The Microsoft Office Live team is partnering with The Search Agency, a professional marketing firm that offers expert advice on how to optimize your Web site for search engines and develop a winning search strategy.

The Search Agency provides search engine marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and landing page optimization services. Whether your firm is new to search marketing or looking for a turnkey solution to your existing online search efforts, the experienced staff at The Search Agency can work with you to develop a winning strategy. For more information, be sure to visit this information page.

The Microsoft Office Live team has created the Inn Manager sample solution, designed to manage reservation requests online for an inn or bed-and-breakfast, and to show Office Live solution developers how easy it is to deploy a custom solution. The Microsoft Office Live Sample Solution: Inn Manager sample is now available on the MSDN download center. The download includes a pre-built Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 template (.stp) and a Microsoft Office Word document (.doc) with instructions that show how you can:

·         Easily add a custom business application based on this template to your Microsoft Office Live subscription.

·         Quickly create pages on your public Web site that interact with this business application.

The Inn Manager solution includes a template for the custom business application, Inn Manager. You can add this application to any Office Live Premium or Office Live Essentials subscription. The template includes sample data, such as package offers, for the fictional Northwind Inn.

As you follow the steps in the instructions, learn how to:

• Upload the Inn Manager template to an Office Live subscription.
• Add an Inn Manager custom business application based on the template.
• Add a page to a public Web site to display the Northwind Inn vacation package information that is stored in the Inn Manager application.
• Add a page to a public Web site to collect reservation requests for the Inn Manager application.
• Create SharePoint Services workflows that automatically create a reservation when a reservation request is approved and add it to the reservation calendar.

Public Web page collecting data for the Inn Manager custom business application

This is just one example of the type of services you can add to your client’s Office Live Premium or Office Live Essentials subscription. Web design tools provided by Office Live, in combination with features of Windows SharePoint Services offered through Microsoft SharePoint Designer, help you deploy an impressive custom solution with minimal effort.

To view a screencast of a demonstration of an expanded version of the Inn Manager sample solution, see Microsoft Office Live Tour for Developers: Northwind Inn.

The Office Live Developer Platform team

The new Microsoft Office Live for Dummies book

From the back cover:

Want to make Office Live work for you? Now you can get up and running quickly in all the basics with this nuts-and-bolts guide. From creating a Web site and defining projects to sharing data with key contacts and tracking company assets, you'll save time (and money!) as you efficiently connect with employees, customers, and vendors — leaving more time for business!

From the editor’s book description:

·         Microsoft Office Live is a service that allows individuals, small businesses, and organizations to create Web sites, share documents, and have a shared storage area on the Web

·         Explains how to create a Web site; share documents, contact lists, project plans, and calendars; send or receive e-mails using Live Mail; and allow customers, employees, and vendors access to data based on specific security restrictions

·         Discusses establishing security levels, sharing documents, defining and managing projects, tracking company assets, using the Contact Manager, using marketing campaigns, and working with client workspaces

·         Office Live services can be used independently but they also integrate well with Microsoft Office programs used regularly by more than 400 million people around the world, including Microsoft Access, Excel, Outlook, Microsoft Office Live Meeting and Microsoft Office Small Business Edition

Get your copy today. Get Microsoft Office Live for Dummies at Amazon .

As I mentioned in an earlier post (Microsoft Office Live - continuously improving our service), our team has been making updates to the Microsoft Office Live service over the past months. Our 4^th update to the service went out earlier this month; the changes made in this update include:

1.     Enhancements to adManager:

a.     Added support for Ask.com

b.     Enhancements to the UI – new keyword & pricing gadgets, new settings pages & making the first run experience easier.

2.     Doing a promotional 3-month free for new subscribers to Essentials & Premium offers in the US.

3.     Support for .FR domain names for Office Live in France.

4.     Addressing issues with the backup/restore functionality.

Our team really enjoys being able to constantly improve the features and functionality of the service – we hope you enjoy these updates too!

On behalf of the Live Site updates team,
Arun Rajappa
Senior Program Manager Lead

Microsoft / Website Pros customer testimonial:

MRDA, a supplier of pre-tested and approved outdoor equipment, decided it was time to give their website a new look.  Daniel Lake, President of MRDA, found getting their website up and running on Office Live very easy, but they were ready for a fresh perspective on design.  “My wife and I are not professionally trained and needed a website designed for us quickly and cost effectively,” says Daniel. Through the Microsoft Office Live website, Daniel contacted Website Pros to discuss his goals.

Daniel wanted a customer-friendly design that was easy to navigate and highlights his company’s commitment to only offer “The Best of All the Products We Test.”

How did the redesign go?  Check the image below and visit the MRDA website at www.mrdallc.com to judge the results yourself.

> learn more about Website Pros design services

Great news for home-based entrepreneurs

Don’t miss your chance to be included in the first-ever Home-Based 100 index -- a tribute to the millions of home-based businesses operating in the U.S. today. Brought to you exclusively by StartupNation and proudly sponsored by the Microsoft Office Live team.

You can be part of the HB 100 salute by nominating your business – or a friend’s, you’ll compete for great prizes and a shot at some free publicity. There’s more too, including our very own Scratch, Match & Win game. Check it out

The Microsoft Office Live Team

We’re pleased to announce Entrepreneur Magazine’s eBook (sponsored by Microsoft Office Live) “I Hate my Website: 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Website, Plus 9 Things Never to do.”   This 54-page pdf includes tips, techniques, and tools to help you design an effective and engaging Web site, generate more Web site traffic, maximize search engine results, engage a Web professional, provide a more secure online experience, and much more.

Download your own copy today, click here

The Microsoft Office Live Team

 Microsoft Office Live is partnering with Ask.com to make search advertising more accessible to small businesses; this breakthrough service provides you with an aggregated tool to advertise over multiple search engines and helps you advertise your business to the right people—those already searching for what you sell.

About Microsoft Office Live adManager beta:

• ·         Purchase and manage your keywords – now offering Ask Sponsored Listings in addition to MSN.com and Windows Live Search
• ·         Establish a monthly budget and maximum cost per click
• ·         Create your own search ads
• ·         Track results and optimize your search advertising budget
• ·         See which keywords are driving the most traffic

Get more information about adManager  

The Microsoft Office Live Team

Microsoft Office Live Essentials and Office Live Premium customers everywhere, we’ve heard your feedback. So now, we’re giving you what you asked for: an easy, less confusing way to add your employees or colleagues to your Office Live business applications and workspaces.

We learned that the previous way to add new users --- clicking on the Common Tasks box and then Set Permissions, resulting in a new page in your browser --- didn’t always accommodate the tasks you were trying to accomplish. It took you away from the application you were working in, and also made it harder to see exactly who had permission to access your applications.

So, drum roll please, we have created what we call the Sharing Sidebar.

“This is a direct response to feedback we’ve been getting, and we believe it will increase the usability of our business applications,” says Chris Beiter, program manager for Microsoft Office Live who writes a blog for Office Live developers.   

You will see the Sharing Sidebar on the right side of your screen when you’re in Business Contact Manager, Project Manager, and other business applications and workspaces in Microsoft Office Live Essentials and Office Live Premium. It says “Sharing” at the top, not surprisingly, and “Users” next to a drop-down arrow right below.

The Sharing Sidebar follows you on your screen as you traverse the different business applications and workspaces. It shows you the names of any users who have permission to use the application. Their names are separated by the roles that each has been assigned --- owner, administrator, editor, or reader.

Meanwhile, you can use the drop-down menu that you see in the Users tab to both manage users for the current application, and manage all users.  

·         Managing users for the current application: You can now manage users specifically for the application you are using, and you won’t have to leave it to do so. Instead, a small dialogue box pops up over the top of the application, enabling you to add new users or remove or modify permissions of existing users of the application. Once you click OK, the dialogue box closes, you are back in the application, and your changes begin appearing in the Sharing Sidebar.

·         Managing all users: This option takes you to the User Manager, the previous way of granting all user permissions. It’s still available if you prefer making changes in the User Manager, and it is a good method for adding many users at a time or giving a few users permissions to several applications at once.

Just as before, new users added to the permissions list, as well as existing users whose permissions have been discontinued or modified, will each receive an automatic e-mail message that notifies them of the change.

Note that if the Sharing Sidebar happens to get in the way while you’re working in a certain application, it can be collapsed in that application. It will stay in collapsed form until the next time you log into Microsoft Office Live.

“We hope this new way of viewing and modifying permissions makes it easier to share Office Live applications and workspaces, and really starts unlocking the potential for online collaboration,” Beiter says. “Thanks to all the customers who sent us their feedback on this. Please keep the feedback coming.”  

Monte Enbysk  

If you’ve got a green business, we’d like to hear from you! 

In the coming weeks, we will be kicking off a special “Green Business” promotion on sites like Microsoft Office Live (www.officelive.com) and MSN’s Live Earth Web site (http://liveearth.msn.com/).  We will be creating a special section for “Green” organizations and featuring several Microsoft Office Live customer Web sites that serve ecological purposes.

And now for our technical (not really) definition of a “green” business: a green organization or business is one that engages in initiatives to improve business practices around the use of renewable resources, the environmental and human rights impact of business practices. This includes organizations or businesses that may want to operate in a socially responsible manner, as well as protect the environment.

Nominate your green business

You can nominate your organization by e-mailing Green@OfficeLiveCommunity.com with the following information:

§   Name of organization

§   Your name

§   Company web site (URL)

§   Your e-mail address

§   Description of organization- 50 word limit.

§   Why your business should be featured- 100 word limit.

§   How does your organization meet the definition of a “green” above- 100 word limit

All entries must be received by 7/10/07 to be considered eligible.

Want Exposure?
If selected, we may post a thumbnail (small picture) of your Web site and a link to it on sites like Office Live, MSN and others, which could mean great exposure for your green business.  For official promotion rules, please go here. 

Selection Criteria

We’re keeping this simple. There are just two criteria we will use to pick our winners:

  1.     Quality of your Microsoft Office Live Web site

  2.     Impact of green issue(s) being addressed by your organization

  Submit your entry TODAY!

Over the last 5 months, we have worked on 3 minor releases to Microsoft Office Live, and have constantly made improvements to the quality of our service & additions to the features in Microsoft Office Live.

Some of the feature work we have done over these last 3 releases based on customer feedback has been:

1. Launching Domain redelegation to resolve customer reported issues with bringing their existing domain to Microsoft Office Live.
2. Adding support for .de domain in Germany and .eu domain in the European markets that Microsoft Office Live is present in.
3. Launching adManager in the UK and France markets (to allow users in those markets to purchase keyword for advertising).
4. Allowing customers to enter an alternate email address contact that allows us to send them password reset information in case they forget their password.
5. Microsoft Office Live side bar

Besides these feature additions, our more important work has been:
1. Work in improving the reliability and quality of our service – we’re very proud of this work, since it helps all our customers!
2. Working with many individual customers to resolve the issues they reported.
3. Completing the upgrade process for our beta customers with 99.62% success rate.

Our team continues to make constant improvements to our service based on your feedback. We really enjoy being able to release often to deliver updates that make you happy and make your businesses successful,

On behalf of the Live Site updates team,
Arun Rajappa
Senior Program Manager Lead

But for now … you can still do it. Several Microsoft Office Live experts and other community site enthusiasts have notified us of various workarounds that can help you customize your header.

Below are three of the best we’ve seen. Check these out (follow the instructions!) and let us know what works best for you. One caveat: These workarounds have not been formally tested in-house by Microsoft Office Live.  

1.      “Header image transplants” from RxDave’s Prescriptions for Office Live Basics: Any image, photo or graphic may be placed in the header using the Site Designer.  First, size the image (to match the header size) using a photo editor, and then upload it to your Image Gallery. Under Theme, click on General (no photos) if you want to remove the stock photo.  Finally, click Logo and select the image from your gallery.  

2.      “Hack No. 18” from Office Live @ Axcede.net:

·         Create a header image (preferably as a GIF) 780 pixels wide X 113 pixels high. (These are the default measurements of the header area. You can't make it any smaller. If you make a smaller GIF, the Microsoft Office Live Basics header will appear in rest of the area.)

·         Go to Site Designer and choose the Header tab.

·         Erase the Site Title.

·         Erase the Tagline.

·         Upload and add the header image you created in step 1.

·         In the Position dropdown, choose Next to title.

·         Click the OK button to save and close the designer.

Remember that you are simply overlaying the default header area with an image. If you have a full width site, make the background color of the header image the same as the theme you have used. Otherwise the image may not display properly.

3.   From “jrepublic” on Office Live Community site:

·         Launch Site Designer.

·         Click the Header and remove the Title and Slogan.

·         Click Theme - General (no photos).

·         Looks familiar? Please proceed to the next step.

·         Upload your logo in the Document Gallery (I edited mine with 760x131 instead of 780x131).

·         Go back to Site Designer and use the HTML module.

·         Use the script below and paste it to the HTML module:

·         <script language="javascript">parent.document.getElementById('IWS_WH_Elem_Header').innerHTML='<div><img

·         src="/documents/yourimage.gif"></div>';</script> ·          

·         Replace yourimage.gif with the file you have uploaded in step 5.

Enjoy!

Since Image Uploader somewhat resizes your image, it is impossible to insert your logo and completely cover the header (theme) in the background. Now, you can completely cover the header with your own logo by using the script above.  

Update:

You can also replace the header with a flash (swf) file:

Create your flash banner/logo/header and upload the html and swf files to the document gallery

Insert the following code using HTML Module:

<script language="javascript">parent.document.getElementById('IWS_WH_Elem_Header').innerHTML='<div><iframe src="http://yoursite.com/documents/yourhtmlfile.html" width="760px" height="131px" align="center" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0px" marginheight="0px" scrolling="no"</iframe></div>';</script>

Just change the width and height accordingly.

 Want more fixes and discussion? Check out our discussion boards on replacing the header. And good luck with your Web site.

Monte Enbysk        

Familiar with Zillow.com? It’s a great site that offers Zestimate™ home valuations and property details based on an address you provide. Using the Property Value Estimator sample code, a Web developer can easily create a page in your Microsoft Office Live subscription that:

·         Lets you select an address from your Microsoft Office Live Business Contact Manager Contacts list.

·         Maps the selected contact address.

·         Displays Zestimate™ home valuation and property details on this map.

The Microsoft Office Live team has created a set of sample code that demonstrates how a developer can use Microsoft Office Live Web services to create a mashup (that is, a Web page or application that integrates complementary elements from two or more sources) to extend the functionality of a Microsoft Office Live business application. The Property Value Estimator creates a Page Viewer Web Part that displays value estimates and property details, including a map, for home addresses in a contacts list.

This mashup takes advantage of the Zillow API Network. The Zillow API Network site describes using these APIs to “turn member sites into mini real estate portals by offering Zestimate™ home valuations and property details.” The Property Value Estimator sample also uses Microsoft Virtual Earth’s great mapping Web services and Microsoft Office Live Web services. The Property Value Estimator sample uses one of the business applications, Microsoft Office Live Business Contact Manager, which is included with any Microsoft Office Live Premium or Microsoft Office Live Essentials subscription.

Note that this code sample passes the address for a contact in your Business Contact Manager Contacts list to Zillow.com to request valuation data. The data is passed over HTTP, and thus is not encrypted. No ID or name is passed with the address data. You can view the Zillow privacy policy here.  Microsoft is not responsible for Zillow’s privacy policies and practices.

Look at the end result

The best way to understand the functionality is to install the Property Value Estimator code sample on a Microsoft Office Live business application. The download is an executable file that has everything you need, including a sample page containing a Web Part displaying a sample Property Value Estimator user interface, so that you can quickly see the results of using the code. Here’s what you need to do to check it out.

To download the Property Value Estimator sample:

1.       To download the executable file, go to the Microsoft Download Center.

2.       Click the .exe file to install the Property Value Estimator files to the following location:

C:\Microsoft Office Live Developer Resources\Property Value Estimator Sample

To view the results of this sample code:

1.       To get a Zillow Web Services ID (ZWSID), register with Zillow.

2.       Verify that contacts with home addresses exist in the Contacts List of Business Contact Manager in your Microsoft Office Live subscription.

3.       In the C:\Microsoft Office Live Developer Resources\Property Value Estimator Sample folder, open zillowsample.js for edit.

4.       In the zillowsample.js file, insert your ZWSID between the quotation marks in the following line of code:

var g_strZillowId = "";       // Zillow.com ZWSID code

5.       Open the document library in your Microsoft Office Live subscription where you want to store this sample code.

6.       In the document library, upload all of the files located in the C:\Microsoft Office Live Developer Resources\Property Value Estimator Sample folder.

7.       In the document library, click the samplepage.aspx file.

The Property Value Estimator Page Viewer Web Part

This Sample Web page opens in the business application, with a Page Viewer Web Part displaying the Property Value Estimator sample user interface. The left side of this Web Part, under Contacts includes a radio button for each of the contacts from Business Contact Manager that has an associated home address. Select the contact whose property you want to value.

The Property Value Estimator

How it works

We combine several functions in the zillowsample.js file to make this mashup.

Get contacts available for value estimation

The getContacts function uses a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web service to get the list of contacts from the specified context. In this sample, the context is Microsoft Office Live Business Contact Manager (WEBBCM).

In order to make this code sample work, we put Microsoft JScript functions together to package up the SOAP requests you need to talk to Microsoft Office Live Web services. You can use these same functions from the common JScript (olsharedlibv2.js) file to jump-start your development work.  For other examples of the use of these Microsoft Office Live Web services, seethe Microsoft Office Live Developer Guide articles about the Contact Map code sample and the Time Card code sample.

Talk to Zillow

We use the getZillowInformation function to construct the address to be passed to the Zillow Web service. We construct the address by using the contact data retrieved from the Contacts list in Microsoft Office Live Business Contact Manager. The results are placed in the vParameters array. 

This array is then passed as a parameter in a zillowRPC function call to issue an asynchronous XmlHttpRequest GET to Zillow's GetSearchResults API.

zillowRPC("GetSearchResults", vParameters, displayZillowSearchResults);

The Zillow GetSearchResults API finds a property for a specified address. The content returned contains the address for the property, the Zillow Property ID (ZPID), and the current Zestimate. It also includes the date on which the Zestimate was computed, a valuation range, and the Zestimate™ ranking for the property within its ZIP code. If no exact address match for a property is found, a list of closely matching properties is returned.

In order for the zillowRPC function to make a Web service call to Zillow, we must relay the call using a server proxy. In this code sample, we achieve a proxy effect through a Data Form Web Part on an ASP.NET server (.aspx) page. To make a call to a Zillow API, we perform an http GET on the .aspx page.

In order to use the .aspx file as a proxy, we first concatenate the proxy name with GetSearchResults, which was passed as a parameter to the function to create the URL for the HttpRequest.

    var strFullUrl = strAction + "ZillowProxy.aspx";

We then perform an http GET on the .aspx page, passing as parameters this new URL and the vParameters array of address information created above.

    g_oHttpRequest = new HttpRequest(strFullUrl, "GET", vParameters);

The zillowRPC function takes the Web response from the proxy page and finds the XML data island that was output onto the page using the zillowCallback function.

    g_oHttpRequest.sendRequest(zillowCallback);

    function zillowCallback(oWebResponse)

    {

        var strResponseText = oWebResponse.responseText;

        var XMLRESPONSESTART = "<xml";

        var XMLRESPONSEEND = "</xml>";

        var iStartIndex = strResponseText.indexOf(XMLRESPONSESTART);

        var iEndIndex = strResponseText.indexOf(XMLRESPONSEEND) +

                        XMLRESPONSEEND.length;

        var strResponseXml = strResponseText.substring(iStartIndex,

                             iEndIndex);

        var oXmlDocument = loadXml(strResponseXml);

        fCallback(oXmlDocument.firstChild);

    }

Create the property map

The function displayPropertyMap creates a Virtual Earth map object that is centered on the address for the property you want to value. It then adds to the map a pushpin with Zillow Zestimate™ caption information.  You can view this map by scrolling down in the Page Viewer Web Part on the sample page.

For another example of a mashup of Virtual Earth and Microsoft Office Live, see the Contact Map code sample.

Display the results

In the displayZillowSearchResults function, we use several more zillowRPC calls to collect valuation and property detail information on the property. We then display the map and all of the other Zillow information about the property in a Page Viewer Web Part on the sample page.

Go to town

This is just a quick example of the type of service you can add to your client’s Microsoft Office Live Premium or Essentials subscription. The Web services provided by Windows SharePoint Services and Zillow combine to provide an impressive value-added service to your client’s data. The common JScript functions provided by this sample help you accomplish this with minimal effort.

To learn more about the Web services offered by Windows SharePoint Services, download the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK.

To learn more about which Windows SharePoint Services Web services are supported by Microsoft Office Live, read the Microsoft Office Live Developer Guide.

The Microsoft Office Live Developer Platform team

Are you looking to take your Web site to the next level with video? Here’s how you can embed a video player on your site by using the Microsoft Office Live HTML module.

First though some important points. When you add HTML to your Web pages, Microsoft Office Live doesn't check it, so if the code isn't correct your Web page may break. So, after you add code, be sure to access your Web site from the Internet and check that it appears correctly.

Also, please respect the rights of artists and creators. Content such as music, photos, and video may be protected by copyright, and people appearing in content may have a right to control the use of their image. You may not share other people’s content unless you own the rights or have permission from the owner.

Now, on to the fun part. You can embed one of several different video players in your Web page--the examples below show how to embed a YouTube or Google video player. If you need more information about how to use the HTML module or if you want more code examples, see the full article at Inserting HTML code into your site.

Add a YouTube video player

If you have a YouTube account, follow these instructions to add a YouTube video player to your Web site. Be sure to read and follow the YouTube terms of use.

1.     Write down the YouTube video ID number. For example, if you want to link to your video at http://www.youtube.com/?v=ABc12DEfGHi, the video ID number is "ABc12DEfGHi". If you don't know the number, go to your YouTube account, browse to your video, and then copy the number.

2.     In Microsoft Office Live, open the HTML module in the spot on your Web page that you want it to appear.

3.     Copy and paste the following code into the HTML module, and then replace both instances of "ABc12DEfGHi" with your video ID number.

4.     In the HTML module, click OK.

Add a Google video player

If you uploaded a video to Google Video, follow these instructions to add the Google video player. Be sure to read and follow the Google terms of service.

1.     Write down the Google Video ID number. For example, if you want to link to your video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1234567890123456789, your video ID number is "1234567890123456789". If you don't know your number, go to Google Video, browse to your video, and then copy the number.

2.     In Microsoft Office Live, open the HTML module in the location on your Web page where you want it to appear.

3.     Copy and paste the following HTML code into the HTML module, and then replace both instances of "1234567890123456789" with your video ID number.

4.     In the HTML module, click OK.

Enjoy! 

The Microsoft Office Live UA team

The Microsoft Office Live Team

Dean Nicolls 

This is a recurring question in the community boards; there are a number of solutions that our users have provided to each other but here is one that I consider low cost and low complexity:

(Note: this requires you to have a blog set up already and one that provides an RSS feed)

·        Go to www.feedburner.com and open an account (always be sure to respect feedburner’s terms of use)

·        Follow the instructions to “burn a feed” you will need your blog RSS address (i.e. in the case of this blog that is: http://officeliveblog.spaces.live.com/feed.rss#)

·        Once you are done creating the feed go to the “Publicize” tab and click on the “Headline Animator” on the left

·        Select the color and other visual options that you may desire; and in the “Add to:” box select “Other” which will generate the HTML code for you. Click on “next”

·        A pop up window with the HTML code will open; cut and past that to an HTML module anywhere in your site

Try it out with this HTML code snippet (that displays the Office Live Blog):

<p style="margin-top:10px; margin-bottom:0; padding-bottom:0; text-align:center; line-height:0"><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheOfficeLiveBlog/~6/1"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheOfficeLiveBlog.1.gif" alt="The Office Live Blog Too" style="border:0"></a></p><p style="margin-top:5px; padding-top:0; font-size:x-small; text-align:center"><a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/headlineanimator/install?id=829682&amp;w=1" onclick="window.open(this.href, 'haHowto', 'width=520,height=600,toolbar=no,address=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars'); return false" target="_blank">&uarr; Grab this Headline Animator</a></p>

Hope this is useful

Filiberto Selvas

The Microsoft Office Live Developer Platform Team has created some sample code to show how you can use Microsoft Office Live Web services to connect your client-side application to Microsoft Office Live data.

This code sample takes advantage of the Microsoft Office Live Discovery Web service, Windows Live ID for client applications , and the authentication services provided in the Microsoft System.Net namespace. Once you know how to combine these services, you can provide access to data in an Office Live subscription from your application without requesting additional credential information.

As an example of accessing Microsoft Office Live data after authentication, the Client Application Connection sample includes code that connects to a Microsoft Office Live server with the user's Windows Live ID credentials to list all documents in one of the user's Microsoft Office Live document libraries.

Download the sample

Client Application Connection is provided as sample code. You can copy snippets of this code or duplicate them in your application to help you provide authenticated connections.

To download the .exe file, go to the Microsoft Download Center.

·        Click the .exe file to install the Client Application Connection files to the following location:

C:\Microsoft Office Live Developer Resources\Client Application Connection Sample

Authenticate your Client Application Connection

With Windows Live ID for client applications, your application can access Windows Live ID sites and services, including Microsoft Office Live, using a customized authentication ticket. Let’s say that Dan Park signs in to his Microsoft Office Live account, and then opens your client application.

The following steps demonstrate how you can authenticate Dan from your client application to allow access to Microsoft Office Live data.

Step 1. Authenticate Dan’s Windows Live ID account.

This sample uses the IdentityManager class of Windows Live ID to create an Identity object for the current user and then uses the Authenticate method of this class to authenticate the user’s Windows Live ID account.

IdentityManager identityManager;

identityManager = IdentityManager.CreateInstance(applicationId,

                  applicationName);

Identity identity = identityManager.CreateIdentity();

if (!identity.Authenticate())

{

     throw new ApplicationException("Unable to authenticate the

                         user’s Windows Live ID account.");

       }

Step 2. Get the Microsoft Office Live settings needed to generate a Windows Live ID authentication ticket.

The Client Application Connection code takes advantage of the Microsoft Office Live Discovery Web service to quickly discover the appropriate Live ID settings. First, it accesses the Discovery Web service.

Discovery discoSvc = new Discovery();

discoSvc.Url = "https://apis.officelive.com/discoverywebsvc/discovery.asmx";

      Next, it gets the Windows Live ID settings for the Microsoft Office Live service.

LiveIDSettings settings = discoSvc.GetLiveIDSettings();

Step 3. Request Dan’s current Windows Live ID authentication ticket for the Microsoft Office Live service.

You can use Windows Live ID’s GetTicket method to get the user’s authentication ticket information for the Microsoft Office Live service.

string ticket = identity.GetTicket(settings.SiteName, settings.Policy, false);

Step 4. Authenticate Dan for Microsoft Office Live Web requests.

The class WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule, included in this sample code, handles Windows Live ID authentication for Microsoft Office Live Web requests. This module implements an IAuthenticationModule interface from the Microsoft System.Net namespace.

This sample code then creates and registers a new authentication module using the Register method of the AuthenticationManager class in the Microsoft System.Net namespace,  passing the ticket obtained in step 3.

WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule authModule;

authModule = new WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule(ticket);

            AuthenticationManager.Register(authModule);

Authenticate is the core method for the Client Application Connection sample custom authentication. The following are details of the actual process that triggers the Authenticate method:

1.      When an Internet resource requests authentication, the System.Net WebRequest.GetResponse method calls the AuthenticationManager.Authenticate method.

2.      The AuthenticationManager.Authenticate method calls each registered authentication module to find the first module that can respond to the authentication request.

3.      When a module responds, an Authorization object is returned to the Web request.

This Authorization is the key you need to unlock Dan’s Microsoft Office Live data.

Access Microsoft Office Live data

The example in this code is designed to print the names of the documents in the user’s Microsoft Office Live document library if the user is authenticated.

You can use methods of the Discovery class in the Discovery Web service to determine the subscriptions that are associated with Dan Park and find a document library included in those subscriptions. The GetSubscriptions method allows you to identify a Microsoft Office Live subscription that Dan owns. The GetResources method returns a list of resources, including document libraries, in the subscription. The code in this example selects the first document library it finds.

The calls to the methods of the Discovery class invoke a WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule to authenticate this Microsoft Office Live Web request:

discoSvc.UserAgent = discoSvc.UserAgent + ";" + WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule.WindowsLiveClientHeader;

discoSvc.Credentials = new NetworkCredential();

To access Windows Live ID sites and services, including Microsoft Office Live, you must find the URL of the Web Service Description Language (WSDL) file that describes the service. The service being used in this example is the SharePoint Lists Web service. In addition to adding this service as a Web reference, the example constructs a URL for it.

string listServiceUrl = userDocumentLibraryUrl +

                        SharepointServicesPrefix  + "Lists.asmx";

It then connects to the Lists Web service for Dan’s document library.

Lists listsWebService = new Lists();

listsWebService.Url = listServiceUrl;

Next, it invokes a WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule to authenticate this Microsoft Office Live Web request.

listsWebService.UserAgent = listsWebService.UserAgent + ";" +

          WindowsLiveAuthenticationModule.WindowsLiveClientHeader;

listsWebService.Credentials = new NetworkCredential();                

The example then uses the Lists Web service to access and print the titles of all documents contained in Dan’s document library.

Connect your client applications

The Web services provided by Microsoft Office Live, Windows Live ID for client applications, and the Microsoft System.Net namespace combine to provide easy access to the information you need in order to provide a connection between a client application and Microsoft Office Live data. You can use the code in this sample to help incorporate this functionality in your application.

The Office Live Developer Platform team

So, you’ve put a lot of work into your Web site, but you’re frustrated that the search engines don’t seem to care. When you plug a relevant keyword into a search box, your site is nowhere to be seen --- at least on the first page of results. What’s an aspiring entrepreneur to do?

There’s plenty you can do, at a relatively low cost. But, first, know that search-engine rankings are fiercely competitive today, and some of the factors involved in rankings are beyond your control. What you can control is the quality of content on your site and the number and caliber of links to it.

Yes, having content that makes your site worth a link --- be it smart how-to articles or free tools and downloads --- is important. For more on this point, read How to get links to your site.

But you can also improve your rankings by getting links to it from key “authority” Web sites and blogs, such as professional associations and the like, that serve your target audience. Catherine Seda is an Internet marketing strategist and author of a new book, “How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders.” She recently compiled for Microsoft Office Live her top five spots to get quality links:

1.      Professional or trade associations. It’s probably the easiest link you can get, Seda says, because a link from the association’s site to yours is likely included in your membership fee. If not, submit your URL and ask that a link be added. Or write an article for the association site, or even pay for an ad, if necessary. “It’s worth the money,” Seda says, because the association site is certain to be rich in the content your audience seeks. (Need a directory of professional associations? See these pages on Yahoo or Google.)

2.      Other Web sites in your niche. Rather than merely trading links with as many Web sites as you can muster, seek out quality sites with content similar to yours. Contact site owners and offer to write articles for those sites. In any articles, include a byline and link to your bio. Search-engine spiders will notice the links and so will prospects.

3.      Blogs in your niche. Use blog engines such as Icerocket and Technorati to find blogs related to your business.  Search for those with rich content and worthwhile discussions. Post a helpful comment on someone’s blog; oftentimes, you’ll be given a link back to your site. Don’t pitch your business; simply share a relevant tip or tool in your post. Hollow “I love your blog!” posts likely will smell like spam and be deleted.

4.      Social networking sites. Sites such as YouTube, Flickr, Digg, and MySpace may sound unrelated to your business, but don’t dismiss them. Most allow you to create a profile page where you can build your brand and link to your site. Social networking sites work best if you’re targeting a younger demographic. Still, they are immensely popular, and could drive spiders and prospects to your sites.

5.      Press release services. Newswires such as PRWeb and Newsforce can help you get your message out via a press release. For a fee, they can optimize your press releases with good keywords for higher visibility on news engines such as Yahoo! News and, in turn, on general search engines. Expect to spend $70 or more per release, but it may be worth it.

Focus on these efforts, Seda says, and then take a look at your rankings. In a future post, I will talk about what sites NOT to get links from.

Monte Enbysk