can we return xml document to client side application instead of saving it at particular destination

Question

I have a webservice webmethod which saves the xml output to destination

[WebMethod]
[ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Xml)]
public XmlDocument GetList(
  string keyword1, string streetname, string lat, string lng, string radius)
{      
  XmlDocument xmlDoc = CreateXML( keyword1,streetname,lat,lng,radius);

  //save file to application folder which will be refferd by client application
  xmlDoc.Save(Server.MapPath("~/Block3.xml"));
  return xmldoc;       
}

I am trying to refer from client side using the following code in searchurl

function searchLocationsNear() {
  var radius = document.getElementById('radiusSelect').value;             
  var searchUrl ="http://localhost:2385/block/Block3.xml"; //reference for xml file stored in application folder

  GDownloadUrl(searchUrl, function(data) {
    var xml = GXml.parse(data);

Answer 1

One way could be to:

1. Call the web method from javascript
2. Use XmlDocument object in javascript

Answer 2

The following is a simple example of how you might use jQuery to call the server side WebMethod from the client side. This code assumes that you are hosting the searchLocationNear(...) method in WebService1.asmx

  function searchLocationNear() {
    // Get the radius using jQuery
    var radius = $("#radiusSelect").val();

    // Make Ajax call using jQuery
    $.ajax({
      type: "POST",
      data: "keyword1=&streetname=&lat=&lng=&radius=" + radius,
      url: "WebService1.asmx/GetList",
      success: function (response) {
        var xml = GXml.parse(response.xml);
      },
      error: function (response) {
        alert(response.responseText);
      }
    });
  }

Here $.ajax is used to make a call to the GetList web method, and the XML is extracted from the response. This works find if you are returning an XmlDocument on the server side as in your case.