How to view my classes from asmx web service

Question

I have one ASMX webservice with C#. In this WebService I use some classes with properties. The Class is in the same namespace as Service1.asmx.

Code of my Web Service:

namespace NewWebService
{
    [WebService(Namespace = "http://www.MySite.net/")]
    [WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
    [System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false)]
    // To allow this Web Service to be called from script, using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the following line. 
    // [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService]
    public class Service1 : System.Web.Services.WebService
    {     
        [WebMethod]
        public string GetUsers(string authenticatedToken) //out string error
        {

            //Extract from database the users...

            return Serialize(usersList);
        }
    ...
    }
}

Code of my class:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace NewWebService
{
    public class Users
    {
        public int ID { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        ...
    }
}

The question is: what must I make with my class to can view it in project where I added the webservice.

Answer 1

You're returning a string:

public string GetUsers(string authenticatedToken)

So the public definition for the web service is only going to expose information about a string. There's nothing in the public interface regarding your class, so the web service doesn't advertise any information about your class.

Return a strongly-typed instance of the class. Something like this:

public IEnumerable<User> GetUsers(string authenticatedToken)

Then the generated web service code will include a definition of the type being returned, so consuming clients will be able to understand that type. (And, for example, generate a local analog of that type if the consuming client includes code-generating capabilities. It wouldn't be the same type from an assembly perspective, but across a service boundary that shouldn't really be a concern.)