Web Services and Datasets Question!

[Artificer]

If I have an ASP.NET WebService with a method that returns a Dataset,
this Dataset can be consumed by non-microsoft development tools like
Java or Flash? What happens if it is an ASP.NET 2.0 strongly typed
dataset?

Where can I find a list of the data typed that can be used to
communicate in a cross-platform environment using webservices?

 

[Scott M.]

When cross-platform data passage is a concern, you must stay away from all
proprietary data formats. A DataSet is a class in the Microsoft .NET
Framework. A DataSet will not be consumable by any other platform than
..NET.

Now, a DataSet is serializable and that means that it can be expressed as
XML. Using the GetXML and GetXMLSchema methods of a DataSet, you can get
the XML representations of the data and the table(s) structure respectively.
This XML could then be passed to some other consumer that does not have to
be a Microsoft .NET platform. But, the DataSet object itself should not be
passed.

You really don't need a "list" of data-types that can be passed in a
cross-platform way. All you really need to know is that when cross-platform
data sharing is your requirement, then the data and the schema for the data
should be passed as XML. In .NET, DataSets and DataTables can easily be
expressed as this XML.