Can a web service have a form?

[VBAHole22]

Why will .NET let you build a form for a web service? What purpose could this form serve? I could see if you added some content to the form to facilitate the service, like the default page that .net provides for you to test requests. But then you have built an asp.net application, not a web service.

 

The reason I ask this is because I am trying to find a way to have a web service provide the caller with some feedback on the progress of the service while it is running. I came up with a convoluted scenario where a client calls the service and the service then has a working loop that occasionally calls another service that is on the client to update the progress. This scenario can be constructed but I can't get a service to 'talk' to a form. That is, I can't capture the progress coming back to the client and show it on the user's form.

[PlausiblyDamp]

The reason it allows you to add a web form is that there really is no difference between a Web Application and a Web Service, they are both hosted by the same runtime on top of IIS.

It simply means you could have a single project that contained both a UI for the browser to display and also a web service to allow integration with external programs all from the same web application.

[VBAHole22]

Ah, I see, but can they talk to one another?

 

Given the following setup:

 

 

 

Client

---------------

FormA

Calls to Webservice Red

hosts WebService Blue(string) As String

 

 

 

 

Server

----------------

hosts WebService Red

 

For x = 0 to 10000

If x = 5000 then Call Webservice Blue (string)

'do other time consuming things

Next x

 

 

 

Q: Could the Client take the results of webservice blue and post them to FormA?

 

Maybe I am just not getting the syntax correct but in my scenario WebService Blue cannot 'see' FormA.

I can't do Me.txtBox.Text = WebService Blue

Maybe I need to reference it another way but

FormA.txtBox.Text = WebService Blue

doesn't work either.