Generating Clients

You can generate client applications either from the Visual Studio IDE or by executing the imtkmake command.

Generate from Visual Studio

You can generate client applications from a service interface (.svi) file, a WSDL file, JSON Schema, or OpenAPI (Swagger) file in a Visual Studio project, or from a standalone WSDL file, JSON Schema, or OpenAPI (Swagger) file. All of the following methods generate a COBOL console client application plus other applicable client applications as selected on the Service Interface options page.

Service interface (.svi) file

If you have used the Interface Mapper to create a service interface in Visual Studio, you can generate one or more clients from the service interface file in the project. By default, Visual COBOL generates a COBOL console client for all but Java interfaces. Various additional types of clients can also be generated depending on the type of service interface:

WPF Application

Generate Windows Presentation Foundation clients for Web service interfaces.

Windows Forms Application

Generate Windows Forms clients for Web service interfaces.

ASP.NET Web Site

Generate ASP.NET Web sites for .NET interfaces.

JSP Application

Generate a JSP client application from Java interface service interface types.

The generation of a JSP client application for a Java interface is automatic. However, to generate additional client types for a Web service or a .NET interface, you must specify the additional client types in your client generation options. For more information, see To set client generation options. For instructions on generating clients from a service interface file, see To generate client applications from a service interface file.

WSDL file, JSON Schema, or OpenAPI (Swagger) file

This method of generating a Web service client is similar to generating a Web service from a WSDL file, JSON Schema file, or OpenAPI (Swagger) file in that you use the same Generate Web Service dialog box, but specify client generation instead of service generation. Using this method, client applications are generated as projects in the current solution. See To generate a client application from WSDL or JSON for instructions.

Standalone WSDL file, JSON Schema file, or OpenAPI (Swagger) file

Starting from a standalone WSDL file, JSON Schema, or OpenAPI (Swagger) file, you can generate a Web service client application by creating a new Visual Studio project using the Web Service Client Application from WSDL/JSON template. This type of project contains just the generated client application. See To generate a Web service client application project from WSDL or JSON for instructions.

Generate from the imtkmake command

This method is fully documented in the imtkmake command topic.