Is there a difference between SharePoint 2003 standard web services and SharePoint 2007-2010 ones?

Question

I implemented a tool for getting documents (Word files, PDFs, etc..) from a Document library in SharePoint 2007-2010 using SiteData.asmx and other standard web services basically.

Now I´m facing the need of doing the same tool for SharePoint 2003. From here I see there is a SiteData.asmx, and in general the same services from 2007-2010 in 2003. However, I don´t have a SP 2003 server where I can test if my tool will work the same way (or if any change is needed).

This question arises, since I know that the framework from 2003 is different from 2007-2010, so I´m not quite sure if the information retrieved by the services will be the same, or if there is a limitation on the 2003 ones that was fixed in 2007-2010.

*I grouped 2007-2010 as the standard web services for those versions of SharePoint behave exactly the same.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Edit:

I know of the existence of the web services protocol specification, but personally I don´t trust that the implementations will be the same on all versions of SharePoint.

Answer 1

Ideally, The consumers of a Web Service do not need to know anything about the platform, object model, or programming language used to implement the service; they only need to understand how to send and receive SOAP messages (HTTP and XML).

However, from SP2003 to SP2007 to SP2010, SiteData.asmx have evolved with new webmethods. So if you use those new webmethods which are not in SP2003 version of SiteData.asmx, of course, your tool will not work.

Below is the list of webmethods available in SP2003 SiteData.asmx:

1. GetSite
2. GetURLSegments
3. EnumerateFolder
4. GetSiteAndWeb
5. GetList
6. GetListCollection
7. GetWeb
8. GetListItems
9. GetAttachments

If your methods are listed above , I think your tool will work. Also check the WSDL to ensure it.

Answer 2

All of the code for SharePoint Server 2003 / WSS 2.0 had to be redone with the move to MOSS 2007 / WSS 3.0 because of the change in the underlying .net Framework and the adoption of Web Parts within the normal ASP.NET framework.

There were a lot of things that did change, and in my case upgrading my customizations meant rewrite in most cases.

The web services would have been upgraded and rewritten, but they should be compatible. Testing will be required though, and you will need a 2003 system to validate against. Last time I checked there were still install files in MSDN, and I had to do a setup for a project in the past year. Generally the documentation, especially for the web services were horrible with 2003, I wouldn't trust finding quality info on the net at this point.