How to access SharePoint 2010 service application from an external console application?

Question

I have hosted a SharePoint 2010 service application in a farm. I am able to access the service application using web part and timer job. Now, what I am looking for is to access the service application from a console application. This console application should be hosted out of SharePoint farm.

In other words, what is the procedure to access the SharePoint 2010 service application from an external / remote console application running in a laptop?

Thanks!!! Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

There's a good article on MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee539764.aspx

Answer 2

I think the better answer is "It depends on your service application". Certainly some service applications like Search provide traditional web services as well as some support through the client object model. Other service apps don't have this support.

If you had a custom service application, I would think the onus would be on you to provide a web service interface into that system.