Adding methods to the webservice: do old clients need to update web references?

Question

ProductA uses our only web service, which is a separate deployment from ProductA. We deploy both to production.

Later, we\'re writing ProductB. During that effort,

Answer 1

Just to add a little more detail to the existing answer, the only changes to a web service that require corresponding changes to the client proxy are:

• Removing methods;
• Changing method signatures;
• Changing the bindings/behaviour (i.e. to use encryption).

Adding a new method, or adding new fields/properties to a type, are almost always non-breaking changes (still, it doesn't hurt to test with the client).

Keep in mind, of course, that the client won't actually be able to use those new methods or properties until they rebuild. But it won't break existing functionality.