Put Messenger Contacts on Your Site Heath Stewart (Clubstew@hotmail.com)
A thread here at DevHood started back on Monday, June 10, 2002, about getting the status of users in your MSN / Windows Messenger ( "Messenger" from now on) list and displaying it on your web site. If you take a quick peek , there were a lot of questions about such a feat. As I researched the problem, I thought this would warrant a tutorial since it's a great way to enhance your site with Messenger. This tutorial will help you understand a little about the Messenger API's and will help you put a Messenger Buddy List on your site. Once finished, you should be able to understand the API's and extend the features, such as putting images next to a pre-existing list of users, perhaps from a database, for those that . have Messenger and associated Passports What you'll Need Before we get started, you'll want to download one or two things Even though the web page uses client-side scripting to display (or harness) a Messenger contact list -. which requires The end-user to have messenger - you'll Want Messenger Too in Order to Test IT (if You Don't Already). If You're Not Using MSN Messenger (PRE-Windows XP) OR WindowsMessenger (Windows XP), You'RE Missing Out. Packed with Features and A Low Footprint On Your System, You May Download It At http://mesenger.msn.com/.you'll Also Benefit from the Messenger API Documents (chm - or compiled html help - files), Which you can get from http: / /messenger.msn.com/for_developers/default.asp. If you havea newer version of Messenger, you already have the automation interfaces registered on your system. Introduction to the Messenger API's The Messenger API is a very rich API (unlike AOL IM, WHO WON '
t let anyone touch their precious protocol), but can be a little confusing. There is an automation interface for controlling the user interface, an automation interface for writing plugins, and an automation interfacefor services extensions (like the Exchange service plugin for Messenger). The one we're interested in today is the user interfaceautomation library. If you're using VC , you'll want to take a look at the MessengerUI.chm file, especially the documentation for VC describing all the interfaces and UUIDs. If you're a VB programmer or .NET developer, you'll want to take a look at the section for VB. It describes everything using objects, enumerations, and still gives you the juicy stuff. Writing a Simple Macro with the Messenger API 'Sfor A SIMPLE TEST, I ADDED A Reference To The "Messenger API TYPE LIBRARY" in Excel's VBA Environment, And Made this Quick Little Macro: Public Sub getBuddies ()
DIM MSGR AS New MessengeRapi.Messenger
Dim Groups as IMessengergroups
DIM Group As IMessengergroup
Dim Contacts as ImessengerContacts
DIM Contact As IMessengerContact
DIM I as integer
DIM J AS INTEGER
I = 1
J = 1
Set groups = msgr.mygroups
For Each Group in Groups
Sheet1.cells (i, 1) = group.name
SET Contacts = Group.Contacts
J = i 1
For Each Contact in Contacts
Sheet1.cells (J, 2) = Contact.FriendlyName
Sheet1.cells (j, 3) = contact.signinname
Sheet1.cells (J, 4) = getStatus (Contact.Status)
J = J 1
NEXT
I = j
NEXT
End Sub
Public Function GetStatus (I as integer) AS String
Dim Str As String
SELECT CASE I
Case 1
Str = "offline"
Case 2
Str = "Online"
Case 6
Str = "invisible" case 10
Str = "busy"
Case 14
Str = "be right back"
Case 18
Str = "iDLE"
Case 34
Str = "away"
Case 50
Str = "on the phone"
Case 66
Str = "Out to Lunch"
Case Else
Str = "unknown"
End SELECT
GetStatus = STR
END FUNCTION
With command-completion, this was a breeze. If you try taking the same approach with a scripting language like JScript (Microsoft's JavaScript) or VBScript, you'll find that it does not work. Even if you use "var msgr = new ActiveXObject (...) "for jscript or" set msgr = creteObject (...) "for vbscript, you'll get a scripting error from Internet Explorer (IE) That States It Can't create the Automation Object.so What gives? Beats me. I use the delightful and extremely helpful OLEView.exe utility that comes with every free and commercial development environment Microsoft distributes to look at all the automation interfaces, coclasses, and type library information and wound up just scratching my head. While Visual Basic can use the ProgID to create an instance of the coclass (class that implements the interface to which you think you're talking) and Visual C can use the CLSID, you can use neither in your scripting environment because the ProgIDs do not Actually Create Objects in That INSTA nce. If you can figure this one out, by all means email me! There is hope, however. If you dig around in Hotmail's source, you'll find a reference to a JavaScript file (.js) that contains all the goodies. Microsoft uses the infamous tag to instantiate the object.Writing a Simple Script with the Messenger API'sSo, lets create a simple HTML page with some basic functionality to display your name:
