Propose a new meeting time by using EWS in Exchange
Find out how to propose new meeting times from your Exchange client application by using EWS in Exchange.
The propose new time feature enables attendees to propose new meeting times to the meeting organizer as part of the Exchange calendar workflow. When an attendee proposes a new meeting, the organizer can use the proposed new meeting time to update the meeting and send updates to all attendees. Before you can enable attendees to propose new meeting times, you need to determine whether the organizer allows for new time proposals. This article describes how to determine whether you can propose a new time and how to use EWS to propose a new time.
Note
The EWS Managed API does not implement this functionality.
Determine whether you can propose a new time for a meeting by using EWS
Before you can propose a new time for a meeting, you need to find a reference to that meeting and determine whether the meeting organizer configured the meeting to support new time proposals. You can get a reference to a meeting by doing either of the following:
Finding the meeting request in the Inbox
Finding the appointment in the calendar
Use the following steps to find a meeting reference:
Use the FindItem EWS operation (or the Folder.FindItems EWS Managed API method) to find the target meeting request or calendar item. Alternatively, you can use the SyncFolderItems EWS operation to get the identifier of the target meeting request or calendar item.
Parse the results of the FindItem operation (or Folder.FindItems method) to get the item identifier of the meeting item.
Use the GetItem EWS operation to get the response objects for the meeting.
The following XML shows what is sent to request the response objects on an item.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages">
<soap:Header>
<t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2013" />
<t:MailboxCulture>en-US</t:MailboxCulture>
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<m:GetItem>
<m:ItemShape>
<t:BaseShape>IdOnly</t:BaseShape>
<t:AdditionalProperties>
<t:FieldURI FieldURI="item:ResponseObjects"/>
<t:FieldURI FieldURI="item:Subject"/>
<t:FieldURI FieldURI="calendar:Start"/>
<t:FieldURI FieldURI="calendar:End"/>
</t:AdditionalProperties>
</m:ItemShape>
<m:ItemIds>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADEzOTExYjJkL1AAA=" ChangeKey="CwAAAB/G6X"/>
</m:ItemIds>
</m:GetItem>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
The GetItem operation response will look similar to the following XML if you request the item identifier, the meeting start and end time, the response object collection, and if the organizer allows for proposed changes to the meeting time. The response object collection, which is represented by the ResponseObjects element, contains the set of responses that are valid for the calendar item. The ProposeNewTime element is a response object that indicates that the user can propose a new time for the meeting. The AcceptItem, TentativelyAcceptItem, and DeclineItem elements represent the response objects that you can use to propose a new meeting time to the meeting organizer.
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<s:Header>
<h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15"
MinorVersion="0"
MajorBuildNumber="815"
MinorBuildNumber="6"
Version="V2_7"
xmlns:h="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
</s:Header>
<s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<m:GetItemResponse xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages"
xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
<m:ResponseMessages>
<m:GetItemResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
<m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
<m:Items>
<t:MeetingRequest>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkADEzOTExYjJkL1AAA=" ChangeKey="CwAAAB/G6X"/>
<t:Subject>Competitive analysis: kick off meeting</t:Subject>
<t:ResponseObjects>
<t:AcceptItem/>
<t:TentativelyAcceptItem/>
<t:DeclineItem/>
<t:ProposeNewTime/>
<t:ReplyToItem/>
<t:ReplyAllToItem/>
<t:ForwardItem/>
</t:ResponseObjects>
<t:Start>2013-11-09T17:00:00Z</t:Start>
<t:End>2013-11-09T17:30:00Z</t:End>
</t:MeetingRequest>
</m:Items>
</m:GetItemResponseMessage>
</m:ResponseMessages>
</m:GetItemResponse>
</s:Body>
</s:Envelope>
Propose a new meeting time by using EWS
If you received a ProposeNewTime response object when you used the GetItem operation to get a calendar item or meeting request, you can respond with a proposed new meeting time. If you didn't receive a ProposeNewTime response object, you won't be able to propose a new meeting time as part of the calendar workflow. You can, however, reply to the organizer to request a new meeting time. If you receive a ProposeNewTime response object, you can respond to the meeting by referencing its identifier, and propose a new meeting time to the organizer. This is where the ProposeNewTime response object is different than the typical response object pattern in that you don't respond with a ProposeNewTime response object. You use one of the other meeting response objects, such as AcceptItem, TentativelyAcceptItem, or DeclineItem, to propose a new meeting. This example uses the AcceptItem response object.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages">
<soap:Header>
<t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2013"/>
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<m:CreateItem>
<m:Items>
<t:AcceptItem>
<t:Body BodyType="Text">This time works better for the HiPPO.</t:Body>
<t:ReferenceItemId Id="AAMkADEzOTExYjJkL1AAA=" ChangeKey="CwAAAB/G6X"/>
<t:ProposedStart>2013-11-28T04:00:00Z</t:ProposedStart>
<t:ProposedEnd>2013-11-28T04:30:00Z</t:ProposedEnd>
</t:AcceptItem>
</m:Items>
</m:CreateItem>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
The response to this request contains the identifier of the calendar item that was added to the attendee's calendar and a copy of the meeting request that was placed in the attendee's Deleted Items folder. The response message with the new time proposal was also saved in the attendee's Sent Items folder (you will need to find the meeting response message to get a handle on it).
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<s:Header>
<h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15"
MinorVersion="0"
MajorBuildNumber="815"
MinorBuildNumber="6"
Version="V2_7"
xmlns:h="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"/>
</s:Header>
<s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<m:CreateItemResponse xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages"
xmlns:t="http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
<m:ResponseMessages>
<m:CreateItemResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
<m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
<m:Items>
<t:CalendarItem>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkAGRmOWE2OWAAA=" ChangeKey="DwAAJsmU"/>
</t:CalendarItem>
<t:MeetingRequest>
<t:ItemId Id="AAMkAGRmOWE2AAABB=" ChangeKey="AAAGJu1A"/>
</t:MeetingRequest>
</m:Items>
</m:CreateItemResponseMessage>
</m:ResponseMessages>
</m:CreateItemResponse>
</s:Body>
</s:Envelope>
The organizer will receive a MeetingResponse message when the attendee responds with a proposed new meeting time. The MeetingResponse message contains the proposed new meeting start time and end time, and the identifier of the associated calendar item in the organizer's calendar. The organizer can use that information to update their existing calendar item for the meeting. The following is the workflow for the organizer to respond to a MeetingResponse message that proposes a new meeting time:
Determine whether the ProposedStart or ProposedEnd elements have been set in the MeetingResponse. If so, go to step 2. If not, the MeetingResponse message only indicates whether the attendee has accepted, tentatively accepted, or declined the meeting.
Get the organizer's existing calendar item for the meeting by using the EWS identifier returned in the AssociatedCalendarItemId element.
Compare the original start and end time with the proposed new meeting time. If the proposed new meeting time is acceptable to the organizer, go to step 4. Otherwise, the meeting organizer can either ignore the proposed meeting time, or send an email response to the attendee that proposed the new meeting time.
(Optional) Perform a GetUserAvailability EWS operation call to find out whether the proposed time will work for all attendees, including room and resource mailboxes. (You can also use the ExchangeService.GetUserAvailability EWS Managed API method to do this.)
The organizer can then update their meeting with the new proposed meeting times and send the updates to all attendees by using the UpdateItem EWS operation (or the Appointment.Update EWS Managed API method).
The following figure shows the process that occurs between the meeting organizer, the attendee, and the Exchange server that handled the EWS calls.
Figure 1. Process for proposing a new meeting time
Version differences
The propose new time feature was introduced in Exchange build version 15.00.0800.007. In earlier versions of Exchange, EWS application users have to send a separate email to the meeting organizer to request a different meeting time.
See also
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