Exploring SharePoint Web Services

SharePoint Web Services Access

Refers to access to the built-in Web services included with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Real World Example

A developer wants to query list data from a SharePoint site periodically. She builds a tool that calls the built-in SharePoint list Web services to execute the query and get a result set.

Technical Details

The SharePoint environment includes built-in Web services that can be used to work with areas of the SharePoint object model remotely. Each Web application Web service is installed in the _vti_bin directory, which maps to the following file system location:

%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\ISAPI

The following Web services are provided in Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web applications.

Friendly Name	Location	Description
Alerts	/_vti_bin/alerts.asmx	Provides methods for working with alerts for list items in a SharePoint site.
Area Web service	/_vti_bin/areaservice.asmx	Deprecated Web service. Provides an area interface for remote clients.
Authentication Web service	/_vti_bin/Authentication.asmx	Provides ability for Web services to operate in conjunction with forms authentication.
BDC Fields Resolver Web service	/_vti_bin/bdcfieldsresolver.asmx	BDC Fields Resolver Web service for client applications. Reserved for internal use only.
BDC Web service	/_vti_bin/businessdatacatalog.asmx	Business Data Catalog metadata Web service. Reserved for internal use only.
CMS Content Area Toolbox Info Web service	/_vti_bin/contentAreaToolboxService.asmx	Designed for use by the Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer client to use.
Copy Web service	/_vti_bin/Copy.asmx	Provides methods for copying items between locations in the SharePoint environment.
List Data Retrieval Web service	/_vti_bin/DspSts.asmx	Provides a method for performing queries against lists in Windows SharePoint Services.
Document Workspace Web service	/_vti_bin/DWS.asmx	Provides methods for managing Document Workspace sites and the data they contain.
Excel Services Web service	/_vti_bin/ExcelService.asmx	Provides methods to call Excel Services remotely or to work as a callback for Web Parts.
Forms Web service	/_vti_bin/Forms.asmx	Provides methods for returning forms used in the user interface when working with the contents of a list.
Forms Services proxy Web service	/_vti_bin/FormsServiceProxy.asmx	Provides methods for Forms Services to proxy requests to remote data sources from Web-based forms.
Forms Services Web service	/_vti_bin/FormsServices.asmx	Provides methods to call Forms Services remotely or to work as a callback for Web-based forms.
Imaging Web service	/_vti_bin/Imaging.asmx	Provides methods that enable you to create and manage picture libraries.
Lists Web service	/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx	Provides methods for working with lists and list data.
Meetings Web service	/_vti_bin/Meetings.asmx	Provides methods that enable you to create and manage Meeting Workspace sites.
Official File Web service	/_vti_bin/officialfile.asmx	Provides methods for sending files to a records repository.
People Web service	/_vti_bin/People.asmx	Provides methods for working with security groups.
Permissions Web service	/_vti_bin/Permissions.asmx	Provides methods for working with the permissions for a site or list.
Published Links Web service	/_vti_bin/publishedlinksservice.asmx	Office system client applications and other applications can obtain the list of published links on the server that are targeted to the current user.
Publishing Service Web service	/_vti_bin/PublishingService.asmx	Provides methods to remotely work with the publishing service.
Search Web service	/_vti_bin/search.asmx	Allows access to Enterprise Search results from client applications and Web applications outside of the context of a SharePoint site.
SharePoint Directory Management Web service	/_vti_bin/sharepointemailws.asmx	Provides methods for remotely managing distribution groups.
Sites Web service	/_vti_bin/sites.asmx	Provides methods for returning information about the site templates for a site collection.
Slide Library Web service	/_vti_bin/SlideLibrary.asmx	Provides methods for slide library callbacks or remote publishing of slides.
Search Crawl Web service	/_vti_bin/spscrawl.asmx	Provides methods for remote Office SharePoint Server 2007 server farms to crawl a local farm.
Search Web service	/_vti_bin/spsearch.asmx	Provides methods for remotely performing searches within a Windows SharePoint Services deployment.
Users and Groups Web service	/_vti_bin/UserGroup.asmx	Provides methods for working with users, site groups, and cross-site groups.
User Profile Change Web service	/_vti_bin/userprofilechangeservice.asmx	Provides methods to query the user profiles change log remotely.
User Profile Web service	/_vti_bin/userprofileservice.asmx	Provides a user profile interface for remote clients.
Versions Web service	/_vti_bin/versions.asmx	Provides methods for working with file versions.
Views Web service	/_vti_bin/Views.asmx	Provides methods for working with views of lists.
Web Part Pages Web service	/_vti_bin/webpartpages.asmx	Provides the methods to send information to and retrieve information from Web services.
Webs Web service	/_vti_bin/Webs.asmx	Provides methods for working with sites and subsites.
Workflow Web service	/_vti_bin/workflow.asmx	Provides methods to work with workflows.

The SharePoint Central Administration Web application provides Web services in the _vti_adm directory that map to the following file system location:

%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\ADMISAPI

The following Web services are exposed within the Central Administration Web application. For reasons of helping to ensure security, these Web services are not available to call remotely from custom code in a hosted environment.

Friendly Name	Location	Description
Admin	/_vti_adm/admin.asmx	Provides methods for managing a deployment of Windows SharePoint Services, such as for creating or deleting sites.
Content Deployment Remote Import	/_vti_adm/ContentDeploymentRemoteImport.asmx	Provides methods for a remote server farm to use content deployment to get content into a local farm.

Depending on configuration, the Office Server Web Services Web application exposes the following internal Web services, which are not available for calls from custom code.

Friendly Name	Location	Description
Search Web service	SearchAdmin.asmx	Office SharePoint Server 2007 Search Administration Web service.
Search Application Web service	/SSP/Search/SearchAdmin.asmx	Office SharePoint Server 2007 Search Application Administration Web service.
Excel Service SOAP	/SSP/ExcelCalculationServer/ExcelService.asmx	Office SharePoint Server 2007 Excel Services Application Web service.