WSE is Obsolete - Use Only If Necessary

Question

To my fellow Web Service Developers:

I have repeatedly encountered developers who learn about WSE (Web Service Enhancements) through Google or some other search engine. In many cases, they were not searching for WSE, but instead were searching for "web service security" or "web service outside of IIS". Because the search turned up a WSE article, some of these developers are starting off with WSE when they don't need to.

I want to make clear what I so frequently have to repeat: WSE is obsolete. It has been replaced by WCF (Windows Communication Framework). WSE is not supported by Visual Studio 2008 or above. This should give you an idea about how Microsoft thinks about WSE. If your project is at all important, and if you expect it to last more than a few months, then you will not be doing yourself any favors by depending on this obsolete software.

WCF is supported by .NET 3.0 and above, though your best option would be .NET 3.5 SP1. Some organizations will not upgrade to .NET 3.5 because they are concerned about the impact on their existing .NET 2.0 applications. There is little need for concern: .NET 3.5 SP1 consists of .NET 2.0 SP2 and some additional assemblies that are not used by your existing .NET 2.0 applications. It will also not change your IIS script mappings the same way the upgrading from .NET 1.1 to .NET 2.0 did.

Obviously, if you are working on an existing WSE application, then you should upgrade to WSE when you get a chance, but should continue to maintain your application until you upgrade. A small number of you will have no choice but to use WSE for new applications; perhaps you must still support Windows 2000. If you have no choice but to use WSE, then feel free to post your WSE questions in this forum. I have found that WSE questions are answered more quickly if you put "WSE" into the subject of the question.

Good Luck to All,
John Saunders

Microsoft MVP, Connected Systems
(See https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/john.saunders/)

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John Saunders
Use File->New Project to create Web Service Projects
Use WCF for All New Web Service Development, instead of old ASMX or obsolete WSE

Answer 1

Excellent post, John, and thank you for putting this out there.

Regards,

Ed

Answer 2

Thanks John, This information really helps.

Answer 3

Thanks John,But I think we can implement WSE in 2008 also

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Gyanendra (Bank of America)

Answer 4

No, you can't. Not in the IDE, and it's not supported in VS2008 or above.

If you find out how to do it, post the information here.

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John Saunders
WCF is Web Services. They are not two separate things.
Use WCF for All New Web Service Development, instead of legacy ASMX or obsolete WSE
Use File->New Project to create Web Service Projects

Answer 5

Thanks John for sharing your insights with us.

  When you say "Not in the IDE" , I don't understand I'm just reading your post fresh after completing a sample application[Webservice .asmx and its client] using WSE 2.0 SP2 on a .NET 2.0 WebServices application developed completely in VS 2008 . It was simply straightforward .

SnapShot [.jpeg] of What I've done

Pls correct me if was wrong .

Anand

 

 

Answer 6

I keep finding WSE 3 by doing searches for inside MSDN for MTOM as well as various error messages.  Without a timely posting such as this I can't tell that I'm wasting time.  Thanks for the posting.