title: Is it possible to download raw XML from a .asmx web service method?
body: <p>I have created a couple of web services of type .asmx (.NET) getting data from a local MySQL database and displaying it as XML in the browser. This is already up and running.</p>
  
  <p>I want to parse said XML and display it in an Android application I'm working on. As the MySQL database will only be updated a few times every month I don't see the need to query the web service (and consequently the MySQL DB) every time I want to display the data in the Android application.</p>
  
  <p>I figured it would make sense to download the XML returned by my web service and store it on the Android file system and parse it from there. Is this just incredibly backwards or is it doable?</p>
  
  <p>When I access one of my local web service methods at      </p>
  
  <pre><code>http://localhost/../WebService.asmx/GetLastDBUpdate
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>it returns a timestamp indicating when the database was last changed as XML in the browser, but I can't figure out how to download the file raw XML file.</p>
  
  <p>Can I do this, or should I do this differently?</p>
  
  <p>Any suggestions are welcome.</p>