Part 9 - Introduction to Web Services

The page outlines how Xamarin mobile apps can integrate with web services when cloud-dependent apps need remote data. It groups the topic into REST, SOAP, and WCF support, then shows request, parsing, async, proxy, and security patterns.

Reading notes

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• Xamarin supports built-in and third-party APIs for RESTful, SOAP, and WCF services.
• REST is presented as a common choice because it is simple, platform agnostic, and cacheable over HTTP.
• The article compares HttpWebRequest, WebClient, RestSharp, Hammock, NSURLConnection, and ServiceStack for REST requests.
• Synchronous service calls block the main UI thread, so async calls and main-thread callbacks are recommended.
• REST responses can be deserialized with System.Xml, System.Json, Json.NET, or ServiceStack.Text.
• XML examples use LINQ to XML to populate C# objects from response data.
• JSON examples show key-value access with JsonObject, ServiceStack.Text, and JSON.NET.
• SOAP 1.1 and ASMX services are supported over HTTP.
• SOAP use starts with generating a proxy from WSDL in Xamarin Studio or by adding an existing proxy to a project.
• Async SOAP calls can use Begin and End methods or Completed event handlers, and event handlers should be unsubscribed when done.
• Xamarin.iOS supports WCF client-side use for common Silverlight-style bindings such as BasicHttpBinding.
• WCF proxy generation uses SLSvcUtil on Windows, and the generated files are then added to the Mac project.
• WCF configuration can set endpoint address, binding options, timeouts, SSL certificate validation, and HTTP basic credentials.
• The sample service section shows sharing server-side models with a client and deserializing a REST response into a User object.