There are two kinds of visitors to any website: those who come for the first
time and those who visit regularly. So obviously, it's every website's endeavor
to try and convert first time visitors into regular ones. One of the things that
would enable that of course is the quality of content, because that's what most
users really come to your site for. The others are features that would make life
much more convenient for them on your website.
In this article, we'll talk about one way of doing the latter. We'll tell you
how to integrate some of the latest features available on Microsoft'w Windows
Live service in your own website. Microsoft has controls available that can be
added into its Web Developer 2008 softare, which allow you to integrate Windows
Live services into your own website in just a few clicks.
With these controls you can add video streaming, Windows Messenger, Windows
Live Contact and moreover you also have an option to authenticate a user with
their Windows Live ID.
The Windows Live Tool can be obtained from 'http://dev.live.com/tools'.
Download, extract, and run the setup file. Follow the onscreen instructions and
your Windows Live Tool is installed.
Direct Hit! |
Applies To: WD2K8 developers USP: Learn to integrate Windows Live services to your websites Primary Link: msdn.microsoft.com Keywords:Windows Live Tools |
The pre-requisites for this tool are: the system should be running on MS
Windows XP SP2 or Vista, must be having MS Visual Studio 2008 or MS Visual Web
Developer 2008 and MS ASP.NET Ajax 1.0. After you have installed you will get
Silverlight streaming media player, messenger, contacts, login status, etc.
Adding Windows Live Contact
Let's start by adding Windows Live 'Contact' control to your website. First
fire up your WD2K8, click on File > New Web Site and select 'ASP.NET Windows
Live Web Site' from the template section. Give a project name and click on 'Ok'.
Switch to design view. You will see a scriptmanager already placed on the page.
As these services use AJAX for their work, a scriptmanager is required for AJAX.
Now open the toolbox from the development environment, navigate to the Windows
Live Tool section and then, drag and drop the 'Contact' control to your website.
That's all; your web page now has Windows Live contact integrated.
So now users who have Windows Live ID can access or see their contact list
through your website. This tool provides your three different display styles:
Tile, List, and TileList. You can also set a background and foreground color for
the contact list.
Add Windows Live Messenger
Adding Live Messenger to your website is the same as adding Window Live
Contact. Drag and drop the 'MessengerChat' control to your webpage from the
Windows Live tools section. Then debug your project, and the local ASP.NET
server will start. Then in IE your web page will be displayed. Click on the
sign-in link and it will open the MSN login page. Simply provide your username
and password and click on Sign-in button. MSN now asks for a confirmation to
send some information to your site. Accept the agreement and click on the Ok
button. Finally you are logged in and you can see your online buddies and chat
with them.
After you get logged into Windows Live account go to manage applications to upload video/audio files to Windows Live server |
For handling security issues it offers you with the option of regenerating your account ID and key, incase any of these is disclosed. |
SilverLight to stream AV File
For this drag and drop the 'SilverlightStreamingMediaPlayer' control onto
your website. Open the 'SilverlightStreamingMediaPlayer Task' by clicking on the
arrow found at the upper left corner of the Silverlight media player. It lets
you choose between two different sources: first 'Silverlight streaming' and
second is 'Other'. Silverlight streaming is for streaming videos or audios from
the Windows Live server (A server where you can upload your AV files), and the
second is the 'Other' which gives you the option of streaming AV files from the
host machine, ie, where the website is hosted. Before we proceed further, add
any AV file to your website. For this press 'Shift + Alt + A,' browse for any
WMV or MP3 file, select it and click on 'Add'. Move the AV file you just added
to the root of your website. Now click on arrow, ie, the extender button found
on the upper left corner of Silverlight media player, then select the
'MediaSourceProvider' as 'Other'.
You can view your uploaded videos in the Manage Video section and the no. of hits can also be viewed |
In the URL field, click on the '...' button, select the AV file that you have
just added (which can be seen on the 'Contents of the folder' panel) and click
on 'Ok'. And your website with streaming video player is ready. Press F5 to see
the results in your default browser.
Let's now see how you can steam any AV file for the Windows Live server. For
this click on the extender button, select the 'MediaSourceProvider' as
'SilverlightStreaming' and then click on the '...' button to provide the source
file. When the Window appears provide the account ID and account key, and click
on the List button. Navigate to the AV file that you want to stream and click on
the 'Ok' button. Everything is ready. Press the F5 key to test your website in
your default browser.
For the second option you need to create a Silverlight Streaming account. For
this click on the 'Create a Silverlight Streaming Account' which you get after
clicking on the extender button of Silverlight streaming media player. Follow
the onscreen instructions and finally a unique account ID and account key
related to your live ID will be created for the 'SilverlightStreaming' option.