Adding Web Service Reference in Visual Studio 2017

If you’re new to the process, adding a web service reference in Visual Studio 2017 can be a bit perplexing. However, it is an essential step that allows you to access Web Services for your projects. In this guide, we’ll discuss step-by-step how to add a web service reference in Visual Studio 2017.

What is a Web Service?

First, let’s define what a web service is. Essentially, a web service is a software system that supports machine-to-machine interaction over the internet. In other words, it provides a standardized way to access data or services online. Web Services have been around for a while and are widely used to connect systems and share data.

The Process of Adding a Web Service Reference in Visual Studio 2017

Now, let’s dive into the process of adding a web service reference in Visual Studio 2017. For this example, we’ll use the publicly available web service provided by Weather.gov.

Step 1: Open Visual Studio 2017

Open Visual Studio 2017 from your computer.

Step 2: Create a new project

Create a new project from the Visual Studio 2017 dashboard.

Step 3: Add a new web service reference

To add a new web service reference, right-click on your project from the Solution Explorer. Then select “Add Service Reference.”

Step 4: Enter the URL to the web service

In the “Add Service Reference” dialog box, enter the URL for the web service you want to use. In this example, we will use the following URL: https://graphical.weather.gov/xml/SOAP_server/ndfdXMLserver.php?wsdl. Click on the “Go” button, and Visual Studio will start the process of discovering the web service.

Step 5: Rename the reference

To rename the reference, enter the new name for the web service reference in the “Namespace” box. For this example, we will use “WeatherService.”

Step 6: Check the box to create a client.

You can create a client for the web service by checking the “Create client” box.

Step 7: Click on the OK button

Once you’ve completed the previous steps, click on the “OK” button. Visual Studio 2017 will then generate the required code to consume the web service.

Step 8: Use the web service

Now, you can use the web service in your code. For example, you can add the following code to display the current temperature:

var weatherService = new WeatherService.ndfdXMLPortTypeClient();
string results = weatherService.LatLonListZipCode("90210");
Console.WriteLine(results);

Conclusion

Adding a web service reference in Visual Studio 2017 is a straightforward process once you know the steps. Visual Studio takes care of most of the work, making it easier to build applications that use web services. Adding a web service reference can be useful when building applications that need to access data from other sources or when you want to build a service that other applications can consume.