Call a web service at regular intervals

Sorry if this is the wrong forum - not sure where to start with this one.

I have a web service that calls a stored procedure to retrieve a list of users and email addresses from a database and sends reminder emails to them.

I need to set it up so this web service runs once a day automatically. What is the best | simplest | most reliable way of doing this? Thanks for any input. My first thoughts are a 'windows service' but I've never built one before. I've looked at the documentation and thought 'sounds like a thousand things could go wrong there' if, like me, you know very little about Windows.

Thanks for any help.

If this runs on a stable server i would recommend a windows service.
I understand the problems you are facing with windows service so i will recommend another thing.How about creating a console app that will do what you want and have it run on windows scheduler once every every day?

Hello,

The creation of a Windows Service is actually quite a simple thing to do, so I wouldn't be too scared about trying it out.

What I would say though is, if you already have a Web Service that does all the work, and essentially all you want to do is "kick" the web service to go off and do it, then a Windows Service is a little bit of overkill.

In which case, like Sap, I would suggest the use of a Console Application, which references the Web Service, calls the Web Method, and then goes away. Then use Windows Scheduled Tasks to execute this console application every day.

This assumes that you have direct access to the server you are running on, or that you have access to another machine that is always running.

Gary

Thank you both for your replies. I'll give the console app a try. I guess I'm a bit odd as developers go - I started on Macs doing database driven publishing (printed flight schedules kept in Filemaker - and exported and automatically formatted into Quark for publishing) - I only moved to Windows when web development moved from static pages into database driven web sites - so, when I needed a 'proper' database (SQL Server) I had to move to Windows and asp web sites.

So, I've never run a console app in my life - so, here goes - hope you don't mind me asking for help here as I do it. Thanks.

Hello,

Nope, I don't mind you asking questions here, although this is the ASP.Net Forum, so if you are not getting the answers you need, we might need to move the thread over to another forum :) But we will see how we get on.

Gary