.NET Web Services is the authoritative guide to designing and architecting better Web services using Microsoft technologies. Written by Keith Ballinger, a Program Manager for XML Web Services at Microsoft, this book explains what Web services are, why they exist, and how they work in .NET. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of the technologies that allows them to take full advantage of .NET.

The book opens with an introduction to Web services and Web services standards. It then explores .NET technologies and examines how the .NET Framework gives developers the tools they need to build Web service applications. The core of the book focuses on the key specifications that make up the Web services architecture, from HTTP to SOAP to WS-Security. .NET Web Services concludes with the author's expert advice on architecting and designing Web service applications.

Topics covered include:

• The features and pitfalls of Web services

• Web services standards

• Creating Web Services with ASP.NET

• Creating Web service clients

• XML serialization with .NET

• Extending Web services

• Transport protocols for Web services

• XML and XML Schemas

• SOAP

• Describing Web services

• Discovering Web services

• Messaging with Web services

• Securing Web services

• Advanced messaging

Best practices are illustrated throughout with full working examples as well as code samples using C# and ASP.NET Web services. A companion Web site at www.keithba.net includes all sample code from the book.

Books in the Microsoft .NET Development Series are written and reviewed by the principal authorities and pioneering developers of the Microsoft .NET technologies, including the Microsoft .NET development team and DevelopMentor. Books in the Microsoft .NET Development Series focus on the design, architecture, and implementation of the Microsoft .NET initiative to empower developers and students everywhere with the knowledge they need to thrive in the Microsoft .NET revolution.