how can access data from a webserver using a windows application.

Question

Hi, I would like to create a touch screen application.It will be a windows application, so using that how can i get data from a web server?

Answer 1

There are several methods.

Your server can create scripts/webpages to return data in XML or JSON format upon request, and your windows application will have to make HTTP requests to your scripts/web server, retrieve and parse to get the data.

Make sure to protect your data which are requested from the web to prevent other unintended use.

You can also directly connect to the database (depending whether your database supports remote connection or not...)

Answer 2

Using a webserver is usually totally independent from the clients operating system. It may be tricky if the webserver provides service and entity beans and you rich client is written in C/C++ language.

But there are several protocols where you do not have to care. If your application is a thin client (browser interface), I suggest having a look at REST. For rich clients you can use SOAP to talk with your server.

Of course, the server has to provide the data for the chosen protocol...