Adding Commands to the Communicator Menus

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

You can add customized commands to various Communicator menus, and pass the SIP URI of the current user, and selected contacts, to the application launched by your custom command.

The custom commands that you define appear on the following menus:

• The Tools menu.

• The Actions menu off the Conversation window.

• The right-click menu off the Contact List.

See the "Accessing a Custom Command" section, later in this topic.

You can define custom commands for two types of applications:

• Applications that apply only to the current user and are launched on the local machine.

• Applications that involve additional users, such as an online collaboration program, and must be launched on each user's machine.

When the application you want to integrate involves other users, the custom command can be invoked by:

• Selecting one or more users, and then choosing the custom command.

• Starting a two-party or multi-party conversation, and then choosing the custom command.

For a detailed example, see the section titled, Integrating a Third-Party Collaboration Program with Communicator 2007, later in this document.

Defining a Custom Command

Use the registry settings in Table 7 below to add a command to the Office Communicator menus. These entries are placed in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Communicator\SessionManager\Apps\[GUID of Application].

Table 7.   Custom command registry entries

Name	Type	Data
Name	REG_SZ	Name of the application as it appears on the menu.
ApplicationType	DWORD	0 = Executable (default) Note Requires ApplicationInstallPath. 1 = Protocol
ApplicationInstallPath	REG_SZ	Full path of the executable. Note Must be specified if ApplicationType is 0 (Executable).
Path	REG_SZ	Full path to be launched along with any parameters, including the default parameter of %user-id% and %contact-id%.
SessionType	DWORD	0 = Local session. The application is launched on the local computer. 1 = Two-party session (default). Communicator 2007 launches the application locally, and then sends a desktop alert to the other user. The other user clicks the alert and starts the specified application on their computer. 2 = Multi-party session. Communicator 2007 launches the application locally, and then sends desktop alerts to the other users, prompting them to launch the specified application on their own computer.
ExtensibleMenu	REG_SZ	A list of the menus where this command will appear, separated by semi-colons. Possible values are: MainWindowActions MainWindowRightClick ConversationWindowActions ConversationWindowContextual ConversationWindowRightClick If ExtensibleMenu is not defined, the default values of MainWindowRightClick and ConversationWindowContextual are used.

For example, executing the following Registry Editor (.REG) file results in the menus shown below in Figure 4.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Communicator\SessionManager\Apps\{1F9F07C6-7E0B-462B-AAD7-98C6DBEA8F69}]
"Name"="Contoso Sales Contact Manager"
"HelpMessage"="The Contoso Sales Contact Manager is not installed. Contact the Help Desk for more information."
"ApplicationType"="REG_DWORD:00000000"
"ApplicationInstallPath"="C:\\cltest.exe"
"Path"="C:\\cltest.exe %user-id% %contact-id%"
"SessionType"="REG_DWORD:00000001"
"ExtensibleMenu"="ConversationWindowActions;MainWindowRightClick"

Figure 4.   Actions menu with a custom command added for the Contoso Sales Contact Manager application

Accessing a Custom Command

To access a custom command after it is added

• Do one of the following, depending on the ExtensibleMenu values you define:

  • MainWindowActions: On the Office Communicator Title bar, click the down arrow, point to Tools, and then click your custom command.

  • MainWindowRightClick: Right-click a contact in the Contact List or Search Results pane, and then click your custom command.

  • ConversationWindowActions: In the Conversation window Title bar, click the Menu button, point to Actions, and then click your custom command.

  • ConversationWindowContextual: In the Conversation window, click the contextual actions drop-down arrow in the top right corner, below the Title bar, and then click your custom command.

  • ConversationWindowRightClick: In the Conversation window Participant List, right-click a contact name, and then click your custom command.