R – Does redirecting a web service URL have any effect on the web service

asmxurl-rewritingweb services

Let's say a client gave me this URL to access a webservice to GetQuotes:

http://www.somecompany.com/services/myservice.asmx

If I tried to access the web service and I get redirected to:

http://new.location.somecompany.com/theservice.asmx

Will this affect the ASP.NET client calling this web service?

Where both service URLs have the exact same GetQuotes method.

[Edit]
The reason for this question is because we are trying to access a web server which keeps rerouting requests to different servers depending on the load.

Best Answer

In general a redirect shouldn't adversely affect your client (provided it handles HTTP responses correctly).

However if it's a 302 permanent redirect you might want to just update your link and save yourself the extra DNS request...

That can also be a common way for a company to provide an unchanging external link for a service while still being able to move their backend around.

Related Solutions

Enable ASP.NET ASMX web service for HTTP POST / GET requests

Try to declare UseHttpGet over your method.

[ScriptMethod(UseHttpGet = true)]
public string HelloWorld()
{
    return "Hello World";
}

Javascript – How to modify the URL without reloading the page

This can now be done in Chrome, Safari, Firefox 4+, and Internet Explorer 10pp4+!

See this question's answer for more information: Updating address bar with new URL without hash or reloading the page

Example:

 function processAjaxData(response, urlPath){
     document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = response.html;
     document.title = response.pageTitle;
     window.history.pushState({"html":response.html,"pageTitle":response.pageTitle},"", urlPath);
 }

You can then use window.onpopstate to detect the back/forward button navigation:

window.onpopstate = function(e){
    if(e.state){
        document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = e.state.html;
        document.title = e.state.pageTitle;
    }
};

For a more in-depth look at manipulating browser history, see this MDN article.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Enable ASP.NET ASMX web service for HTTP POST / GET requests

Javascript – How to modify the URL without reloading the page

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