Consuming Sharepoint web services

Question

How can I consume Sharepoint web services so that I can be able to use Sharepoint document library in the stand alone asp.net application. I have added the web reference to http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/lists.asmx

Answer 1

This I think is not so much about web services and sharepoint, but web services in general i think you should read up about.

There is loads of information to be found on the internet about the sharepoint web services and the methods you can call on each. For adding and deleting items the Lists service is the one you need, just google for info on the subject, one of the articles you'll find is this one, which lists all available OOTB sharepoint web services and gives some example on how they could be used (no code).

As I said, I'm guessing you are fairtly new to web services in general as well, I suggest you read up on that subject first.

Answer 2

Eric White has a nice Sharepoint Web service primer that might be a good place for you to start from :

http://blogs.msdn.com/ericwhite/archive/2009/01/06/getting-started-with-sharepoint-wss-web-services-using-linq-to-xml.aspx

Answer 3

The SharePoint web services documentation on MSDN contains several how-tos and walkthroughs. The most important ones from what you've described are:

• Lists: Retrieving and updating file metadata, checking in and checking out files. Particularly look at UpdateListItems.

• List Data Retrieval: Query method returns the items in a list. Use a tool such as U2U CAML Query Builder the create the CAML query.

If you have trouble finding out how to do something, search this site. Many questions about using the SharePoint web services have already been asked here, e.g. this one for uploading documents.

Be warned: relying solely on these web services will probably cause you problems at some point. They are missing a lot of functionality present in the SharePoint user interface and object model. Make sure you test all functionality required with proof of concepts before committing to this approach, or be ready to write a custom web service.