Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Technologies

12.3 Web Ser vices 299

Chapter 12

12.3 Web Services

The Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Server 2007 object mod-

els are specifically server-side object models, meaning that the code that

leverages them must run on a server running Windows SharePoint Services

3.0 and SharePoint Server 2007 respectively; the code cannot run remotely

on a client. If you need to access SharePoint objects remotely through code

you can use Windows SharePoint Services Web services.

There are two levels of Web services available with SharePoint Server

2007: the Web services that ship with WSS 3.0 and those that ship with

SharePoint Server 2007. Once again, since SharePoint Server 2007 is built

upon the WSS 3.0 platform, all WSS 3.0 Web services are available to use

with SharePoint Server 2007. Table 12.2 lists the WSS 3.0 specific Web ser-

vices, and Table 12.3 lists the Web services available for working with Share-

Point Server 2007. The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) interfaces

leveraged by these services provide developers with an object model that can

access data remotely. In fact, the SharePoint Web services infrastructure is

built upon the WSS 3.0 object model, and, as such, provides much of the

same basic functionality, such as working with lists, Webs, views, and users.

In SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and WSS 2.0, Microsoft improved the per-

formance of the provided SOAP interfaces by optimizing the Web services to

reduce the number of roundtrips required to the server. For example, the

GetList method of the Lists Web service returns the schema of the specified

list and assigns it to an

XMLNode object; in order to retrieve additional infor-

mation from the list, you simply query the

XmlNode. The same efficiency has

been carried forward into the WSS 3.0 and SharePoint Server 2007 Web ser-

vices architecture.

Table 12.2 WSS 3.0 Web Services

Web Ser vice Web Reference Description

Administration http://<AdminSite>/_vti_adm/

Admin.asmx

Provides methods for working with site collec-

tions, such as

CreateSite,

DeleteSite, GetLanguages, and

RefreshConfigCache.

Authentication http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Authentica-

tion.asmx

Provides methods for authenticating users, such as

Login and Mode.

Alerts http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Alerts.asmx Provides methods for working with alerts, such as

GetAlerts and DeleteAlerts.

300 12.3 Web Ser vices

Copy http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Copy.asmx Provides methods of copying items between loca-

tions in SharePoint, such as

CopyIntoItems,

CopyIntoItemsLocal, and GetItem.

Document

Workspace

http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Dws.asmx Provides methods for working with a document

workspace, such as

CreateFolder, Delete-

Folder

, and GetDWSMetaData.

Forms http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Forms.asmx Provides methods for returning forms used when

working with list contents, such as

GetForm

and

GetFormCollection.

Imaging http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Imaging.asmx Provides methods for working with Picture

Libraries, such as

ListPictureLibrary,

GetListItems and Upload.

List Data

Retrieval

http://<Site>/_vti_bin/DspSts.asmx Provides a Query method for performing que-

ries against WSS 3.0.

Lists http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx Provides methods for working with lists, such as

AddList, DeleteList, ApplyContent-

TypeToList

, GetList and GetListCol-

lection

.

Meetings http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Meet-

ings.asmx

Provides methods for working with sites created

with the Meeting site template, such as

AddMeeting, RemoveMeeting and Get-

MeetingsInformation

.

People http://<Site>/_vti_bin/People.asmx Provides methods for working with security

groups, such as

SearchPrincipals, and

ResolvePrincipals.

Permissions http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Permis-

sions.asmx

Provides methods for working with permissions,

such as

GetPermissionCollection,

AddPermission, RemovePermis-

sion

, and UpdatePermission.

Site Data http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Site-

Data.asmx

Provides methods that retrieve information about

the sites in a server farm, such as

GetSite,

GetWeb, GetList, and GetListCol-

lection

.

Sites http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Sites.asmx Provides methods for working with the site tem-

plates on a server, such as

GetSiteTem-

plates

and ImportWeb

Table 12.2 WSS 3.0 Web Services (continued)

Web Service Web Reference Description

12.3 Web Ser vices 301

Chapter 12

Search http://<Site>/_vti_bin/

spsearch.asmx

Provides methods for performing searches

remotely. Methods include

Query, QueryEx,

Registration, and Status.

Users and Groups http://<Site>/_vti_bin/user-

group.asmx

Provides methods for working with users and

groups, such as

GetGroupCollectionFro-

mUser

, RemoveUserFromGroup,

RemoveRole, and RemoveUserCollec-

tionFromSite

.

Versions http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Ver-

sions.asmx

Provides methods for working with file versions,

such as

RestoreVersion, GetVersions

and

DeleteVersion.

Views http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Views.asmx Provides methods for working with List Views,

such as

AddView, DeleteView, GetView,

UpdateView, and

GetViewCollection.

Web Part Pages http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Web-

PartPages.asmx

Provides methods for working with Web Parts,

such as

AddWebPart, DeleteWebPart,

GetWebPart and GetWebPartProper-

ties

.

Webs http://<Site>/_vti_bin/Webs.asmx Provides methods for working with sites and sub-

sites, such as

CreateContentType,

GetActivatedFeatures, GetWeb and

GetWebCollection.

Table 12.3 SharePoint Server 2007 Web Services

Web Ser vice

Web Reference:

(http://<Site>/_vti_bin/...) Description

Official File OfficialFile.asmx Provides methods for working with records manage-

ment documents, such as

SubmitFile,

GetRecordRouting, and GetRe-

cordRoutingCollection

.

Published Links PublishedLinksService.asmx Provides a GetLinks method for working with

published links.

Table 12.2 WSS 3.0 Web Services (continued)

Web Ser vice Web Reference Description