webservice limitations?

[Detroit]

all,
while converting a .net class file to a xml webservice i have encountered
some problems. First I cannot seem to be able to pass optional parameters to
a web method. I have also found problems with the sqldatareader as a "byref"
parameter of a web method. This problem entails not being able to return a
datareader from a webservice. I also tried to return it via a function and
had no luck. Are these limitiations of xml webservices or am I not being
creative enough?

For some scenarios instead of using optional parameters I have created
overloaded functions and used the "messagename" property of the webmethod to
uniquely identify the individual function when publishing the webmethod.

I have not found any real solution for the sqldatareader problem.

Please help!

[Keenan Newton]

Yes these are very much limitations of web services. So would even
argue this is by You can't pass anything by reference, nor do they
support optional parameters.

[Dino Chiesa [Microsoft]]

returning a dataReader from a webservice is like
sending someone an oceanliner for valentines day.

It doesn't make any sense.

The philosophy of webservices is message-oriented integration. you need to
think in terms of sending and receiving discrete messages, not sending and
receiving objects such as datareader.

check this:
http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/09/30/soa.html
re: "optional params are not supported"
True, if you are thinking in terms of VB calls.
But not true, if you are thinking in terms of extensible messages, with
optional pieces of those messages. In other words, the message itself is
not optional, but the contents of the message may vary. You can do this
with webservices.

-Dino
"Keenan Newton" <ka*********@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

Yes these are very much limitations of web services. So would even
argue this is by You can't pass anything by reference, nor do they
support optional parameters.