Microsoft .NET and C# developers, listen up. Get a sneak preview of Avaya's latest SDK for developing enterprise telephony applications for Avaya's Communication Manager (CM). You can now preview the new .NET SDK for Device and Media Call Control (DMCC). It's not available to everyone yet, but you have a free ticket as an Avaya DevConnect member.

Avaya's Application Enablement Services SDK (AES 4.1) is expected to be generally available in the fourth quarter 2007, but the DMCC .NET/C# software development kit is ready for you to test out right now as a DevConnect member. Here are some additional new features you can expect when AES 4.1 is officially released. AES 4.1 touts third-party call control support for session initiation protocol (SIP) endpoints, as well as support for Microsoft OCS 2007. You'll also find security enhancements, including secure clients, as well as API support for 508 compliance.

Here is some of the functionality to which your end users can look forward—click-to-call in Microsoft Office Communicator (MOC), which uses SmartTags; escalating instant messaging (IM) to a conference call, sharing presence information between phone and MOC; and call control capabilities, such as hold and transfer.

Getting Started
Here's the skinny on how to get started:

Log in to Avaya's DevConnect if you're already registered. If not, access the DevConnect Web site, and follow the basic instructions for registration. Then, click the link to the left called DevConnect Training. Scroll down to the DevConnect Technical Webinars section, and click the AES-DMCC .NET SDK Webinar link. You will have access to a presentation with an audio file that details the new features of AES 4.0 and the .NET API features, if you need a little help.

Next, download the SDK. The entire API can be accessed through a single .dll file, called ServiceProvider.dll. It contains the executable file, called Dashboard.exe that launches the Dashboard and the control panel for controlling DMCC for Java, C++, Visual Basic and C# applications. All functionality available with the ServiceProvider.dll is exposed in the Dashboard.

The SDK consists of a .zip file that contains the following major components:

• ServiceProvider.dll: This is the component that .NET developers use to communicate to DMCC. All of your .NET solutions will use this component.
• Dashboard.exe: This is an application that demonstrates all of the capabilities of the .NET API. In addition, it allows developers to see all the XML going to/from the DMCC server. The Dashboard tool can be very useful to not only .NET developers, but also to C, C++, and Java developers. The Dashboard is also handy for people who just want to learn about what capabilities are available in .DMCC.
• VB and C# Code Snippets: These code snippets can be imported directly into Visual Studio 2005. There is a C# and VB code snippet for every exposed method and event in the .NET API. There is also a C# snippet which provides an example of how to process RTP media.
• Dashboard Users Guide: This document provides a brief overview of the Dashboard.
• Readme.txt: Last minute information about the API.

Now let's look a little closer at the .NET SDK for DMCC.

You'll also be glad to know that the .NET/C# SDK requires no prior XML knowledge, no sockets programming knowledge, and no previous Telephony Services API (TSAPI), Java Telephony API (JTAPI), or ASAI knowledge required. The API takes care of all socket communications to and from DMCC. It also deals with encoding and decoding the XML, as well as handles keep-alives to the DMCC server. You can just focus on developing your apps.