Chapter 13: Programming Exchange Server Using ADSI

Overview

Messaging and communication technologies are not the only technologies you need for building a collaborative application. Having a robust directory is also a key requirement, whether you're building a simple messaging application or a full-blown workflow system. A directory holds communication information such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers as well as organizational and hierarchical information such as managers and direct reports . It also stores facility and personal information, such as building locations, cost centers, and pictures of users.

The ability to retrieve this range of information is important for the application and beneficial to any organization. Recall our Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) Helpdesk application in Chapter 11, which used a directory to obtain a user 's personal information. Because Microsoft Exchange Server, through Active Directory, supports an extensible directory, you can add your own fields to the directory to store the type of custom information we've retrieved in our sample applications.