Lync Model API Features and Architecture (Lync 2010 SDK)
Microsoft Lync 2010 API includes a set of managed classes with methods you can use to add collaboration functionality to your application. With Lync 2010 API, you can add Microsoft Lync 2010 collaboration features to your application client, or you can create a custom application that suppresses the Lync 2010 UI but still uses Lync 2010 features. In either case, Lync 2010 must be a running process on any client computer that also hosts your Lync 2010 API-enabled application. When these collaboration features are embedded in a desktop application, the application interoperates with the Microsoft Lync 2010 SDK, Lync 2010, and custom Microsoft Lync Server 2010 clients.
The only user interface element that Lync 2010 API exposes is the VideoWindow class. All other classes expose methods you call or properties you can read to update your own application user interface. By using Lync 2010 API rather than Lync SDK UI Automation, you can build more application logic and gain flexibility to customize the look and feel of a client collaboration application.
Benefits of Using Lync API
No COM Knowledge Needed: The Lync 2010 API client is a managed assembly. If you develop applications using a Microsoft .NET Framework compliant language, you can begin developing a custom client quickly using standard .NET programming patterns.
**Simple Programming:**Lync 2010 API abstracts the complexities of SIP programming and the Lync Server 2010 presence data model and provides a simple set of classes that give you the power to create advanced collaboration features in your application.
Powerful API Feature Set: With Lync 2010 API, you can embed both real-time audio and video into your client application to let a local user make VoIP telephone calls and participate in video-based meetings hosted by Lync Server 2010 or Lync 2010. With Lync 2010 API, you can schedule video meetings to be hosted on Lync Server 2010 and even define invitee lists and upload meeting content. If you want your application to enable any level of desktop sharing with another user, the necessary coding is intuitive and requires no knowledge of Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
**Lync Interoperability:**Lync 2010 users can interoperate with your custom application.
**Lightweight Collaboration Objects:**Lync 2010 API uses logic running in the Lync 2010 process on your local computer and your application gains the benefit of using a lightweight and optimized set of collaboration objects. The media and SIP stacks necessary for collaboration live within the Lync 2010 process instead of in your custom application process.
In This Section
Client Architecture (Lync Model API)
Naming Conventions (Lync Model API)
LyncClient Class (Lync Model API)