I hope this is a simple question, and i'll accept a quick simple answer if so.

What components and code to i need to use to invoke a web service from
my C# desktop application using http.

I know that i can create a reference to a known web service and then
use it like a class, but i want to have a component(lets call it HTTP)
that i can use like this:
HTTP.Path = "http://www.somewebsite.com/webservice1.asmx/afunction";
HTTP.Params.Add('FName').Value = myFNameVariable;
HTTP.Params.Add('LName.....Etc.

You get the idea. basically so i can call web services completely from
code, pass parameters, and get the return value. i'm sure C# has an
include component, please point the way with the

component name

and a few lines of code using it

thanks

Hi, thelameduck-ga:

You do not mention SOAP (or as Microsoft likes to rebrand such topics,
ROPE), so I'm going to try and interpret your Question as regarding a
broader notion of web services.  Conceivably any ad hoc "request"
posed via HTTP formulated as a URL, possibly with parametric data,
would fit this broader notion.

Thus, if there is a simple answer to your question, it would be the
HttpRequest class in the .Net framework:

[System.Web.HttpRequest (noninheritable class)]
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemwebhttprequestclasstopic.asp

In C# we would refer to this as a sealed class, which means the .Net
programmer is not allowed to derive (inherit) classes from it.

Take a look at the members & methods of the class provided by the .Net
framework. Perhaps in your context this is more of a base class that a
programmer would want to use to create a "generic" web service
interface.  However rather than inheriting directly from it, you'd
create a new class whose instances construct one or more HttpRequest
members.

regards, mathtalk-ga