Question

Basically I have a gridview that is loaded when a DataSet is returned from the web service, but going at it this way makes me lose some of the benefits of the gridview like the simplicity in sorting, updating, deleting, rows, etc.

Is there a way I can use a web service, but still have access to using a SqlDataSource binded to the GridView.
I can’t return a webcontrol like SqlDataSource, but maybe there is a way around?

Answer 1

First of all, I suggest you to move from ASP.NET web-service to WCF-service – you can use the WCF Data Services. for example. You should note what this is not exactly the SqlDataSource.

But if you want to use the ASP.NET web-service, I think this article will help you:
How To Use a Web Service as a Data Source for a Client Application in Visual C# .NET.

The main point is what you can setup your method to return a DataSet:

[WebMethod]
public DataSet GetCustOrders(string IDMask)
{
    // your code here
}

But Web-services are old technology and your shouldn’t use them.