Pane.

  2. On the Task Pane Manager toolbar, click More Panes.

  3. In the XML Web Services pane, click Publish Your XML Web Service.

  4. In the Visual FoxPro XML Web Services Publisher dialog box, click the Ellipsis (...) button to browse for and select the Visual FoxPro COM Server you want.

You can also publish your COM Server by clicking Web Services on the Wizards menu, right-clicking an open COM Server project, clicking Builder on the shortcut menu, and selecting Web Services Publisher in the Wizard Selection dialog box. You can also open the Visual FoxPro XML Web Services Publisher dialog box using the following code:

DO (_wizard) WITH "project",,"Web"

For more information, see Visual FoxPro XML Web Services Publisher Dialog Box.

See Also

Concepts

Testing and Rebuilding COM Servers for XML Web Services

Deploying XML Web Services (Visual FoxPro)

Other Resources

XML Web Services in Visual FoxPro