.NET & Legacy VB6 interop: Issues & Options

The Wiki returned File Not Found under the .NET heading and I have only seen 
bits and pieces of this issue discussed elseware. I would like to know how 
others are addressing this and choosing between the options. 

Background:
My original Java based web services utilized Axis 1.2 over Tomcat. I was able 
to use these web services easily, including passing complex types as parameters 
or return values. The 2003 .NET handled it fine and I could use PocketSOAP for 
easy access from my legacy VB6 apps. I may not of been J2EE compliant, but then 
again everything worked splendidly.

The Issues:
Phase 2 of the transition to web services was to migrate to JBOSS. This has 
brought about a few complications. The rpcliteral encoding is not supported by 
2003 .NET or PocketSOAP so I switched to documentliteral (per the documentation 
for interop). Unfortunately documentliteral, with its use of a complex type for 
request and response results in a 'clunkly' client proxy. I can do it (and 
perhaps take some comfort in conforming to the 'standard'), but the client code 
isn't as clean. 

The Options (as far as I know):
So, where to from here? Well I found that 2005 .NET supports rpcliteral and the 
mssoap3.0 toolkit does as well. The downside here is that 2005 .NET is not yet 
released so I am working off of a beta and the mssoap3.0 toolkit is not nearly 
as slick as PocketSOAP in handling complex types.

So, to summarize here are my options and the corresponding pros & cons...

documentliteral pros:
Standard (as far as interop goes)
Can use 2003 .NET
Can use PocketSOAP

documentliteral cons:
Client proxy is a bit clunky

rpcliteral pros:
Clean .NET & Java clients

rpcliteral cons:
VB6 client stuck using mssoap3.0 toolkit


publish both documentliteral & rpcliteral pros:
Can use PocketSoap for legacy VB6 apps (albeit a bit clunky)
Can use .NET 2003 (clunky)
Can use .NET 2005 (clean proxy, but beta client)
Java clients have clean proxy 

publish both documentliteral & rpcliteral cons:
Need to publish both (not a big deal, just adopt nomenclature)

I would really appreciate any comments from those of you who have been down 
this road before and may have some additional insights or options.

Thanks!


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