instantiating an object from a web service vs instantiating an object from a regular class

Question

I have a very basic web service:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Services;

namespace WebService1
{        
    /// <summary>
    /// Summary description for Service1
    /// </summary>
    [WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
    [WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
    [System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false)]
    // To allow this Web Service to be called from script, using ASP.NET AJAX, uncomment the following line. 
    // [System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptService]
    public class Service1 : System.Web.Services.WebService
    {

        public int myInt = 0;

        [WebMethod]
        public int increaseCounter()
        {
            myInt++;
            return myInt;
        }

        [WebMethod]
        public string HelloWorld()
        {
            return "Hello World";
        }

    }
}

when I run that project my browser opens showing me the service:

---

on a different solution: (console application)

I am able to connect to that service by adding the reference:

then click on the add web reference button:

Lastly I type the url of the service I just created:

Now I am able to instantiate an object from the class Service1 from my console application as:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication36
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            localhost.Service1 service = new localhost.Service1();

            // here is the part I don't understand..
            // from a regular class you will expect myInt to increase every time you call
            // the increseCounter method. Even if I call it twice I always get the same result.

            int i;
            i=service.increaseCounter();
            i=service.increaseCounter();


            Console.WriteLine(service.increaseCounter().ToString());
            Console.Read();


        }
    }
}

why does myInt does not increase every time I call the increaseCounter method? every time I call that method it returns 1.

Answer 1

Services created through the older .asmx technology are not singleton instances. This means that each call you make to the server instantiates a new instance of the service each time. Two real solutions, either use static variables (eugh....), or switch to using WCF.