Device Management Objects

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A basic Unified Communications client task is the management of locally connected media devices such as Microsoft RoundTable conference webcams and Unified Communications enabled telephone handsets. These local media devices enable the client to participate in A/V conferencing and media sessions. Using the interfaces represented by the device management objects, a user can override the device choice made by the Unified Communications Client API for rendering conference audio/video. In addition, individual media devices can be tuned to user preferences.

In Unified Communications Client API, device management amounts to:

• Maintaining a list of local devices capable of rendering media content.
• Configuring a default device for the ensuing inbound and outbound audio/video sessions. The Unified Communications Client Platform is designed to identify and select default media devices on a workstation. In cases where a workstation is configured with multiple devices performing the same function, a user can override the default choice of the platform. The Tuning Wizard dialog is invoked from the IUccMediaDeviceSettings interface for this purpose.
• Reading and setting attributes of individual media devices.

Interfaces

• Media Device Manager
  An application calls QueryInterface on an IUccPlatform object to obtain the IUccMediaDeviceManager interface. If you are using C#, the interface is obtained by casting from the IUccPlatform object. The media device manager is used to obtain a collection representing all media devices on a computer. In addition, the interface exposes methods to allow the client to discover the media devices selected by the platform to render and capture audio/video data. If the platform selects a device that is not a user's preference, the interface provides the functionality to allow a user to choose a different media device for rendering and/or capturing audio and video
• Media Endpoint Settings
  The IUccMediaDeviceSettings interface exposes a set of general properties that apply to all the media devices on the local computer. You access this interface by calling QueryInterface on an T:Microsoft.Office.Interop.UccApi.IUccMediaDeviceManager object. These properties can be changed by calling InvokeTuningWizard or by retrieving an IUccPropertyCollection by making a call into GetDeviceSettings. This property collection can be manipulated by changing the values of existing well-known properties and adding custom properties by name. An application that knows about custom properties can make use of them. Custom properties are ignored by the individual media devices represented by the Media Device Manager.
• Media Device
  A IUccMediaDevice object represents a single media device on a local computer. This can be a USB audio device, a webcam, a PSTN telephone device, or an Internet-enabled telephone handset. A call into GetDevices on an IUccMediaDeviceManager object returns an enumerable collection of IUccMediaDevice objects. The IUccMediaDevice object has a set of properties that uniquely identify it and provide a read-only collection of its attributes.

These functionalities are encapsulated by the IUccMediaDeviceManager interface and other API objects referenced by this interface. Each media device is encapsulated by an instance of the IUccMediaDevice interface. An application can use this interface to examine the capability of a device to send or receive media transmission as well as the media type used. The IUccMediaDevice interface provides additional functionalities specific to video media.

The following diagram illustrates the object model for device management in Unified Communications Client API.

In This Section

Programming Patterns with Media Device Manager Object

See Also

Concepts

Platform Object
Configuring Media Devices
Get and Set the Selected Device for a Media Type
Invoke a Tuning Wizard