Design of web service for Excel consumption

[Andrew Wiles]

Hi

I am trying to create a web service method that can be used to import data
into Excel. From what I have read I need the web service to return a strongly
typed dataset which Excel should be able to read using the XML import options.

I have added a dataset definition (xsd) to my web service. I am populating
the dataset with a couple of rows of test data as shown below:


[WebMethod]
public DataSet1 GridGetDataSet()
{
DataSet1 ds = new DataSet1();
ds.Table1.Rows.Add(new object[] { "Field1", 100 });
ds.Table1.Rows.Add(new object[] { "Field2", 200 });
return ds;
}

When I try to attach to this method using the url:

http://localhost:49436/InvestigatorService.asmx/GridGetDataSet

I get the following error meassge in Excel:

"Microsoft Office Excel cannot access the file
'http://localhost:49436/InvestigatorService.asmx/GridGetDataSet'. There are
several possible reasons:
* The file name or path does not exist.
* The file is being used by another program.
*The workbook you are trying to save has the same name as a currently opent
workbook.

I am guessing that I need to do something more to the dataset definition??

BTW: Testing the method call on the web service works and returns the
following xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <DataSet1 xmlns="http://www.it-workplace.co.uk/">
- <xs:schema id="DataSet1" targetNamespace="http://tempuri.org/DataSet1.xsd"
xmlns:mstns="http://tempuri.org/DataSet1.xsd"
xmlns="http://tempuri.org/DataSet1.xsd"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata"
attributeFormDefault="qualified" elementFormDefault="qualified">
- <xs:element name="DataSet1" msdata:IsDataSet="true"
msdata:UseCurrentLocale="true">
- <xs:complexType>
- <xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
- <xs:element name="Table1">
- <xs:complexType>
- <xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="Column1" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" />
<xs:element name="Column2" type="xs:double" minOccurs="0" />
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:choice>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>
- <diffgr:diffgram xmlns:msdata="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-msdata"
xmlns:diffgr="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xml-diffgram-v1">
- <DataSet1 xmlns="http://tempuri.org/DataSet1.xsd">
- <Table1 diffgr:id="Table11" msdata:rowOrder="0"
diffgr:hasChanges="inserted">
<Column1>Field1</Column1>
<Column2>100</Column2>
</Table1>
- <Table1 diffgr:id="Table12" msdata:rowOrder="1"
diffgr:hasChanges="inserted">
<Column1>Field2</Column1>
<Column2>200</Column2>
</Table1>
</DataSet1>
</diffgr:diffgram>
</DataSet1>