.NET 1.1 WinForm / Service update for what?
We have a current WinForm / Windows service running in .NET 1.1 on different client sites that gets data from internal systems, transforms it, and then calls the web service synchronously.
This client application will no longer work on Vista or Windows 7, etc. and its time to update!
I was looking for ideas on what I can do here, I didn't write an app, and I have a team that tells me that the world wants but I need to be realistic :)
Things that a service should have: - Processing multiple formats from the back-end system and converting to SAP schema, ERP, etc. - Work quietly and just work on client sites (currently it's .NET 1.1 though) - Clients cannot call our web service from their sites as they are not technical enough. - Update it yourself when updates happen (currently not available)
Is there anything I can do here other than updating the service to run in .NET and adding a few more conversion capabilities. They want the client to be able to provide us with a flat file, xml file, csv and the service converts it and calls the web service?
I was hoping that in this day and age we could use the Internet, but automating it 100% limits it in my eyes? I could be completely wrong.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Greetings. Conor
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It should be easy enough to upgrade a project to .NET 2.0 / 3.5, depending on whether your system is using many legacy APIs. Try to make a conversion and see how much pain you are in.
If you want your web service to support multiple protocols, you might find it helpful to switch to WCF. However, this may require rewriting the code layer between your logic and the web service interface.
If you want to support different data formats, this will require writing logic to convert to the internal format. You can do this with adapter classes that provide service endpoints.
Self-service can be a little tricky. Click once deploy is probably the easiest way if you can deploy it.
If I were you, I would clarify the update separately from features. Put estimates on everything individually and see what the business team is ready for.
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