Testing Activities
Applies to: Office 2007 | Outlook 2010 | SharePoint Server 2010
In this article
Cached Synchronization
On-Demand Synchronization
Hybrid Synchronization
This topic describes tests and scenarios to verify that the Microsoft Outlook Social Connector (OSC) provider appropriately returns activities of friends and non-friends, where applicable, depending on the synchronization mode that the provider supports.
Cached Synchronization
An OSC provider implements ISocialProvider::GetCapabilities, which the OSC calls to determine whether the provider supports cached synchronization of friends’ activities. After calling ISocialProfile::GetActivitiesOfFriendsAndColleagues, the OSC stores the returned friends’ activities in a hidden RSS folder named News Feed in the logged-on user’s default Outlook store. The OSC also calls ISocialSession::GetPerson and ISocialPerson::GetDetails to obtain information for the activity owner.
Initiate Synchronization
To initiate synchronization, you can turn on and use the debug button Sync Feeds in the ribbon component of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface. For more information about OSC debug buttons, see Debugging a Provider.
Viewing News Feed Folder
In general, there are a couple of ways to view the contents of the hidden News Feed folder:
Use MFCMAPI to unhide the News Feed folder, and then view the folder contents in Outlook.
Use MFCMAPI to view contents of this MAPI folder.
For more information about using MFCMAPI, see Debugging a Provider.
Test Scenarios
Test the following scenarios to verify that friends’ activities are cached properly in the News Feed folder and the OSC displays them appropriately in the People Pane.
Note
Even if activities are stored properly in the News Feed folder, they still have to be indexed by Windows Desktop Search before they will display in the People Pane.
Items to test |
Expected behavior |
|---|---|
Activities XML string returned by ISocialProfile::GetActivitiesOfFriendsAndColleagues are stored as Outlook post items in the News Feed folder. |
The following properties for each activity in the News Feed folder match the returned activities XML:
|
Items for a friend selected in the People Pane correspond to items for that friend in the social network. |
The People Pane displays the same activities of the selected friend as those on the social network. > [!NOTE] >Social networks can support a variety of activities, so the People Pane should be able to display these activities and the activities should behave correctly. |
On-Demand Synchronization
An OSC provider implements ISocialProvider::GetCapabilities, which the OSC calls to determine whether the provider supports on-demand synchronization of activities of friends and non-friends. For the persons displayed in the People Pane, the OSC obtains and hashes their SMTP addresses, calls ISocialSession2::GetActivitiesEx, and stores (in memory) the activities data returned for these persons.
Determining Activities to Get
The hashed SMTP addresses passed to GetActivitiesEx are the key to determining whether the OSC will get activities for a friend or non-friend. The OSC gets activities for a person if the person specifies that SMTP address in his or her social network account. If the person does not include that SMTP address in his or her social network account, or if that person is a friend but by a different email address on the social network, GetActivitiesEx does not get activities for that person. Also, for a person who is not a friend but specifies the SMTP addresses in his or her social network account, the data returned includes only what is available to a non-friend as allowed by the privacy settings of that person.
Creating Test Subjects for Friends and Non-Friends
To create a test subject for a friend, identify the SMTP address of a person who includes that address in his or her social network account and who has a friend status with the logged-on user on that network. Create an email message that includes that SMTP address. Similarly, to create a test subject for a non-friend, identify the SMTP address of a person who is not a friend of the logged-on user by that address, and who has specified in his or her privacy settings to allow non-friends to view their profile on the social network. Create an email message that includes that SMTP address.
In the Outlook explorer, when you select the email message that includes a friend (or non-friend), the People Pane displays the recipients. Selecting the friend (or non-friend) in the People Pane allows you to test that the provider is providing information about the person.
Test Scenarios
To verify that you are getting appropriate activities for friends and non-friends, test for the following scenarios.
Scenario |
Expected behavior |
|---|---|
Person selected in the People Pane is a friend with the logged-on user on the social network. |
The People Pane displays that person’s profile and profile picture as posted on the social network. |
Person selected in the People Pane is a non-friend of the logged-on user on the social network, but has allowed his or her profile to be viewed by non-friends. |
The People Pane displays that person’s profile and profile picture as posted on the social network. |
Hybrid Synchronization
If an OSC provider supports hybrid synchronization of activities, the OSC stores activities for friends of the logged-on user in the News Feed folder. For non-friends, the OSC retrieves information on-demand from the social network, and stores it only in memory, but not in a folder.
To test hybrid synchronization, follow the testing suggestions in the Cached Synchronization section for friends’ activities, and those in the On-Demand Synchronization section for non-friends’ activities.
See Also
Concepts
Synchronizing Friends and Activities