I'm planning to use a VB.Net WCF data service as the way for various applications to retrieve data from a selection of back end databases. I don't want to have to fill my service with classes that represent the data entities, and I've seen suggestions that returning data tables from a data service is a bad idea (although I've seen no clear explanation as to why). So, does anyone have any suggestions as to what is the best way to return the data?
In conjunction with that, I would like to be able to able to throw any request at this service without it having to be predefined in the service's model. For example, I would like to be able to create a new stored procedure in my database and have a new function in my client to call that SP via the service, but not have to recompile the service to be able to recognise it - the client would simply pass in the stored procedure name and a collection of parameters and have the service return the data to the client in some form. Anyone have any ideas whether this is feasible (or indeed desirable)?
In conjunction with that, I would like to be able to able to throw any request at this service without it having to be predefined in the service's model. For example, I would like to be able to create a new stored procedure in my database and have a new function in my client to call that SP via the service, but not have to recompile the service to be able to recognise it - the client would simply pass in the stored procedure name and a collection of parameters and have the service return the data to the client in some form. Anyone have any ideas whether this is feasible (or indeed desirable)?