C# web services: handling an object and methods in soap vs rest?

My understanding is that a c# based client "prefers" SOAP because when you add a web service reference i开发者_如何学Ct creates a proxy class from the wsdl found at the url you specify.

Which almost makes it transparent to the c# client that we are even using a web service, it almost feels like we are using a local class library. you call methods and you use objects.

My question is can REST achieve the same affect. I assume that it can't since it doesn't have wsdl and thus visual studio can't generate a proxy class for it. But Please correct me if I'm wrong?

A "run of the mill" REST service cannot achieve the same kind of tight integration with C# - mostly because it lacks the metadata that a SOAP service will provide (with a list of methods and their parameters and all that stuff).

The WCF Data Services (built on top of REST) do work much the same way as SOAP services, since the OData protocol contains extensions for pure REST services that provide metadata information needed to create a good, useful client-side proxy.

REST can be used to generate client side class libraries. For Example You can create proxy classes for MS generated REST services. In fact MS is actively pushing this model for Entity Framework based WCF DATA Services, e.g. those used by Silverlight and RIA applications. check out MS ODATA framework for REST which involves creating client objects out of standard REST queries.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd673930.aspx