Web Service vs. WCF - different objects when consumed

Question

I'm new to the WCF, and I'm looking for some advice. In my web app I consumed a web service (R+Click on project - "Add Web Reference") and started coding. My web app is really big, so it was taking forever to compile each time I wanted to debug, so I built a stripped down WinForm using the same code.

In VS2008 there is no "Add Web Reference" option when using the 3.5 framework, so I just chose "Add Service Reference" and used the same url. The objects/methods that I now have access to are completely different when compared to the objects/methods in the web app after consuming this as a web service.

Is that normal? Is this somehow related to the WCF?

Thanks

Answer 1

You can still add web references.

Do

Add Service Refernce

Hit the "Advanaced" button on the bottom left

Hit "Add Web Reference" on the bottom left.

Answer 2

Yes this is related to WCF. When your project target is >= .NET 3.0 the Add Service Referemce option will be available which will use svcutil.exe to generate client classes, otherwise you will have the Add Web Reference option which uses wsdl.exe . WCF clients use different classes to call a web service and that's why you get different classes generated.