The Web Service is a set of Methods that can be called for other web enabled software (typically Java or C#).
To use a Web Service, you need to compile the WSDL (Web Service Description Language), which is an XML description of the methods. From a practical level, the WSDL is equivilent to IDL in COM programming. The methods on the sample Web Server are defined at http://maps.falconview.org/FV_Map_Service.asmx
If you open this in your browser, you can play with the SOAP interface and see sample requests (this is automatically created by the C# Web Service wizard).
To use the interface from C# you add a "Web Refrence" and type in the URL, Dev Studio will automatically create the necessary wrapers to use the service in much the same way as adding refrences to a COM object.
We do not intend to leave the web server up indefinitly, it is only intended to be a proof of concept and not a "Production" web site.
-- Main.ChrisBailey - 12 Mar 2005
