Contacts can be categorized into groups. A group object implements the IMessengerGroup interface. A collection of groups is represented by an object implementing the IMessengerGroups interface. Managing a contact group amounts to manipulating these objects and interfaces as well as the appropriate methods and properties defined on the IMessenger2 interface. For example, an application calls the IMessenger2::MyGroups method to retrieve the collection of groups in Communicator.

Creating a Contact Group

An application creates a contact group by calling the IMessenger2::CreateGroup method. The following C# code snippet shows how to create a contact group.

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CommunicatorAPI.Messenger communicator = ...

IMessengerGroup CreateGroup(string groupName)
{
	IMessengerGroup group = GetGroup(groupName);
	if (group == null)
		group = communicator.CreateGroup(groupName, communicator.MyServiceId) as IMessengerGroup;
	return group;
}

Finding a Contact Group

Finding a group involves enumerating the group collection to determine if any group matches some group attributes. The following C# code snippet shows how to find a group by name.

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IMessengerGroup GetGroup(string groupName)
{
	IMessengerGroup group = null;
	foreach (IMessengerGroup g in communicator.MyGroups as IMessengerGroups)
	{
		if (g.Name == groupName)
		{
			group = g;
			break;
	}
}
	return group;
}

Deleting a Contact Group

Deleting a contact group involves getting the specified group object and removing it from the group collection in Communicator, as illustrated in the following C# code snippet.

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void RemoveGroup(string groupName)
{
	if (groupName == null || groupName == string.Empty)
		return;

	IMessengerGroup group = GetGroup(groupName);
	if (group == null)
		return;
	try
	{
		IMessengerGroups groups = communicator.MyGroups as IMessengerGroups;
		groups.Remove(group);
}
	catch (Exception e)
	{
		if (e.Message.Contains("0x81000354"))
			MessageBox.Show("The specified group cannot be deleted.");
		else
			throw new Exception("Cannot delete group", e);
}
}

Renaming a Contact Group

Renaming a group involves getting the specified group object and setting the IMessengerGroup::Name property of the group object with a new value.

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void RenameGroup(string oldName, string newName)
{
	if (oldName == string.Empty || newName == string.Empty)
		return;

	IMessengerGroup group = GetGroup(oldName);
	if (group == null)
		return;

	group.Name = newName;
}

Adding a Contact to a Contact Group

Adding a contact to a contact group involves specifying the contact to be added to a group and the Contact Group itself. With the object implementing the IMessengerContact interface, you call IMessengerGroup::AddContact to associate the contact to the group. The concept is illustrated with the following code snippet.

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object contactToAdd = null;
contactToAdd = communicator.GetContact(
							"jaya@contoso.com",
							communicator.MyServiceId
							);
if (contactToAdd != null)
{
  IMessengerGroups theseGroups = (IMessengerGroups)communicator.MyGroups;
  foreach (IMessengerGroup thisGroup in theseGroups)
  {
	if (thisGroup.Name == "My Personal Contacts")
	{
	thisGroup.AddContact(contactToAdd);
	break;
}
  }
}

See Also

Reference

Interfaces