XML as API

[Paul Jansz]

Is there any pointers in designing code with XML in the .NET world.

1. If I have a method with a large number of parameters.
func(a,b,c,d,e,f....)
Would it be better to pass the data as XML func(xml)
or a strong type: func(myparams)
or even XPathNavigator:
** I'm trying to find the most resilient to version changes...

Isn't this headed backwards to the days of using
Recordsets/Variants/Objects/delimited strings vs. strongly type datatypes?
2. Same goes with webmethods.
Is it better to pass XML strings to webmethods or strong types.
I like .net serialization, but should I begin with an .XSD and generate
..net code, or do I handcrank my own object model in code and serialize
that.
I also hear that SOAP formatting/structures are different with
different vendors - how can I overcome that?

[Oleg Tkachenko]

Paul Jansz wrote:

1. If I have a method with a large number of parameters.
func(a,b,c,d,e,f....)
Would it be better to pass the data as XML func(xml)
or a strong type: func(myparams)
or even XPathNavigator:
** I'm trying to find the most resilient to version changes...

That greatly depends on what you actual parameters are. If they are some
values from XML document, it's definitely goof idea to pass them as
XpathNodeIterator or XPathNodeList, otherwise it could be too cumbersome to
wrap them into XPath interfaces.
But wait and read "XPath Querying Over Objects with ObjectXPathNavigator" by
Steve Saxon [1] - it may give you some additional insights.
Watch also "Passing XML Data Inside the CLR" MSDN TV episode by Don Box [2].

[1] http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...ml03172003.asp
[2]
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdntv/epi...B/manifest.xml
--
Oleg Tkachenko
http://www.tkachenko.com/blog
Multiconn Technologies, Israel