Live Services

Synchronizing Life

Communications –
Messenger, Presence, Alerts
and Activities

1
Agenda Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Overview
• Messenger Library
• Messenger IM Control
• Presence API
• Alerts
• Activities

2
Session objectives and takeaways Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Understand the strategic importance

of using Live Messenger in your
applications
• Understand the various Live
Messenger components
• Know your development options for

3
Overview Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Why Live Messenger?

• Compelling way for people to stay in
touch
• 300+ Million Users (world’s largest)
• 30 Billion contact relationships
• #1 messaging service in most markets
• Grow audience and user base
• Increase stickiness of your site

4
Build Rich Social Apps Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Reach out to contacts

• Add new contacts
• Show what users are doing on your
site
• Let users interact with rich messaging

5
 Demo
Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Tafiti

6
 Communications within the Live Framework Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Libraries

.NET FX 3.5 APIs Silverlight APIs JavaScript APIs Client Controls Web Controls …
Tools &
Services

Resource Model
Developer
ATOM JSON POX RSS Binary XML Portal

AtomPub FeedSync

Resource
CRUD Sync URI-LINQ Triggers Auth/Z Hosting Introspection
Scripts
Core Data Communications App Model
Provisioning /
User Account
Identity P2P Catalog Management
Folders News
Device Mesh Notifications Hosting
Photos Favorites
Applications Presence Mesh Applications
Contacts Groups
App Data & Settings
Profile Calendar Visual Studio
Application Management Tools /
System Designers
Geospatial

Search

Live Operating Environment

Analytics

CRUD Sync Cache CRUD Sync Hosting

Resource Script Resource Script Engine Auth/Z Local Store

Engine
Auth/Z Analytics

… P2P File Sys …

Cloud Client Developer

Sandbox
Windows “Strata” Windows Embedded Windows Mobile Other
Windows Live Messenger Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Enables third-party sites to seamlessly add instant messaging

capabilities with Windows Live Messenger

Client-side library helps build

presence-enabled Web applications

Messenger Library applications can be

built in JavaScript or C# (using Script#)

Sign-in with Windows Live ID; sign-in

control hosted by Microsoft

Interact with site visitors or other IM

users
Windows Live Messenger Library Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Messaging and Presence

Build a custom Messenger
experience

All of the core Windows Live

Messenger features are available

Application Messages and Custom

Presence allow value-added
features
Live Services
Synchronizing Life
What’s new in Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Messenger Library 2.5

• JavaScript URL is http://www.wlmessenger.net/api/2.5/
messenger.js
• Contact Properties
1. Presence
2. Display Name
3. Nickname
• Endpoint Names
• Show/Hide Control
• All collections expose item accessors
• Firefox 3.0 support

11
User requirements Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Windows Live ID is required

• End users must grant permission to each

web site that hosts a client library application
– The user may allow the site to sign them in to
Messenger

• Browser support
– IE 6, 7 & 8
– Firefox 1.5, 2.0 & 3.0
– Safari 3.0

12
 Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Messenger Library

13
Development with Messenger Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Library
• Sign-in
1. Instantiate Microsoft.Live.Messenger.UI.SignInControl
2. Subscribe to the AuthenticationCompleted event
3. Define event handler for AuthenticationCompleted
1. Instantiate User object
2. Subscribe to User.SignInCompleted
3. Call User.SignIn
4. Define event handler for User.SignInCompleted
5. After authentication the User object is ready to use
• User Object
1. Represents signed in user
2. Provides access to user’s contact
• Channel and Privacy pages
1. Required to host these pages
2. Channel.htm used for cross-domain communication

14
Monitoring Presence (status) Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Monitor the presence of the current

user and the user’s contacts
• Iterate through each contact on the
user's contact list
1.Subscribe to the PropertyChanged event
2.Subscribe to the ContactPresence

15
Monitoring Online/Offline Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Use the User.OnlineContacts and

User.OfflineContacts collections
• Setup CollectionChanged event handlers for
each collection
• Update the UI with the event handlers

_user.get_onlineContacts().add_collection
Changed(onlineContacts_CollectionChanged);

_user.get_offlineContacts().add_collection
Changed(offlineContacts_CollectionChanged);

16
Changing User Presence Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Use the set_status function of the

presence object for the user

_user.get_presence().set_status(Microsoft
.Live.Messenger.PresenceStatus.online)
;

17
Managing User Contacts Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Get contact collection

_contactCollection = _user.get_contacts();
• Subscribe to
AddContactCompletedEventHandler
_user.add_addContactCompleted(addContactCompl
eted);
• Add a Contact
_user.addContact(address, 'Invitation message.',
null);
• Remove a contact
var contact = _contactCollection.find(address,

18
Manage Conversations Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Create an instance of a conversation

var imaddress = contact.get_currentAddress();
_conv =
_user.get_conversations().create(imaddress);
• Send a message
var message = new
Microsoft.Live.Messenger.TextMessage(“A
message.", null);
_conv.sendMessage(message, null);
• Listen for a message
_conv.add_messageReceived(recvMsg);
• Track conversations

19
 Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Presence API

20
Presence API Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Show a user’s presence

• User must give permission to share presence and
receive messages

• HTTP based API

• Returns JSON or an image
• Can be used together with IM Control

• Supported browsers
– IE 6 or higher
– Firefox 1.5 or higher on Windows

21
Developing Online Presence Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Invite users with Signup URL

1. http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/
websignup.aspx?returnurl=[URL]&privacyurl=[URL]
• Users will be returned to the return URL
• Must implement a privacy page
• Returned CID can be used by both the Presence API and the IM
control
• Query the Presence API using HTTP http://
messenger.services.live.com/users/[ID]/[resource]/[?
queryparameters]
1. [ID] is numerical user ID
2. [resource] specifies JSON or image

22
 Live Services
JSON Presence Result Synchronizing Life

{
"status": "Online",
"icon":
{
"height": 16,
"url": "http://settings.messenger.live.com/static/w13r2/Conversation/
img/Status_Online.gif",
"width": 16
},
"statusText": "Online",
"id": "12BACD345678@apps.messenger.live.com",
"displayName": "Name"
}

23
Querying Presence Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• cb query parameter - JSON

1. http://messenger.services.live.com/users/
12BACD345678@apps.messenger.live.com/presence/?
cb=ShowStatus&mkt=en-US
• Presence image from an HTML <img> element
1. <img src="http://messenger.services.live.com/users/
12BACD345678@apps.messenger.live.com/
presenceimage/" alt="status" />

24
 JSON Elements Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Element Description
status Online, Away, Idle, BeRightBack, Busy,
OutToLunch
statusText The user's status as a localized string.
OnThePhone, Offline
id The ID that was passed in to the API call.
displayNam The Messenger display name of the user.
e
mkt Specifies a culture ID indicating the language.
icon References an icon representing the user’s
status.
icon.url The URL of the status icon image.
icon.width The width of the status icon image in pixels.
icon.height The height of the status icon image in pixels.

25
 Demo
Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Simple API DEMO

26
 Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Messenger Control
Messenger IM Control Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Navigate to:
• http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/
websettings.aspx
• Select the Allow websites to see your Messenger
status and send you messages check box and
click Save
• Under Web Settings, click Create HTML
• Copy the HTML and paste it into your Web page

28
Inviting Users Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Add a link to the signup page.

• User goes to WLM settings page.
• Redirect back to the web site
• Use the users ID with the IM control

29
 Demo
Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Create IM control HTML

http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/
WebSettings.aspx

30
 Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Alerts
Alerts SDK Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• SOAP Protocol

• Programmatic Integration
– Add/Remove group
– Publication sign-up
– Subscribe/Unsubscribe end-user
– Deliver message
– Inquire about user subscription
– Inquire about available groups

32
Live Services
Synchronizing Life

33
Security Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Partner Identification
– Each Alerts Partner is provided with a unique
PIN and password.
– The PIN and password are required in all
message transmissions to Alerts.
•  Partner IP
– Alerts validates each request against a
specified list of legal IP addresses. This list
of addresses must be supplied to Alerts and
verified before the site can operate in
production mode.

34
Production and Testing Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Environments
• Testing URIs
– Message: http://services.alerts.live-ppe.com/axis/services/Message
– Subscription: http://services.alerts.live-ppe.com/axis/services/Subscription

•  Production URIs
– Message: http://services.alerts.live.com/axis/services/Message
– Subscription: http://services.alerts.live.com/axis/services/Subscription

•  Alerts Manager URLs

– Test: http://signup.alerts.live-ppe.com/login/editLoginPIN.do
– Production: http://signup.alerts.live.com/login

•  End-user Signup URLs

– Test: http://signup.alerts.live-ppe.com/alerts/login.do?
PINID=<PINID>&returnURL=<returnURL>
– Production: http:// signup.alerts.live.com/alerts/login.do?

35
 Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Activities
Windows Live Messenger Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• A Messenger Activity is a Web application page that

provides an interactive experience for Windows Live
Messenger users

• Activities can be multi-user applications take

advantage of the Messenger communication
infrastructure

• Users start Activities from the Games or the

Activities buttons in a conversation window, or
externally from a webpage.
 Live Services

Windows Live Messenger Activities Synchronizing Life

Example: Windows Live Search Activity

Windows Live Messenger Activities Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Example: Windows Live Search Activity

Windows Live Messenger Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Getting Started

Start with a new or existing HTML page. The HTML

page will be displayed within the Windows Live
Messenger client

The largest window that the Windows Live Messenger

client can display is 500 by 500 pixels

Event handlers and functions are placed in the

scripting part of the document

Output and information are displayed in the body

part of the document.
Activity Object Model Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Channel Object—Contains properties, methods, and events for

sending and receiving data and for interacting with the chat history
window.

• Error Object—Contains properties for presenting error information to

the user.

• FileInfo Object—Contains properties for determining the status of a

file transfer.

• Messenger Object—Contains methods for launching client dialog

pages.

• User Object—Contains properties for ascertaining user name, e-mail

address, and Live ID Unique ID (UID) of conversants.

• Users Collection- The top-level collection of User objects.

41
 Live Services
Windows Live Messenger Activities Synchronizing Life

Event Handling
• When a Windows Live Messenger Activity is running, the
Windows Live Messenger script engine is firing events to the
application.
• In order for two instances of the application to communicate
with each other, appropriate event handlers must be defined.
For example, if the SendData method is used to send a string
from one instance to the other, an OnDataReceived event
handler must be defined to receive the string.
• Some commonly used event handlers are:
– OnRemoteAppLoaded
– OnRemoteAppClosed
– OnDataReceived
– OnDataError
– OnTypeChanged
– OnAppClose
 Live Services
Windows Live Messenger Activities Synchronizing Life

Multi-User Activities
• Multi-user activities can exchange data and synchronize between two
instances

• The following processes make up the foundation of a multi-user Windows

Live Messenger Activity:
– Synchronizing
• The first application to load calls Channel.Initialize, and then waits for the event
Channel.OnRemoteAppLoaded to fire.
• The second application calls Channel.Initialize when it is ready to communicate, and the event
Channel.OnRemoteAppLoaded fires immediately.

– Sending and receiving data

• Similar to Single User Activities, the primary way to send information is by the method
Channel.SendData. An application must have an event handler called Channel.OnDataReceived; this
event fires when the application receives data.
• The method Channel.SendFile can be used to transfer files. If used, the application must also have an
event handler for Channel.OnFileReceived.
– Error handling
• Again similar to Single User Activities, An application should have an event handler for
Channel.OnDataError. This event fires if Channel.SendData fails.
• Typically, an application should try to send the data again, in case the error was an isolated
communication problem.
 Live Services
Standard vs. Advanced Applications Synchronizing Life

• Activities run in a sandbox

• Basic features are unrestricted
• Advanced features – Permission Flags
– ActiveX—Required to host ActiveX controls on the application Web page.

– EnableIP—Required to get the IP addresses for the computers running the

application.

– PassportSiteID—Required to perform Live ID authentication, or to get the user

name or e-mail address of a participant.

– ReceiveIM—Required to view the contents of incoming chat messages.

– ReplaceIM—Required to intercept and replace the contents of incoming chat

messages.

– SendFile—Required to send files as part of the application.

– SendIM—Required to send a chat message to the remote user, either as the

local user or as the application.

– UserProperties—Required to perform Live ID authentication, or to get the

44
Special Permissions Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Several Activity features require special approval:

– Sending and receiving instant messages
– Sending files
– Hosting ActiveX controls
– Getting the client IP address
– Using Windows Live ID authentication

• To implement these features, you must request them by

writing to the Windows Live Support alias
(activity@microsoft.com).
• You must provide a detailed description explaining why
special permissions are needed and how they will be used.
In addition, the Windows Live Support team may ask you
to supply code for your application that details how you
will implement the features.
Development Languages and Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Build with ASP, VBScript, C, C++, C#, others

• Must not contain any functionality found in the Messenger

client.

– Instant messaging

– File transfer (for example, digital photos or sound files)

– Audio conversation capabilities

– Control of a Web camera or use of a video conferencing session

– Application sharing

– Creation of a white board space

46
Submission Process Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Download the Activity SDK from MSDN at http://

msdn.microsoft.com/live/msnmessenger/.

• Develop your Activity and perform pre-review compliance

testing of the application, as specified in the SDK.

• Submit your Activity for final review at http://

gallery.live.com/ before it is enabled for use by Messenger
users.

• Activity is reviewed based on features and review

requirements.

• Windows Live notifies you when the Activity is enabled for

Documentation Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Functional spec
– Special permissions and features (next
slide)
• Test plan
– Demonstrate compliance with
requirements
• Test case documentation
– Test case details

48
Other requirements Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Must have IE 5.01 or later installed

• Must include help
• ActiveX controls must be signed
– You must handle the case where the
control is not installed.
• Additional software requirements
– Notify user that 3rd party software is
required
– Check if already installed

49
Testing Live Services
Synchronizing Life

• Copy MSGRP2P.xml
– Copy to 2 computers if multi user

• XML changes
– <Name>Tic Tac Toe</Name>
– <URL>http://server/app/defaulthtm</
URL>

50
 Demo
Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Sample Activity

51
 Live Services

Windows Live Messenger Activities Synchronizing Life

Get Started

• Messenger Development on Windows Live Dev

http://dev.live.com/messenger

• Activity API SDK

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa751024.aspx
 Questions?
Live Services
Synchronizing Life

Discussion
 Live Services
Synchronizing Life

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other countries.
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