SharePoint 2010 and Lync 2010: Adventures in Integration Part 1
Recently I was tasked with trying out some integration with SharePoint 2010 and Lync 2010. I had a blast while learning more about Lync 2010 and custom development as it pertains to SharePoint 2010. In this blog series, I want to share that experience with you.
Starting off… Lync 2010 is, in a nutshell, Microsoft’s communication platform (IM, Voice, Video, etc.). If you are familiar with MS Communicator 2007, it’s the same idea but much more improved. Just to give a point of reference… below are images for MS Communicator 2007 and Lync 2010:
Then… Communicator 2007
Now… Lync 2010
Check out that new hotness! So…switching gears… What’s even cooler, is that the development tools for Lync 2010 allow you to drag n’ drop pieces of the Lync client into your Silverlight of WPF application (these are known as Lync Controls). If you have been using SharePoint 2010…you know that Silverlight easily integrates into it. So…basically I’m saying that you can drag n’ drop the Lync client into a Silverlight app that is hosted on your SharePoint site! When I first heard this, I was very excited…there’s so many possibilities that can be accomplished here! Take these examples:
- A dashboard that shows the Sales team and their clients. Aggregates sales data using web services from 3rd party applications. Shows their Presence information, location, and options to call that user.
- Since I’m a branding dork… integrating a Silverlight object into a master.page that shows current logged in user’s information by their name (showing picture, location, changeable busy/away info, and thought bubble).
So, I think you get the idea. The point is…Lync 2010 is cool and integrates with the client so well! Its also not limited to that! In the series, I’ll explore more about the different ways that you can use SharePoint data that integrates into the Lync 2010 client and vice versa.
I’ll post multiple parts about my development experience and integrating Lync 2010 with SharePoint 2010. I’ll show the things that went well…and things that didn’t go so well. Additionally, I’ll post up some of the customizations I built along the way.
–Matt
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Have you figured out whether the Lync Silverlight client is feasible for branding? This conversation suggests not (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ucclientsdk/thread/981ee48e-4626-4e39-9c0b-99fe87d8d4e5/) but hope springs eternal.
Thanks for the comment John! I’m not sure that Silverlight is great to add to the brand (as you are loading it each time you hit the page). I referenced that as just something cool…and since I’m a branding dork =)
I think it has more practical applications in web parts that aggregate data and when a person is present…show options to initiate voice/IM. From what I’ve seen so far, it seems a lot like a way to launch communications in a custom way.
Hi Matt,
I’m gonna be following your adventures 🙂
I have the task of Integrating Lync with a SharePoint 2010 site, to allow for live training sessions and meetings to be conducted over the internet. I am totally new to Lync and just started using SharePoint 2010 after having attended the courses on development and on administration. They want to be able to use the Lync capabilities from within Sharepoint 2010. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.
-JMiller
That sounds awesome! I’m so glad that a lot of people are seeing the value in both Lync and SharePoint. You can accomplish some really cool stuff with these two technologies aggregated together.
So getting to your topic, you will probably want to develop a Silverlight Application. Lync Controls only work on Silverlight and WPF applications. Lync Controls let you use bits and peices of the Lync 2010 client (think dissecting the client). Heres a link about Lync Controls: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg436881.aspx. Additionally, you may need to grab information from SharePoint in your Silverlight application…use the Client Object Model for SP2010 (Silverlight Version) to accomplish this. Heres a link for your reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee538971%28office.14%29.aspx
Also, stay tuned for future blog posts on how these will integrate into some cool apps =)
Thanks for the reply!
-Matt
Thanks Matt ! All the best with your presentation.
JM
hello Matt ,
The post are really great .after reading this i thought of cutomizing share point disscussion board, where the disscussion post in SharePoint has to go as a IM message in lync ( i.e for example if a user log in to a sharepoint site and type some questions regarding lync and click on post , that question has to appear to the one with LYNC background within the organisation as a IM message and when he types the ans and hit enter , it has to redirect to the sharepoint portal where the question was asked) as am a newbee in both lync and sharepoint , can u plz guide me how to get started with this.
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