Before you start

Read Part 1 of this series to get information on the features of the IBM Development Add-Ins for Visual Studio.

This tutorial describes the process of building and deploying ASP .NET® Web services using IBM tools. This feature is available in the Developer Release refresh, which is now available. You will create a IBM Redbooks library application implementing and consuming Web services to demonstrate the ease of use IBM tools provide to create such applications. This tutorial also highlights the usability improvements made in the IBM Database Add-Ins for Visual Studio 2005 since the first Developer Release in December 2005.

Highlights of the IBM Database Add-Ins for Visual Studio 2005

The IBM tools support the following configurations on your machine:

• DB2 UDB Version 8 server and DB2 Viper client
• DB2 Viper server only

The following usability improvements have been made in the refresh release:

• Add Connection dialog from Server Explorer:

  You can now discover servers and databases in your Add Connection dialog. You can select a locally cataloged database from the list of databases or select a server port combination available. Note that username and password are mandatory for connections that provide a valid server name. Connections made using cataloged aliases shown in the database drop-down do not need to have user name and password in Add Connection dialog.

  In the list of discovered databases, the string db2c_DB2 for port typically refers to the default port on a machine, which is 50000.

  For example, myserver:db2c_DB2 is the same as myserver:50000.

  The above discovery of servers and databases is available on DB2 Viper server. When the IBM tools are installed on DB2 v8 server and DB2 Viper client configuration, the list of locally available databases is provided, and the server name is pre-populated. A user name and password is mandatory when connecting using this way.

  Helpful tool tips are now available to guide through the Add Connection dialog usage.

• Ability to provide multiple values for schema filters has been introduced. Simply provide space delimited schemas and your values will be used in the LIKE% clause. You can refer to the tool tips in the filter section for samples.
• Re-introducing wizards from Server Explorer. Wizards provide easy ways to create complex objects for novice users. You are now provided more flexibility in choosing the user experience to create your database schema with either IBM Designers or IBM Wizards.
• Ability to create table triggers and indexes and view triggers from Server Explorer using wizards. Alternatively, you can use the Trigger and Index views in the table or view designer to create triggers and indexes.
• Re-introducing the ability to create and drop databases from a DB2 connection node in Server Explorer.
• Smart editors in the designers are further enhanced to provide the ability to invoke and use the Microsoft Query Builder.
• Ability to build ASP.NET Web services and IBM Web Services on a DB2 embedded application server.
• Ability to migrate older Visual Studio 2003 applications and using the easy-to-use wizards and editors that are available in Visual Studio 2003 tools.
• Introducing complete tooling for XML support for Viper databases.
• Re-introducing the ability to build CLR procedures on DB2 UDB Version 8.
• Introducing the ability to build CLR procedures on DB2 Viper.
• Introducing all-new Unified debugger support for the Viper server.
• Re-introducing the ability to build and deploy Web services.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin the exercise of building the Web services, make sure you have already performed the following steps:

• Download and install the IBM Database Add-ins for Visual Studio 2005 Refresh. For download and install instructions, please visit the developerWorks Information Management Visual Studio .NET zone.
• Create the DB2 UDB sample database.

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About this tutorial

Using Visual Studio 2005 greatly simplifies the task of building ASP .NET Web services for DB2. In this tutorial, you will go through the following scenarios:

• Create the schema for the IBM Redbooks library application using IBM tools walks you through the creation of the schema for the IBM Redbooks library application.
• Build the library Web services shows you how to generate Web services for tables and procedures in your connection.
• Test the library Web services shows you how to test the generated Web services for tables and procedures. This step also performs initial preparation steps required to build the LibraryApplication. Analysis of the Web service code generated and the test results are provided.
• Build the IBM Redbooks library application shows you how to create an application to consume the Web services generated by IBM tools.
• Test the IBM Redbooks library application shows you how to test the IBM Redbooks application.

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• Create the schema for the IBM Redbooks library application using IBM tools
• Build the library Web services
• Test the library Web Services
• Build the IBM Redbooks Library application
• Test the IBM Redbooks Library application
• Downloads
• Resources
• About the author

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