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MAPI__SAPI__TAPI

possible to access these advanced services from high-level developer tools like Visual 
Basic 4.0 and Microsoft FoxPro. You can even complete a number of the programming examples 
included in this book using the VBA-compatible Microsoft Office tools like Excel, Access, 
Word, and others. </p>

<p>Most of the programming examples presented in this book are done in the 32-bit version 
of Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition. Several examples are done using 
Microsoft's Excel 95 and Microsoft Access 95. However, a few of the services are only 
available via C++ programming. You'll therefore see some short programming examples here 
using Microsoft's Visual C++ 4.0. If you do not own a copy of Visual C++, you can still 
get a lot out of the C++ examples simply by reading them to get the general concepts. None 
of the major projects in this book require coding in C++. In the cases where C++ code is 
needed to gain access to a specific feature in the Windows service, you'll find compiled 
OLE libraries and/or OCX tools included on the accompanying CD-ROM. You can use these 
compiled tools as part of your high-level language projects. </p>

<p>All of the programming concepts described here are applicable to non-Microsoft 
programming environments, too. If you are using products such as Borland's Delphi, dBASE, 
Borland C++, and so on, you can still get a lot out of this book. You'll need to re-create 
the detail of the code examples in code usable in your programming environment, but the 
Windows API calls will be exactly the same. </p>

<h2><a NAME="HardwareandSoftwareTools"><font SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000">Hardware and 
Software Tools</font></a></h2>

<p>The programming examples in this book cover a wide range of hardware and software 
requirements, and it's no small matter to equip your workstation with all the tools 
necessary to access all the Windows services described within these pages. The following 
list summarizes the tools used in developing the programs presented here: 

<ul>
  <li><i>Windows 95 operating system</i>-Most of the examples require Windows 95. Some of the 
    examples will run under Windows 3.1 and most will run without problems under Windows NT 
    (WinNT). However, all of the programming examples in this book were developed under 
    Windows 95. You'll avoid lots of difficulty by sticking with Windows 95. </li>
  <li><i>Messaging API tools</i>-MAPI services are accessed via the MAPI OCX controls, the OLE 
    Message Library, and the MAPI 1.0 API set. The MAPI OCXs ship with the Professional 
    Edition of Visual Basic 4.0. The OLE Message Library and the MAPI 1.0 API developer tools 
    can be found on the Microsoft Developer's Network (MSDN) Level II CD-ROMs. You'll need 
    access to MSDN CD-ROMs to complete the advanced examples in this book. </li>
  <li><i>Telephony API tools</i>-The examples in this book were written using TAPI v1.4 for 
    Windows 95. The v1.4 run-time files are shipped as part of the Windows 95 operating 
    system. TAPI services are accessed via a custom OCX that comes on the CD-ROM shipped with 
    this book and via calls directly through the API set. TAPI developer tools are found on 
    the MSDN Professional Level CD-ROMs, too. It is important to note that all the examples in 
    this book were developed as 32-bit applications for Windows 95. There is a 16-bit version 
    of TAPI (v1.3), and a new version of TAPI (v2.0) for WinNT will be released with NT v4.0. 
    To keep frustration to a minimum, stick with Win95 and TAPI 1.4. </li>
  <li><i>Speech API tools</i>-The release version of SAPI developer tools and run-time modules 
    are available from Microsoft and are included on the CD-ROM that ships with this book. 
    However, a major piece of the SAPI kit is not included automatically as part of the SAPI 
    developer kit. You'll need a text-to-speech engine supplied by a third-party vendor in 
    order to run the SAPI examples in this book. Check the accompanying CD-ROM for demo 
    versions of Text-to-Speech (TTS) engines. You'll also find a list of vendors of SAPI tools 
    in appendix B, &quot;SAPI Resources.&quot; </li>
  <li><i>Microsoft Exchange E-Mail</i>-Almost all the examples in this book that involve 
    e-mail clients were created using the Microsoft Exchange client for Windows 95. Some were 
    created using the Microsoft Exchange Server or Microsoft Mail Server clients. MAPI 
    services are pretty much the same regardless of the client installed on your workstation. 
    Where the differences are important, they are noted in the text of the book. </li>
  <li><i>Sound cards, speakers, and microphones</i>-Some of the examples here require the use 
    of a pc audio system. Just about any WAV-compatible audio card will work fine. Some 
    examples use voice input and playback. You can accomplish this with an attached microphone 
    and speakers. In some cases, you can even use an attached telephone handset, too. </li>
  <li><i>Data modems</i>-You'll need at least a basic data/fax modem to run the examples in 
    this book. Both the TAPI and the MAPI examples require a data modem. For some of the TAPI 
    examples, you can perform all the functions using a simple data modem. For others, you'll 
    need a data modem that supports the Unimodem/V communications driver. Not all modems 
    support Unimodem/V even though they offer voice-mail or telephony features. Consult the 
    appendix at the back of the book and the accompanying CD-ROM for a list of vendors who 
    offer data modems that support TAPI and the Unimodem/V standard. </li>
  <li><i>Telephony cards</i>-While you can get through almost all the TAPI examples in this 
    book without a telephony card in your workstation, you'll get a lot more out of the TAPI 
    section if you have access to one. Telephony cards provide a much more advanced set of 
    telephony features than do TAPI-compliant data modems. The CD-ROM that comes with this 
    book contains some demo tools that can be used to mimic the presence of a telephony card. 
    These demo tools can be used during development and testing, but they will not work in a 
    production setting. Consult appendix C, &quot;TAPI Resources,&quot; and the CD-ROM for 
    information on third-party developers who offer full-featured TAPI-compliant telephony 
    hardware. When shopping for telephony cards, be sure to confirm that they are 
    TAPI-compliant and that there are TAPI drivers (service providers) available for your 
    telephony card. </li>
  <li><i>Access to live phone service</i>-You'll need access to a live phone line to run most 
    of the programs in this book. All the examples will work with a simple analog phone line 
    like the line available to most U.S. households. The nature of the TAPI services makes it 
    very easy to use digital lines such as T1 and ISDN to run these examples, too. However, if 
    you use digital lines, be sure your hardware (data modem and/or telephony card) is 
    compatible with the type of phone service you're using. </li>
</ul>

<h2><a NAME="WhatsNotCoveredinThisBook"><font SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000">What's Not Covered 
in This Book</font></a></h2>

<p>Even though this book covers a lot of territory, it leaves a lot out, too. The main 
focus of this book is the client desktop. However, there's another set of APIs designed 
for building server-side applications for Windows. Microsoft provides developer kits for 
the creation of MAPI message servers like transport providers, address books, and message 
storage systems. Every TAPI client depends on a server-side interface that talks directly 
to the vendor hardware to translate the requests from the client into something the 
hardware understands. Microsoft publishes the Telephony Service Provider Interface (TSPI) 
as a set of API calls for handling the server-side aspects of Windows telephony. Finally, 
the Speech API is designed to allow third-party vendors to create separate text-to-speech 
and speech recognition engines that work within the SAPI system. </p>

<p>Covering the details of each of these server-side models could fill an entire book. For 
our purposes, you'll learn the general facts about how the clients and servers relate to 
each other, but you'll need to look elsewhere if you want to learn how to build 
server-side components. </p>

<p>It is also important to keep in mind that all the material here was built for the 
Windows 95 platform. Even though many of the examples will run on other Windows platforms, 
not much will be said about Windows 3.1 or even Windows NT. This is mainly to keep the 
book clear of confusing exceptions and special notations for cases where the platforms 
behave in different ways. If you're unlucky enough to have the responsibility of deploying 
advanced Windows services on multiple platforms, you'll need to supplement this text with 
copious experimenting and tweaking. </p>

<h2><a NAME="HowtoUseThisBook"><font SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000">How to Use This Book</font></a></h2>

<p>Since this book is divided into very clear sections, you can use it in a number of 
ways: 

<ul>
  <li><i>Start from the beginning</i>-The chapters of the book are arranged to start with 
    relatively simple issues and progress through more complex topics toward the end of the 
    book. If you're new to programming with WOSA and APIs, you'll get the most out of the book 
    by following along in chapter order. </li>
  <li><i>Focus on a target service</i>-If you have a good understanding of WOSA and the use of 
    Windows services, you can jump right into the API sections that interest you most. The 
    three service sections (MAPI, SAPI, and TAPI) are each self-contained. You can read these 
    sections in any order without missing any vital material. </li>
  <li><i>Focus on integrating services</i>-If you already know one or more of the APIs and are 
    mainly interested in building advanced integration applications, you can skip the API 
    sections you have had previous experience with and move directly to the section on 
    building integrated applications. If you take this approach, you may run into areas of the 
    book that refer to previous programming examples or concepts discussed in previous 
    sections of the book. Be prepared to do a bit of skipping around at times to follow some 
    of these threads back to their source. In this way, you can use this book as more of a 
    reference guide than a tutorial. </li>
</ul>

<p>No matter how you use this book, by the time you complete the examples and absorb the 
basic concepts explained here, you'll have a solid understanding of some of the most 
advanced Windows extension services available. </p>

<p>That's about it for the preliminaries-now it's time to get started! </p>

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