Consume Web Service in Windows Store App Using C#

Windows 8 introduces a new type of application called Windows 8 Apps. The Windows 8 Metro Style includes support for WCF. A subset of WCF functionality is available from within a Windows 8 Windows 8 Apps. The Web service is .ASMX.

In C# Programming you can use web serivces by the asynchronours and await keywords. To learn how to conusme web services in a Windows 8 Appswe will create a simple Windows 8 Apps using XAML and the C# language and try to use a web service. Here we use a weather service I found on the internet. We will try to consume this web service in ourWindows 8 Apps to learn how to use web services in Windows 8 Apps.

In this article we are trying to consume or use a weather web service that I found on the internet. The weather web service is hosted in following URL:

http://wsf.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/Weather.asmx

The weather web service shows us the weather information for a specified city and state. They give us information like tempreature, wind, humidity, visibility etc. This web service uses a USA zip code and displays the information for to that zip code.

Following are steps to be followed:


Step 1 First, we will create a new blank Windows 8 Application.

  • Open Visual Studio 2012.
  • File -> New -> Project
  • Choose Template -> Visual C# -> Windows Store.
  • Select Blank Application
  • Rename the application.

Select-Windows-8-apps.jpg

Step 2 Go to Solution Explorer and right-click on the Reference and then, select add service reference.


Step 3 Enter the URL of web service in the addresss field and click go button. It will find this web service.

http://wsf.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/Weather.asmx

Consume-Wcf-Service-in-windows8(1)-apps.jpg

If it is found succsessfuly then provide the namespace and click Ok:

wcf-service-in-windows8 apps.jpg

Step 4 This will generate a service reference to this weather service.

solution-explorer-in-windows8-apps.jpg

Step 5 Add the namespace to the XAML.cs file:

using App3.WeatherService;

Step 6 Now, we will design our XAML page to show the details of the weather.

Here is the XAML code:

<Page

    x:Class="App3.MainPage"

    IsTabStop="false"

    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

    xmlns:local="using:App3"

    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"

    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"

    mc:Ignorable="d">

    <Grid>

        <Grid.Background>

            <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.5,1" StartPoint="0.5,0">

                <GradientStop Color="Black"/>

                <GradientStop Color="#FFD81337" Offset="1"/>

            </LinearGradientBrush>

        </Grid.Background>

        <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

            <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="68" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Use of Whether Web Service" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="1306" FontFamily="Verdana" FontSize="48" Margin="38,20,0,0"/>

        </StackPanel>

        <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

            <TextBox Name="inputZipCode" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="58" Margin="10,127,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="477" FontFamily="Verdana" FontSize="36"/>

            <Button Name="GoButton" Content="Go" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="58" Margin="40,127,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="136" FontFamily="Verdana" FontSize="36" Click="GoButton_Click"/>

        </StackPanel>

        <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

            <TextBlock  HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="27" Margin="38,90,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="Enter the zip code below (U.S. only, e.g. 48653)" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="494" FontFamily="Verdana" FontSize="20"/>

        </StackPanel>

        <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

            <Image Name="myimage" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="200" Margin="10,190,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="737" Source="{Binding imageurl}"/>

        </StackPanel>

        <StackPanel>

            <TextBlock x:Name="resultCityState" Height="100" HorizontalAlignment="Left" TextWrapping="Wrap" FontFamily="Verdana" Width="300" FontSize="36" Margin="15,400,0,0" />

        </StackPanel>

        <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">

            <TextBlock x:Name="resultDetails" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="365" Margin="30,400,0,-39" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="704" FontFamily="Verdana" FontSize="25"/>

        </StackPanel>

    </Grid>

</Page>

Step 7 Then, you can call the service using the following task-based async model:

Here is the code of the XAML.cs file:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.IO;

using System.Linq;

using Windows.Foundation;

using Windows.Foundation.Collections;

using Windows.UI.Xaml;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Data;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Input;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Media;

using Windows.UI.Xaml.Navigation;

using App3.WeatherService;

 

// The Blank Page item template is documented at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=234238

namespace App3

{

    /// <summary>

    /// An empty page that can be used on its own or navigated to within a Frame.

    /// </summary>

    public sealed partial class MainPage : Page

    {

        public MainPage()

        {

            this.InitializeComponent();

        }

        /// <summary>

        /// Invoked when this page is about to be displayed in a Frame.

        /// </summary>

        /// <param name="e">Event data that describes how this page was reached.  The Parameter

        /// property is typically used to configure the page.</param>

        protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)

        {

        }

        private async void GoButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            WeatherSoapClient proxy = new WeatherSoapClient();

            WeatherReturn result = await proxy.GetCityWeatherByZIPAsync(inputZipCode.Text);

            ForecastReturn fr = await proxy.GetCityForecastByZIPAsync(inputZipCode.Text);

            Forecast[] f = fr.ForecastResult;

            if (result.Success)

            {

                resultCityState.Text = String.Format("{0}, {1}", result.City, result.State);

                resultDetails.Text = String.Format

                    ("\n\nConditions - {0} \n\nTemperature - {1} \n\nRelative Humidity - {2} \n\nWind - {3} \n\nPressure - {4} -
                     \n\nPressure - {5}  - \n\nWind Chill - {6}  - \n\nVisibility - {7}"
,

                    result.Description, result.Temperature, result.RelativeHumidity, result.Wind, result.Pressure, fr.WeatherStationCity, result.WindChill, result.Visibility);

            }

            GetWeatherInformationResponse result1 = await proxy.GetWeatherInformationAsync();

            WeatherDescription[] r = result1.GetWeatherInformationResult;

            foreach (WeatherDescription d in r)

                if (d.WeatherID == result.WeatherID)

                {

                    image i = new image();

                    i.imageurl = d.PictureURL;

                    myimage.DataContext = i;

                    break;

              }

        }

    }

    public class image

    {

        public string imageurl;

        {

            get;

            set;

        }

    }

}

 

In the above code we are calling the weather web service and make the object the class and calling their methods asynchronously.

Step 8 Press F5 and see the output.

Enter the zip code in the textbox and click the go button.

Consume-Wcf-Service-in-windows8-apps.jpg

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