Problem
If you install Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and fire up your first Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) project you get the following
screen:
Microsoft is telling you in order to test this service, you will need to create a client and use it to call the service. Now at this point you are thinking this is a lot of work and you are right. Not only you need to create such a client, you also need to maintain it as your service changes.
Wouldn't it be nice if you had a 'Generic Client' that provided a user interface for you?... This generic client would keep up with the changes to your server.
You add a function to your service… and there it is on your client with no additional client work. Add classes, interfaces, functions and change parameters at will… No worries, the generic client is there to keep up with you.
Solution
Introducing WSDLDISCO.
If you are Web Service author:
- Provide a user interface (form) for your web service that is always up to date. You change your interface; your form will be updated automatically.
- Use your up to date form to test your service.
- Provide a form for your consumers to test your functionality. They will get a real good idea of what the inputs and outputs of your web service are.
If you are Web Service consumer:
- Create instant and up to date user interface forms for the services you would like to consume.
- Test the Web service you would like to consume to isolate bugs with your consuming code.