Friday, January 2, 2009
SOAP based Web Service in Vista Sidebar Gadget
I got the following email the other day from a fellow gadget developer, regarding a problem with a Gadget which access a SOAP based Web Service.
"I bought your book 'Creating Vista Gadgets' and congratulations... It’s a very good book since it gives both technical details and a broader view of the subjects on other areas which engineers usually forget about.
My aim is very simple… I wanted to migrate a small windows application to the vista gadget platform. It’s an astrological quality time meter using the Webservice http://webservices.plaintime.com/Service.asmx?wsdl. Since my knowledge of XML and Javascript is more google based I’m having problems understanding how to code it. Any help is welcome.
Although I could not help him directly, except for telling him that,
"I bought your book 'Creating Vista Gadgets' and congratulations... It’s a very good book since it gives both technical details and a broader view of the subjects on other areas which engineers usually forget about.
My aim is very simple… I wanted to migrate a small windows application to the vista gadget platform. It’s an astrological quality time meter using the Webservice http://webservices.plaintime.com/Service.asmx?wsdl. Since my knowledge of XML and Javascript is more google based I’m having problems understanding how to code it. Any help is welcome.
Although I could not help him directly, except for telling him that,
- A SOAP based Web Service can be called inside a gadget similar to an rss feed. which is thoroughly covered in Chapter 5 - Chapter 8. Blog Gadget covers this topic in details. A webservice also return an XML file which then will be required to parse.
- Sending notes to refer Chapter 9, Information Gadget which uses a Text based Web Service for a Sidebar Gadget, to get some insight and
- A link to an article which elaborates a usage of webservice http://www.codeproject.com/KB/gadgets/DynamicsCRMGadget.aspx.
You wll be glad to know that he was finally able to use the Gadget Template in the book for the webservice and with his permission I am sharing his gadget with all of you. The gadget download page: http://www.maladilusoes.com/DLTL. Here is screenshot of the Gadget: Ontime – Astrology Time Management.
So, what kind of Vista Gadget are you creating ?
So, what kind of Vista Gadget are you creating ?
Labels: create, gadgets, Sidebar, vista
