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.

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



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

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

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.