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I would like to implement my own client for Microsoft Lync embedded within my business app. Is it possible to do so without having Lync installed?. I am targeting Lync SDK 2010. I have found the following information in the documentation and I was wondering if there is a solution to avoid this:

Use Microsoft Lync 2010 SDK to add communications and collaboration functionality to your application. With Lync SDK, you can add Microsoft Lync 2010 features to an existing business application, or create a custom client that includes Microsoft Lync 2010 features. In either case, Lync 2010 must be a running process on the client computer that hosts a Microsoft Lync 2010 API application.

My idea is that my .Net app should be installed without requiring any Lync installation.

Charles
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narko
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    It is very clear what the documentation says, what is not that clear is whether there is a workaround or not. And this is exactly what I am looking for. – narko Dec 13 '12 at 08:21
  • If you want to use the SDK then there isn't a workaround. – Security Hound Dec 13 '12 at 12:10
  • If you want to use this specific sdk, which is for the lync client, then yes, you require lync client for obvious reasons. But there are more SDK's available on different levels of the system. I added a more detailed seperately. – w5l Dec 13 '12 at 16:45

2 Answers2

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If the SDK documentation indicates no... Then no. The reason for this is the Lync client still handles the actual Lync protocol. Your only other option would be to reverse engineer the Lync protocol and roll your own client from the wire up (this is assuming its not using some sort of encryption i.e. Skype).

Edit Turns out that Microsoft published the Lync protocol documentation: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc339480(v=office.12).aspx

iamkrillin
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  • Hey thanks for the link. Do you actually know about someone who already did the implementation of the protocol? – narko Dec 13 '12 at 13:30
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It's possible, read this article: An Overview of the Lync APIs.

Basicly, the Lync 2010 SDK you wanted to use talks to your installed lync client, and thus needs it. But using the Unified Communications Client API (UCCA) you could write your own client while still using the handy SDK features.

w5l
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  • Hey Willem, thank you for the very informative link. UCCA is actually what I am looking for. Unfortunately Microsoft says it will be deprecated with Wave 15 and suggest the use of the Lync 2010 Managed API. Do you know if it is still possible to do the same with this without installing the Lync client? – narko Dec 14 '12 at 09:16
  • Does not look like it. Next stop would be to check the **UCMA** SDK, this contains classes to set up `UserEndpoint` and `Conversation` items. I'm not sure however wheter this will work in for a client application, it's meant for middle-tier and the UserEndpoints are mostly there for a server application to "fake" a user. Lastly, there is the option to use the Client SDK in **UI Suppression Mode**, but this does mean you need the Lync Client installed, which is not what you want. It's an option to keep in mind though. – w5l Dec 17 '12 at 10:36