Re: my first web service

Hi Mike,

Can a web service return a result set in the same way a stored procedure can?

Are you asking whether web services in general can do this? Or whether the IBM-provided Integrated Web Services (IWS) tool can do this?

Web services in general can certainly do this. However, I'm pretty sure IWS cannot.

Are there any additional security issues I now need to think about
like how to protect my web services from only being used by the
people I want to allow to use them, most of whom will be using PC
based products to request data.

Yes, I'd think about those things! :) I'd have a userid/password or some similar mechanism (digital key?) that's provided when your web service is accessed. I'd also require SSL so that the aforementioned userid/password/key cannot be sniffed from the network. Especially if you intend to make this application available over the Internet.

You could potentially use client-side SSL certificates in place of a digital key. I would only attempt that, however, if you are providing the software for both ends of the conversation. It would be very difficult to implement if you want to allow clients to be able to integrate your service into their own applications. (Which is what web services were really designed for...)