Make use of EWS for display on Xibo

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1

Hi,

Can anyone advise me if I can use EWS(Exchange Web service) database to display Meeting Room booking?

Regards,
Zet

2

Interesting concept.

Xibo does not natively support that ability. It could be possible to write a script to read the needed data from EWS and then feed that to the XIbo API.

So in sort, no Xibo cannot do this, however you could script this yourself or you might find a developer that could help you.

3

I already got some experience with EWS, but I never created Xibo modules until now.

There are some options how to implement this thing.

  • Build a module, that fetches the data and fill it into a Xibo-Dataset. So you can display the data in in the way you want.
  • Build a module, that fetches the data and present that data in a custom media that you would then add to your layouts.
  • Build a website, that fetches and displays the data. Then you would add the website to your layout.

It’s also depending how the information should be displayed. I suggest you tell us more about the presentation that you got in your mind.

Do you need this feature for a commercial purpose? (Do you want to pay for it?)
If it’s not that urgent, maybe I could do it in the next few months and release it for free.

4

Hi Support,

Your suggestions are good.
I am not good at programming but willing to learn about it. May I know which language I should use it? C++?C#? or others?

It is going to use it for my office for in-house display only. I just need to create the display to show the room either occupied or not.
I am not very urgent about it.

Thanks for the ideas and waiting for the free version.

Regards,
Ray.C

5

You can use any language you want to build a web application that fetches the data from the ews via soap. Then you can configure that website in a xibo layout to be shown on the client.
I already made c# and c++ applications, that were communicating with webservices via soap. It’s not that hard (if you know how ;D).
But I personally would create a more integrated solution like a xibo module written in php, so everybody could use it without big efforts.
I will write back when I made any plans for it, promised… :innocent:

6

Oic. I will try to do more research on php language as your recommendation. But can asp.net language do the same job?

Are you a full time programmer?

Regards,
Ray.C

7

ASP.Net can’t do the same job, when you think about building a solution in form of a Xibo module that can be integrated easily.
But sure, you can build an ASP.Net solution that will cover your needs. Another point is, that you can integrate your webapplication not only into xibo but into other places, also.
I myself built an .Net application that is fetching appointments from a bunch of mailboxes. (Exchange 2007/2010/2013). You will need to do some configuration on the Exchange to be able to work with EWS, I don’t know if and how that all works if you use EWS with Exchange Online and Office 365. I guess you are able to configure the server.

In the first step you should try to get data from EWS.

  • Check if EWS is running. Try to access the Webservice via the url (Exchange 2007/2010/2013): https://Exchange-Server-IP/EWS/Services.wsdl
  • Create an service-user
  • Grant that service-user permissions to use EWS, Exchange Management Console
    : Set-CasMailbox -Identity SERVICE-USER -EwsEnabled:$true
  • Grant the service-user permissions to access the mailbox. You can do that by…
    a) …opening that mailbox in outlook: Rightclick on the mailadress of the mailbox -> folderpermissions -> permission level: reviewer …then you go to the calendar -> rightklick -> settings -> permissions -> permission level: reviewer
    b) …opening the Exchange Management Console and creating those permissions via Powershell, I don’t got that cmd’s yet.
  • Download ews: [http://ewseditor.codeplex.com][1]
  • Create an EWS Connection (File -> New Exchange Service). Type in the creds from the service-user
  • Try to fetch some appointments from the room-mailbox: Other -> Find Appointments -> Select the timerange -> Select a calendar… -> (Identify folder by well known name) Folder Name: Calendar, SMTP-Adress: room-mailbox@adress.com
    -> OK -> OK
  • Now you should see some appointments…

…if that’s done, you can think about programming. If you like to build you asp.net app, I will support you. Though, it would be a great idea to build an php module to give something back to the community. Not everyone can host a separate server to integrate an asp.net web app. Your decision…

Yes, I’m full time programmer.

8

Hi,

You wrote a good explanation. :slight_smile:
Thanks a lot. I will try to connect to the EWS first then I will think of how to write the program.

Regards,
Ray.C

9

Hey!

I would like to know if you succeeded getting calendar schedules from EWS? i am looking for the exact same thing!

10

Hello,
Has anyone developed the XiBo module to connect to Outlook to retrieve Outlook calendar?

11

Hello everybody,

I’m a beginner in Xibo (v. 1.8.11) and i’m triyng to display an exchange calendar. I’ve try with the calendar module, but this one required to have a public ics url. Things that i have not.

So i would like to know if anyone developed a Xibo module to connect to exchange web services ?

Please sorry for my bad english …

Thank you !