We Keep Coding

Outlook 2016 showing appointment Icon even for meetings created with EWS API

I'm creating appointments and meeting with EWS managed API but however, I found the Icon's appearing wrongly in Outlook 2016.
Creating meetings with msdn example ` ExchangeService service = GetExchangeService();
Appointment meeting = new Appointment(service);
// Set the properties on the meeting object to create the meeting.
meeting.Subject = "EWS : Meeting";
meeting.Body = "Let's learn to really work as a team and then have lunch!";
meeting.Start = DateTime.Now.AddDays(2);
meeting.End = meeting.Start.AddHours(4);
meeting.Location = "Conference Room 12";
meeting.RequiredAttendees.Add("attendee1");
meeting.RequiredAttendees.Add("attendee2");
meeting.ReminderMinutesBeforeStart = 60;
//// Save the meeting to the Calendar folder and send the meeting request.
meeting.Save(SendInvitationsMode.SendToAllAndSaveCopy);
// Verify that the meeting was created.
Item item = Item.Bind(service, meeting.Id, new PropertySet(BasePropertySet.FirstClassProperties));
Console.WriteLine("\nMeeting created: " + item.Subject + "\n");`
But the Icons are like this .
Here , Subject starting with "EWS" created using API and subject with "Outlook" are manually created in outlook. Outlook meeting has different Icon.
Any workaround for this problem?

You could try setting the PR_Icon_Index property https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/cc815472.aspx which you should be able to set using a Extended property to 0x00000402 for a single instance meeting.

Using Microsoft's EWS to create online Lync/Skype meeting

Anybody knows how to create meeting request with online conference(Lync/Skype) using EWS?
So my approach is first getting an online and regular meeting created via Outlook and then simulate the creation of event with the same property.
Here is my code snippet for getting the meeting (calendarView is already initialized with start date, end date etc.):
ExtendedPropertyDefinition extendedOnlineMeetingProperty =
new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(new Guid("{00062008-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}"), 34112,
MapiPropertyType.Integer);
var properties = new PropertySet(
ItemSchema.Id,
AppointmentSchema.ICalUid,
ItemSchema.Subject,
AppointmentSchema.Start,
AppointmentSchema.End,
AppointmentSchema.Organizer,
AppointmentSchema.Location,
AppointmentSchema.LegacyFreeBusyStatus,
AppointmentSchema.IsCancelled,
AppointmentSchema.ICalRecurrenceId,
AppointmentSchema.MyResponseType, // Mandatory Meeting.MyResponseType can be retrieved without a search in the participant list
ItemSchema.LastModifiedTime,
AppointmentSchema.IsOnlineMeeting,
AppointmentSchema.IsMeeting,
ItemSchema.DisplayTo) { };
properties.Add(extendedOnlineMeetingProperty);
var activeResults = service.FindAppointments(WellKnownFolderName.Calendar, calendarView).ToList();
if (activeResults.Count > 0)
{
service.LoadPropertiesForItems(activeResults, properties);
}
I got the property IsOnlineMeeting with the correct bool value (tested -
created online and regular meeting with Outlook) in variable activeResults but I do not understand where to get conference link and other Lync/Skype properties needed for joining a conference.
Also I am not sure where and how to assign the values of Lync/Skype conference URL and other properties.
Sometimes I ask myself if it's worth it to developed some app based on MS products since their documentation suck.

After one week of cursing MS I have found a solution. Using the tool MFCMAPI you can check what property and their values your item in mailbox have.
download the program link
build and run it
Session - Logon - choose your mail profile - pick the mailbox and double click
actions - open special folder - calendar - double click on calendar
open the item with online S4B/Lync conference
the UC* properties are the one I was looking for.
If you open the property you can see something like this on the top:
ag: 0x8096001E
Type: PT_STRING8
DASL: http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/string/{00020329-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/UCMeetingSetting
Named Prop Name: UCMeetingSetting
Named Prop Guid: {00020329-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} = PS_PUBLIC_STRINGS
So my definition of the extended property was wrong. It is not only one property but actually you need all 7 of them.
So the definition should be:
private static ExtendedPropertyDefinition CreateOnlineMeetingProperty()
{
ExtendedPropertyDefinition extendedUCMeetingSetting =
new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(new Guid("{00020329-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"), "UCMeetingSetting",
MapiPropertyType.String);
return extendedUCMeetingSetting;
}
With the correct extended definition you can get the values from the item easily.
accessing the Value of ExtendedProperties
Calling TryGetProperty
var activeResults = service.FindAppointments(new
FolderId(WellKnownFolderName.Calendar, resource.Email),calendarView).ToList();
service.LoadPropertiesForItems(activeResults, properties);
foreach (Appointment result in activeResults)
{
// 1.
var b = result.ExtendedProperties[1].Value;
// 2.
string UCMeetingSetting;
result.TryGetProperty(extendedUCMeetingSetting, out UCMeetingSetting);
}
using steps above you can get whatever extended property you want, not only Unified Communications (UC) properties.

Ok, I managed to have this working (almost!) by setting just one of the extended properties:
appointment.SetExtendedProperty(
new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(
new Guid("00020329-0000-0000-C000-000000000046"),
"OnlineMeetingExternalLink",
MapiPropertyType.String
),
skypeMeeting.JoinUrl
);
I say almost because the appointment doesn't look exactly like a Skype meeting when you open it in Outlook: doesn't have the footer will the Join link and phone number etc.
Maybe there are other differences, but for now we see it in Skype for business with the Join button and also we see the it in the Outlook reminder with the Join button.
As a workaround, we have to hard-code the body content of the appointment.
Also conference ID, can be taken using UCWA 2.0 (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/skype-sdk/ucwa/myonlinemeetings_ref)
We used UCWA 2.0 to create the Skype conference call and attached it to the EWS appointment object.

Exchange (EWS 2.2) return a null ICalUid

I'm using EWS 2.2 to query an Exchange Server. Everything works find for all Appointment (I tested many hundred items without any problem) except one: The return Appointment has no ICalUid, how is this possible?
Here is my code
ExchangeService exchangeService = new ExchangeService(ExchangeVersion.Exchange2013);
exchangeService.Credentials = ...;
exchangeService.Url = ...;
var results = exchangeService.FindItems(folderId, searchFilter, view);
My PropertySet is defined like this:
{ ItemSchema.Subject, ItemSchema.Categories, AppointmentSchema.ICalUid,
AppointmentSchema.Start, AppointmentSchema.End, AppointmentSchema.AppointmentType,
AppointmentSchema.Duration };

It generally means the related properties haven't been set on whatever item your trying to access. You not using a CalendarView so its also possible that the item your trying to access isn't an Appointment (check the ItemClass), the best way to confirm is try to open the object in a Mapi editor like MfcMapi or OutlookSpy and you will be able to see the underlying properties are on the item.
Cheers
Glen

Creating appointments on other calendars, shared with me, using EWS API

I hope this is the right forum to ask this question.
My requirement is as mentioned below:
-> I need to create an appointment on my Default calendar and the same on other calendars that are shared with me (or created by me and shared with others) by using Exchange Services (EWS).
-> By shared, i mean all those calendars that I can see under my 'Other Calendars' group in Office 365.
-> Now, I have reffered many links which help to create appointments on my mailbox, default Calendar. This part works fine(Link : (http://technico.qnownow.com/how-to-create-appointment-using-ews-exchange-web-services/)
-> Then I moved on to access shared calendars so that I can create the same appointment on them.
Used this : EWS - Access All Shared Calendars
-> However I do not get the PidTagWlinkAddressBookEID property in any of the items fetched.
The code works fine till I get the fiResults collection.
I get names of all the calendars under Other Calendars section in this collection.
The problem is when I iterate over this collection (as you can see in the code) , i am trying to get the PidTagWlinkAddressBookEID property value in each item and its not present in the item.
And this is the reason I am not able to retrieve the FolderID at the end.
But i tried number of ways to do it since i get the collection of items and I can see my shared calendars' names in those items.
Since i created the shared calendars, I tried to use my mailbox address at the end in this part of the code :
FolderId SharedCalendarId = new FolderId(WellKnownFolderName.Calendar, ncCol[0].Mailbox.Address);
However the calendar retrieved in this case is the default calendar with displayName as Calendar.
Since each item in the itemcollection ( fiResults collection) represents the corresponding shared calendar
Please let me know if we can use any property in the Item class to create an appointment.
I tried one more approach to create appointments on shared calendars:
First i tried to access all the calendar folders by using:
private void ViewCalendarFolders(string mailBox)
{
ExtendedPropertyDefinition PR_Folder_Path = new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(26293, MapiPropertyType.String);
PropertySet psPropSet = new PropertySet(BasePropertySet.FirstClassProperties);
psPropSet.Add(PR_Folder_Path);
FolderId rfRootFolderid = new FolderId(WellKnownFolderName.Root, mailBox);
FolderView fvFolderView = new FolderView(1000);
fvFolderView.Traversal = FolderTraversal.Deep;
fvFolderView.PropertySet = psPropSet;
SearchFilter sfSearchFilter = new SearchFilter.IsEqualTo(FolderSchema.FolderClass, "IPF.Appointment");
FindFoldersResults ffoldres = exchangeService.FindFolders(rfRootFolderid, sfSearchFilter, fvFolderView);
var res = ffoldres.Where(f => f is CalendarFolder).ToList();
if (res.Any())
{
foreach (Folder fld in res)
{
Console.WriteLine(fld.DisplayName);
}
}
}
Then I tried to create appointments on the CalendarFolders fetched.
I succeeded in creating appointments on two calendars:
1) My default calendar
2) The calendar which I have created and shared with others.
the piece of code shown above fetches all the calendar folders except those which are created by other users and shared with me. (Even though I can see them under the Other Calendars section in office 365 and can even create appointments on them through UI i.e. manually)
Kindly let me know how to create appointments on such calendars which are shared by others with me.
Note: I have Editor rights on these type of calendars
Thanks

How to reply to an email using the EWS Managed API?

I have created an application that uses the EWS Managed API 2.2.
This application uses pull notifications to get new emails and saves a copy of the email in a database.
Then in the application I want to get the email from database and reply to it.
In order to reply to the message, I need to retrieve it from EWS using the ItemId I have stored in my database.
Of course I can create a new EmailMessage and send it but then the new email will have a different ConversationId which is not acceptable for the application scenario.
So, in order to achieve this I use the the following line of code
EmailMessage.Bind(service, itemId);
For this method to work I have to instantiate the ItemId from my database but the ItemId constructor takes as parameter only the UniqueId, and creates it with null ChangeKey.
If I use this ItemId (with null ChangeKey) I get the following error:
Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ServiceResponseException: The specified object was not found in the store.
I think that this is because of the null ChangeKey. Am I correct?
Is there a workaround about this?

Instead of identifying a message by ItemId, use EntryID. Using EntryID, you can bind to the same email without needing ChangeKey.
Here is the definition of such property:
ExtendedPropertyDefinition EntryIDProperty = new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(0x0FFF, MapiPropertyType.Binary);
When you do your search for messages, make sure you instruct EWS to include such property in the list of retrieved items.
Here is an example to obtain EntryIDs when you invoke FindItems:
ExtendedPropertyDefinition EntryIDProperty = new ExtendedPropertyDefinition(0x0FFF, MapiPropertyType.Binary);
ItemView item_view = new ItemView(10) { PropertySet = new PropertySet(ItemSchema.Id, EntryIDProperty) };
var result = service.FindItems(WellKnownFolderName.Inbox, item_view);
foreach (var item in result.Items)
{
byte[] entry_id = (byte[])item.ExtendedProperties.Single(x => x.PropertyDefinition == EntryIDProperty).Value;
string entry_id_hex = ByteArrayToHexString(entry_id); //This is the entry ID that you should store
}
Use the following method to convert a EntryID to ItemID if you want to use EmailMessage.Bind:
This method accepts string EntryID.
mailbox_address is the SMTP address of the mailbox (e.g. test#domain.com)
'service' is the ExchangeService object.
private ItemId ConvertEntryIdToItemId(string entryid, string mailbox_address, ExchangeService service)
{
AlternateId id = new AlternateId(IdFormat.HexEntryId, entryid, mailbox_address);
AlternateId new_id = (AlternateId)service.ConvertId(id, IdFormat.EwsId);
ItemId item_id = new_id.UniqueId;
return item_id;
}
Now you can use the returned ItemId to bind your EmailMessages.

The specified object was not found in the store.
That error generally means that you don't have rights to the Mailbox your trying to access or the Item your trying to access no longer exists in the store. Eg in a pull notification application that can mean the Item that you being notified about has already been deleted or moved to another folder (in each of these case the Item will be assigned a new Id). If you also listing to Move event you should be able to see the corresponding move event which will have the OldItemId that correlates the newMailEvent notification.
The Change Key only matters when your updating an Item so in the case the error you getting on Bind means that Item your trying doesn't exist (or has been moved) or you don't have rights to access it binding with just the UniqueId is perfectly okay see also https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/dn605828(v=exchg.150).aspx
Cheers
Glen