Receive (and send) XML via POST with ASP.NET

Question

I have to set up an XML \"web service\" that receives a POST where the \'Content-type header will specify “text/xml”.\'

What is the simplest way to get the XML into

Answer 1

When you create a Web Service you define the format of the XML you will receive, and it is up to the sender to meet your format.

I usually mock up the information my web service will receive as DataTables in a DataSet (since that closely mimics how I might store them in a database) then do a DataSet.getXML() on my mocked up DataSet (possibly also getting the default schema as well) to use as the template for the XML I am expecting to be "posted" to my web service.

Then, when my web service receives a post, I can simply take the XML sent and use the DataSet.readXML() on the XML posted ... and deal with the information sent in the DataSet.

Most of my web service "return" values are the results of queries based on the information posted, so I do the same to format the return values ... get the results of my return queried data in a DataSet, DataSet.getXML() .. and return it.