serializing generic XML data across WCF web service requests

Question

I\'ve got a web app that sends a request to a WCF service. The WCF service gets a LINQ resultset (anon. ilist) and sends that in reply, back to the web app. In order to get

Answer 1

The only problem with sending datasets over WCF is that it isn't interoperable - i.e. you wouldn't be able to use the dataset from a non-.NET client.

I've worked in several large applications that send Datasets across the wire via WCF just fine. As long as both the sender and receiver run on .NET you should be fine.

If you still don't want to use datasets, then consider creating a DataContract class to hold your data to send across the wire. This is the classic way to transmit data across WCF. Unless your XML is pretty complex (which it may well be) this might be a good alternative.

If you don't already have it, I strongly suggest picking up a copy of Juval Lowy's excellent "Programming WCF Services 2nd Edition." He has a whole chapter on transmitting information across WCF. It's the WCF Bible.