How to: Add or remove a person from a contact list

Article
06/11/2018

Learn how to remove a contact from a Microsoft Lync 2013 user’s contact list by calling methods from the Microsoft Lync 2013 API.

Applies to: Lync 2013 | Lync Server 2013

In this article
Prerequisites
Display contacts
Add a contact to the contact list
Delete a contact from the contact list
Code examples: Contact lists
Next steps
Additional resources

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for adding or removing a custom group are as follows:

Microsoft Lync 2013 must be installed and running on the development computer.
You must have sign-in credentials for Microsoft Lync Server 2013.
Microsoft Lync 2013 SDK must be installed on the development computer.

Display contacts

To delete a contact from a user’s contact list, a Microsoft.Lync.Model.Contact object most be obtained. There are several ways to obtain a Microsoft.Lync.Model.Contact object. If you have the SIP URI of the Lync user to be removed from the contact list, simply call the ContactManager.GetContactByUri method. You can also get the Contact instance by iterating on the group collection value returned by getting the ContactManager.Groups property and then iterating on each group to access the individual contacts.

Contacts and groups are available when the user is signed in to Lync 2013. Read about How to: Sign a user in to Lync and be sure that your application logic provides this capability before adding a contact list to your UI.

The sample application at the end of this topic displays a list of contacts for the group selected by the user from a list of groups. To fill the group and contact lists in the sample, use the following procedure.

To display a list of groups

Iterate on the group collection returned in the ContactManager.Groups property value in a foreach loop.

For each group instance, read the string Group.Name property value and add it to the group list in the UI.

Tip
When you get a Group object to display, encapsulate the Group in a custom class that overrides the ToString method. Return the Group.Name string as return value in the overridden ToString method. Add the encapsulating class object to the list instead of a simple string. When a user selects a group from the list, the actual group is selected. Doing this allows you to avoid running a routine that gets a group associated with a name string every time a selection is made in the list.

When you get a Group object to display, encapsulate the Group in a custom class that overrides the ToString method. Return the Group.Name string as return value in the overridden ToString method. Add the encapsulating class object to the list instead of a simple string. When a user selects a group from the list, the actual group is selected. Doing this allows you to avoid running a routine that gets a group associated with a name string every time a selection is made in the list.

        /// Loads a list box with existing contact list groups
        /// by iterating on the Groups collection of the ContactManager 
        /// property on LyncClient.
        /// </summary>
        private void LoadList()
        {
            GroupList_ListBox.Items.Clear();
            foreach (Group group in _LyncClient.ContactManager.Groups)
            {
                //The Group is wrapped in a custom class to allow
                //override of ToString() method
                GroupWrapper gWrap = new GroupWrapper(group);
                GroupList_ListBox.Items.Add(gWrap);

            }
        }

To display the contacts in a group

Iterate on the Microsoft.Lync.Model.Group.Group object that the user selected in the group list.

The Group object is a collection of Microsoft.Lync.Model.Contact objects.

For each Contact in the collection, add the display name of the contact to the contact list on the UI.

Tip
When you have gotten a Contact object to display, you should encapsulate the contact in a custom class that overrides the ToString method. Return the contact ContactInformationType.DisplayName string as return value in the overridden ToString method. Add the encapsulating class object to the list instead of a simple string. When a user selects a contact from the list, the actual contact object is selected. Doing this allows you to avoid running a routine that looks up a Contact object based on a display name every time a user selects a contact in the list.

When you have gotten a Contact object to display, you should encapsulate the contact in a custom class that overrides the ToString method. Return the contact ContactInformationType.DisplayName string as return value in the overridden ToString method. Add the encapsulating class object to the list instead of a simple string. When a user selects a contact from the list, the actual contact object is selected. Doing this allows you to avoid running a routine that looks up a Contact object based on a display name every time a user selects a contact in the list.

        /// <summary>
        /// Loads all of the contacts for a selected group into a contact
        /// list on the UI
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void GroupList_ListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, System.Windows.Controls.SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Get the selected group
            GroupWrapper groupToList = (GroupWrapper)GroupList_ListBox.SelectedItem; 

            //clear the contact list
            ContactList_ListBox.Items.Clear();

            foreach (Contact contact in groupToList.LyncGroup)
            {
                ContactWrapper contactWrapper = new ContactWrapper(contact);
                ContactList_ListBox.Items.Add(contactWrapper);
            }
        }

Add a contact to the contact list

To add a contact to the user’s contact list, get a contact object and add it to any of the custom groups in the contact list. Although you can add a Microsoft.Lync.Model.Contact object to the contact list regardless of the origin of the contact, it's best to add contacts that publish presence availability. A contact that is obtained by using the search feature of the Lync 2013 API is guaranteed to publish presence availability. To learn how to search for a contact, see How to: Search for a contact or distribution group in Lync SDK.

To add a contact to the contact list

Select a Microsoft.Lync.Model.Group.Group object from the user’s custom group collection by getting a Group from the ContactManager.Groups property.
Select a Contact object from the collection of search results returned by a contact search.

Add the selected contact to the selected group by calling the Group.BeginAddContact method.

The following example gets a selected contact from the Microsoft.Lync.Controls.ContactSearchResultList control on a WPF form and then adds the contact to a previously selected Microsoft.Lync.Model.Group.Group.

        /// <summary>
        /// Adds the contact that is selected in the contact search results list to the group that is selected.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void AddContactToGroup_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            Microsoft.Lync.Controls.SearchResult selectedContact = (Microsoft.Lync.Controls.SearchResult)ResultList.SelectedItem;
            if (selectedContact.Result.GetType().Name == "Contact")
            {
                Contact contact = selectedContact.Result as Contact;
                selectedGroup.BeginAddContact(contact, (ar) => { selectedGroup.EndAddContact(ar); }, null);

            }
        }

After the contact is added to the selected group, the contact appears in the Lync 2013 contact list under the selected group.

Delete a contact from the contact list

Deleting a contact from the user’s contact list requires that the contact is removed from every group in the list. You can remove a contact from one group at a time or remove the contact from all groups in a single operation. The following procedure shows how to remove a contact with a single operation.

To delete a contact

Get the Contact object selected in the contact list in the UI.

Call the ContactManagerBeginRemoveContactFromAllGroups(Contact, AsyncCallback, Object) method, passing the selected contact in the first argument.

        /// <summary>
        /// remove the selected contact from every group in the users contact list
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void RemoveContact_Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (ContactList_ListBox.SelectedItem == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            ContactWrapper selectedContact = (ContactWrapper)ContactList_ListBox.SelectedItem;
            _LyncClient.ContactManager.BeginRemoveContactFromAllGroups(
                selectedContact.LyncContact,
                 (ar) =>
                 {
                     _LyncClient.ContactManager.EndRemoveContactFromAllGroups(ar);
                  },
                 null);

        }

Code examples: Contact lists

The following example declares a window that shows a list of groups and a list of contacts that are in the selected group.

<Window x:Class="GroupManager.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
         xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Lync.Controls;assembly=Microsoft.Lync.Controls"
        Title="My Contact List" Height="422" Width="717" Loaded="Window_Loaded_1" >
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="30*"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="5*"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="80*"/>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="30*"/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Orientation="Horizontal">
            <ListBox Name="GroupList_ListBox" Width="200" Height="195" Margin="10,10,10,10" SelectionChanged="GroupList_ListBox_SelectionChanged"/>
            <ListBox Name="ContactList_ListBox" Height="195"  Width="272" Margin="10,10,10,10" />
        </StackPanel>
        <StackPanel Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1">
            <Button Content="Remove Contact" Height="23" Name="RemoveContact_button" Margin="10,65,10,10" Click="RemoveContact_Button_Click"/>
            <Button Content="Add Contact" Height="23" Name="button1" Width="75" Click="AddContactToGroup_Click"/>
            <controls:ContactSearchInputBox x:Name="searchInput"/>
            <controls:ContactSearchResultList
                ItemsSource="{Binding Results, ElementName=searchInput, Mode=OneWay}"
                ResultsState="{Binding SearchState, ElementName=searchInput, Mode=OneWay}" Name="ResultList"/>

        </StackPanel>
    </Grid>
</Window>

The following example handles platform events for the Microsoft.Lync.Model.ContactManager and events raised by the previous window.

using System.Windows;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model.Group;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace GroupManager
{

    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        LyncClient _LyncClient;
        Group selectedGroup;

        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Window_Loaded_1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            //GroupList_ListBox
            try 
            {
                _LyncClient = LyncClient.GetClient();
                LoadList();
                GroupList_ListBox.SelectedIndex = 0;
            }
            catch (LyncClientException lce) 
            {
                Debug.WriteLine(
                    "Lync client exception on GetClient() in Window Loaded " + 
                    lce.Message);
            }

        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Loads a list box with existing contact list groups
        /// by iterating on the Groups collection of the ContactManager 
        /// property on LyncClient.
        /// </summary>
        private void LoadList()
        {
            GroupList_ListBox.Items.Clear();
            foreach (Group group in _LyncClient.ContactManager.Groups)
            {
                //The Group is wrapped in a custom class to allow
                //override of ToString() method
                GroupWrapper gWrap = new GroupWrapper(group);

                GroupList_ListBox.Items.Add(gWrap);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Loads all of the contacts for a selected group into a contact
        /// list on the UI
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void GroupList_ListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, System.Windows.Controls.SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Get the selected group
            GroupWrapper groupToList = (GroupWrapper)GroupList_ListBox.SelectedItem;
            selectedGroup = groupToList.LyncGroup;

            //clear the contact list
            ContactList_ListBox.Items.Clear();

            foreach (Contact contact in groupToList.LyncGroup)
            {
                ContactWrapper contactWrapper = new ContactWrapper(contact);
                ContactList_ListBox.Items.Add(contactWrapper);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// remove the selected contact from every group in the users contact list
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void RemoveContact_Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (ContactList_ListBox.SelectedItem == null)
            {
                return;
            }
            ContactWrapper selectedContact = (ContactWrapper)ContactList_ListBox.SelectedItem;
                _LyncClient.ContactManager.BeginRemoveContactFromAllGroups(
                    selectedContact.LyncContact,
                    (ar) =>
                    {
                        _LyncClient.ContactManager.EndRemoveContactFromAllGroups(ar);
                    },
                    null);

        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Adds the contact that is selected in the contact search results list to the group that is selected.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender"></param>
        /// <param name="e"></param>
        private void AddContactToGroup_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            Microsoft.Lync.Controls.SearchResult selectedContact = (Microsoft.Lync.Controls.SearchResult)ResultList.SelectedItem;
            if (selectedContact.Result.GetType().Name == "Contact")
            {
                Contact contact = selectedContact.Result as Contact;
                selectedGroup.BeginAddContact(contact, (ar) => { selectedGroup.EndAddContact(ar); }, null);

            }
        }
    }

    internal class ContactWrapper
    {
        Contact _contact;
        private string displayName;
        internal Contact LyncContact
        {
            get
            {
                return _contact;
            }
        }
        public override string ToString()
        {
            return displayName; // 
        }
        internal ContactWrapper(Contact contact)
        {
            _contact = contact;
            displayName = _contact.GetContactInformation(ContactInformationType.DisplayName).ToString();
        }
    }

    internal class GroupWrapper
    {
        Group _group;
        
        public override string ToString()
        {
            return _group.Name;
        }

        internal Group LyncGroup
        {
            get
            {
                return _group;
            }
        }
        internal GroupWrapper(Group group)
        {
            _group = group;
        }

    }
}

Next steps

After learning how to remove a contact from a contact list, you should learn how to move a contact from one group to a different group or simply remove a contact from one of the groups that the contact is in. To create a contact list that displays a current list of groups and the contacts in the groups, the second of these next steps gets you started building a contact list.