Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit Application Design Guidelines

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These Application Design Guidelines are the required and best practices for building an effective application by using the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit.

Terminology used in the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit is described in the following table.

Term Definition

Contact

A person for whom the user has subscribed to presence updates.

Display Name

A name that a user presents to contacts.

Pending Contact

A person who has subscribed to the user and is not on the user's contact list.

Personal Message

An expressive message that a user presents to contacts.

Presence

The collection of data exposed by a user to contacts. Presence can include status, display name, personal message, and other content.

Status

The basic presence state indicating a user's availability. Potential values include:

  • Offline
  • Available
  • Busy
  • Away
  • Appear Offline

User

The person signing in to the Windows Live Messenger Service via the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit.

The following sections outline guidelines for Messenger Web Toolkit applications.

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If you are using the Windows Live Messenger Web Bar, the guidelines that are discussed in the following sections will be satisfied.

Required Functionality for Messenger Web Toolkit Applications

Applications that are developed with the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit must include the following functionality.

  • Prominently display links to Messenger Web Toolkit options in the UI when a user is signed in via the Messenger Library. This requirement can be met by using the Windows Live Messenger Web Bar, or by rendering the links with the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit icon in the application UI. (For information about licensing the icon, see Live Services SDK License Agreement.) If you use the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit icon, it must link to the Windows Live Messenger Web site. The following links are also required.
    Sign out
    Change settings
    Privacy statement
    Terms of use
    Send feedback
    About Windows Live Messenger
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You can get the URLs for these links by using the properties from the DelegatedAuthControlLinks class. For details, see How to: Access Windows Live Messenger Resources.
  • Accurately represent information about a Messenger Web Toolkit user, the user's contacts, and all sent and received messages. These elements include display names, user identifiers, status, personal messages, and instant message content.
  • Use the term Contacts when referring to a user's Windows Live Messenger contacts.
  • Clearly indicate to the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit application user when the following actions are undertaken.
    Signing in and signing out.
    Updating user presence.
    Adding, allowing, blocking, or removing contacts from the user's contact list.
    Sending messages.
    Displaying the status of a Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit user.
  • The user's status must be displayed by using the standard Windows Live Messenger terminology described above.
  • Display all incoming messages and enable the user to respond.
  • A Messenger user can be signed in from multiple places simultaneously. All places must show the same status for the user. For example, if the user changes from Available to Away in one place, all Messenger clients and applications must update that user's status to Away. This can be done by registering for the appropriate presence events in the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit.
  • Ensure that messages sent with the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit are displayed in the Messenger client.
  • Applications can use as many as 250 application contacts.

Recommended Functionality for Messenger Web Toolkit Applications

Applications that are developed with the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit should include the following functionality.

  • Show the display name of a user who is currently signed in.
  • Support adding new Messenger contacts by e-mail address.
  • Support displaying pending Windows Live Messenger contacts to the user's contact list.
  • Set a descriptive endpoint name. This enables a user to identify the endpoints to which the user is signed in. The name property is found on the User.LocalEndpoint object and should be set in the SignInCompleted event.
  • Specify an application logo when using Delegated Authentication. This ensures that the Consent Request UI will display your application's logo. The URL of your logo should be specified in the DelegatedAuthControl object by using the ApplicationLogoUrl property.
  • Use standard Windows Live presence icons for both user and contacts, as shown in the following screen shot.
    Standard Windows Live presence icons.

Optional Functionality for Messenger Web Toolkit Applications

Applications that are developed with the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit may include the following functionality.

  • Use Windows Live Messenger standard emoticons in instant messages, display names, personal messages, and other personal expressions in user content.
  • Render the user's contacts within the user's respective groups.
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