CFC to return a .net dataset

.NET data sets are not returned directly by Web services. Serialized

versions can be returned, which basically means you return XML with a

certain markup, then in the .NET code consuming the Web service you

use the ReadXml function to turn the XML back into a data set object,

or a similar object like a data table. If you want to, you can look up

the XML syntax and create a ColdFusion function that generates this

XML. Alternatively, if you have SQL Server, you can use a .NET library

or an SSIS package to create the XML using the native .NET WriteXml

function, then pass that XML to ColdFusion.

DataSet.WriteXml function:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zx8h06sz(v=VS.100).aspx

Most Web service code that returns large amounts of data these days,

even in .NET Web sites, uses JSON. You should explore whether JSON is

an acceptable alternative.

-Mike Chabot

I'm not fantastic with .NET and webservices aren't my speciality, so I'm willing to be corrected - but I'm pretty sure you're doomed.

Webservices are only interoperable as long as you use standard types - strings, numbers, xml etc. Behind the scenes when doing a .NET-.NET webservice call, it actually serialises your objects first then deserialises them again at the other end. The actual format is, I believe, a bespoke .NET protocol which only it understands.

ColdFusion can not return a .NET DataSet, because it doesn't know how to serialise it. The *only* chance would be:

1) If the remote application would accept a DataSet which had been serialised into XML or JSON, which I'm pretty sure it won't be default

2) You could use the .NET System.Xml.Serialization objects to serialise the DataSet within CF, then return it as XML, or JSON.

But I suspect it simply won't work. If it's not a simple datatype, it's not possible to communicate it between platforms, end of.