Question

Several “parts” (a WinForms app for exmaple) of my project use a DAL that I coded based on L2SQL.
I’d like to throw in several WebApps into the mix, but the issue is that the DAL “offers” much more data than the WebApps need. Way more.

Would it be OK if I wrapped the data that the websites need within a web-service, and instead of the website connecting directly to the DAL it would go through the web-service which in turn would access the DAL?

I feel like that would add a lot of overhead, but on the other hand, I definitely don’t like the feeling of knowing that the WebApps have the “capabilities” of accessing much more data than they actually need.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much for the help.

Answer 1

You can either create web services, or add a repository layer that presents only the data that your applications require. A repository has the additional benefit of being a decoupling layer, making it easier to unit test your application (by providing a mock repository).

If you plan on eventually creating different frontends (say, a web UI and a WPF or Silverlight UI), then web services make a lot of sense, since they provide a common data foundation to build on, and can be accessed across tiers.