How to make your website more 'Live'-ly

BANAGLORE, INDIA: There are two kinds of visitors to any website: those who come for the first time and those who visit regularly. So obviously, it's every website's endeavor to try and convert first time visitors into regular ones.

One of the things that would enable that of course is the quality of content, because that's what most users really come to your site for. The others are features that would make life much more convenient for them on your website.

In this article, we'll talk about one way of doing the latter. We'll tell you how to integrate some of the latest features available on Microsoft's Windows Live service in your own website.

Microsoft has controls available that can be added into its Web Developer 2008 softare, which allow you to integrate Windows Live services into your own website in just a few clicks.

With these controls you can add video streaming, Windows Messenger, Windows Live Contact and moreover you also have an option to authenticate a user with their Windows Live ID.

The Windows Live Tool can be obtained from 'http://dev.live.com/tools'. Download, extract, and run the setup file. Follow the onscreen instructions and your Windows Live Tool is installed.

Adding Windows Live Contact

Let's start by adding Windows Live 'Contact' control to your website. First fire up your WD2K8, click on File > New Web Site and select 'ASP.NET Windows Live Web Site' from the template section. Give a project name and click on 'Ok'. Switch to design view. You will see a scriptmanager already placed on the page. As these services use AJAX for their work, a scriptmanager is required forAJAX.

Now open the toolbox from the development environment, navigate to the Windows Live Tool section and then, drag and drop the 'Contact' control to your website. That's all; your web page now has Windows Live contact integrated.

So now users who have Windows Live ID can access or see their contact list through your website. This tool provides your three different display styles: Tile, List, and TileList. You can also set a background and foreground color for the contact list.

Add Windows Live Messenger

Adding Live Messenger to your website is the same as adding Window Live Contact. Drag and drop the 'MessengerChat' control to your webpage from the Windows Live tools section. Then debug your project, and the local ASP.NET server will start. Then in IE your web page will be displayed.

Click on the sign-in link and it will open the MSN login page. Simply provide your username and password and click on Sign-in button. MSN now asks for a confirmation to send some information to your site. Accept the agreement and click on the Ok button. Finally you are logged in and you can see your online buddies and chat with them.

SilverLight to stream AV File

For this drag and drop the 'SilverlightStreamingMediaPlayer' control onto your website. Open the 'SilverlightStreamingMediaPlayer Task' by clicking on the arrow found at the upper left corner of the Silverlight media player. It lets you choose between two different sources: first 'Silverlight streaming' and second is 'Other'.

Silverlight streaming is for streaming videos or audios from the Windows Live server (A server where you can upload your AV files), and the second is the 'Other' which gives you the option of streaming AV files from the host machine, ie, where the website is hosted. Before we proceed further, add any AV file to your website. For this press 'Shift + Alt + A,' browse for any WMV or MP3 file, select it and click on 'Add'. Move the AV file you just added to the root of your website. Now click on arrow, ie, the extender button found on the upper left corner of Silverlight media player, then select the 'MediaSourceProvider' as 'Other'.

In the URL field, click on the '...' button, select the AV file that you have just added (which can be seen on the 'Contents of the folder' panel) and click on 'Ok'. And your website with streaming video player is ready. Press F5 to see the results in your default browser.

Let's now see how you can steam any AV file for the Windows Live server. For this click on the extender button, select the 'MediaSourceProvider' as 'SilverlightStreaming' and then click on the '...' button to provide the source file. When the Window appears provide the account ID and account key, and click on the List button. Navigate to the AV file that you want to stream and click on the 'Ok' button. Everything is ready. Press the F5 key to test your website in your default browser.

For the second option you need to create a Silverlight Streaming account. For this click on the 'Create a Silverlight Streaming Account' which you get after clicking on the extender button of Silverlight streaming media player. Follow the onscreen instructions and finally a unique account ID and account key related to your live ID will be created for the 'SilverlightStreaming' option.