Programming the BlyncLight USB Led Lync Presence Indicator Device

A while back I came across the BlyncLight, a USB device that can illuminate a colored block to mirror your Lync presence. http://www.blynclight.com/. It looked like it may be a cheap solution to a problem I was trying to solve. I work in a separate facility on my property, which provides me the seclusion and peace and quiet I need to write software. It keeps co-workers from barging in and interrupting me while I am "wired in". The one fatal flaw in this is my 3 children. Nothing in the world it seems can stop them from running from the house to my office and bursting through the door, no matter if I am on the phone or presenting a webinar. I thought initially about purchasing another Lync Phone Edition device to face toward the door and training them to look at the icon on the phone to determine if I was in a state where I should not be disturbed or not. With a little research I came across the Blync instead, and at $40 instead of $150 it seemed like it was worth a try.




The device arrived in nice packaging and was simple enough to install, plug it in, and install the software. Here is were I ran into some issues, the software seemed to work fine, for 90 minutes or so, then die with a Write Failed error, and consume 25% of the cpu while ceasing to function after that. I tried a few different machines, all with the same result, so I gave up for a week or so. When I came up for air a week later I found they had an SDK so I figured I'd give that a whirl rather than the declaring the unit "bad" and returning it. Sure enough with 15 minutes a programming I had written a simple replacement program that works flawlessly for what I needed.

Here is the jist;

Step 1. Get the SDK from Blync, it's a little weird, as the old Zip file contains the new dll, for which the docs included don't apply, but honestly the SDK is so simple if you need docs, you may want to stop reading now.

Step 2. I defined a simple XAML C# app with a 75x75 screen, I thought about using a 3rd party lib to get access to toolbar icon, but wanted to do it quick and dirty.

<Window x:Class="BlyncTest.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="BLync" Height="75" Width="75" Loaded="Window_Loaded" WindowStyle="ToolWindow" Background="Green" Closing="Window_Closing">
<Grid>

</Grid>
</Window>

As you can see it's VERY simple, not even a control, i'll just change the window back color to match the light color, that's all.


Step 3. Add the Lync 2013 (in my case) client SDK libs as references.


Step 4. Write the code.


using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
//using Microsoft.Lync.Controls;
using Microsoft.Lync.Internal;
using Microsoft.Lync.Controls.Internal;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model.Conversation;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model.Conversation.AudioVideo;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model.Extensibility;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model.Device;
using Microsoft.Lync.Model.Group;
using BlyncLightSDK;
using System.Windows.Threading;
using System.Threading;
namespace BlyncTest
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
LyncClient lc;
BlyncLightController oBlC = new BlyncLightController();
int numberOfBlync = 0;
int errors = 0;
System.Timers.Timer mt = new System.Timers.Timer();
BlyncLightController.Color currentColor = BlyncLightController.Color.Cyan;
Brush bkBrush = Brushes.Cyan;
private void Window_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
var desktopWorkingArea = System.Windows.SystemParameters.WorkArea;
this.Left = desktopWorkingArea.Right - this.Width;
this.Top = desktopWorkingArea.Bottom - this.Height;
}
catch { }
try
{
lc = LyncClient.GetClient();
mt.Interval = 1000;
mt.Elapsed += mt_Elapsed;
mt.Start();
lc.ConversationManager.ConversationAdded += new EventHandler<ConversationManagerEventArgs>(ConversationManager_ConversationAdded);
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("You should be running Lync First.");
this.Close();
}
try
{
loadBlyc();
}
catch { }
}
void ConversationManager_ConversationAdded(object sender, ConversationManagerEventArgs e)
{
try
{
if (ContainsAVCall(e.Conversation))
{
Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
{
blinkB(BlyncLightController.Color.Blue, BlyncLightController.Speed.Fast);
Thread.Sleep(2000);
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Green);
});
}
}
catch { }
}
void mt_Elapsed(object sender, System.Timers.ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
try
{
//reload the driver if errors have happend
if (errors > 0)
{
try
{
oBlC.CloseDevices(numberOfBlync);
}
catch { }
loadBlyc();
}

}
catch { }

try
{
//check the presence
ContactAvailability c = (ContactAvailability)lc.Self.Contact.GetContactInformation(ContactInformationType.Availability);
switch (c)
{
case ContactAvailability.Away:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Yellow);
bkBrush = Brushes.Yellow;
break;
case ContactAvailability.Busy:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Red);
bkBrush = Brushes.Red;
break;
case ContactAvailability.BusyIdle:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Yellow);
bkBrush = Brushes.Yellow;
break;
case ContactAvailability.DoNotDisturb:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Magenta);
bkBrush = Brushes.Magenta;
break;
case ContactAvailability.Free:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Green);
bkBrush = Brushes.Green;
break;
case ContactAvailability.FreeIdle:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Yellow);
bkBrush = Brushes.Yellow;
break;
case ContactAvailability.Invalid:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Off);
bkBrush = Brushes.DimGray;
break;
case ContactAvailability.None:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Green);
bkBrush = Brushes.Green;
break;
case ContactAvailability.Offline:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.White);
bkBrush = Brushes.White;
break;
case ContactAvailability.TemporarilyAway:
colorB(BlyncLightController.Color.Yellow);
bkBrush = Brushes.Yellow;
break;
}


this.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke((Action)delegate()
{
this.Background = bkBrush;
}, DispatcherPriority.ApplicationIdle);
}
catch { }
}
private void loadBlyc()
{
try
{
oBlC = new BlyncLightController();
numberOfBlync = oBlC.InitBlyncDevices();
errors = 0;
}
catch { }
}
private void Window_Closing(object sender, System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
try
{
mt.Stop();
mt.Dispose();
}
catch { }
try
{
oBlC.CloseDevices(numberOfBlync);
}
catch { }
}
private void blinkB(BlyncLightController.Color c, BlyncLightController.Speed s)
{
try
{
oBlC.Blink(c, s, 0);
}
catch
{
errors++;
}
}
private void colorB(BlyncLightController.Color c)
{
try
{
if (c != currentColor)
{
oBlC.Display(c, 0);
currentColor = c;
}
}
catch
{
errors++;
}
}
private bool ContainsAVCall(Conversation c)
{
try
{
//Console.WriteLine(c.Modalities[ModalityTypes.AudioVideo].State.ToString());
return c.Modalities.ContainsKey(ModalityTypes.AudioVideo) && c.Modalities[ModalityTypes.AudioVideo].State != ModalityState.Disconnected;
}
catch
{
return false;
}
}
}
}
Yep that's all folks, the program does the following;


Registers to connect to your local Lync client, so you need that running first.
Registers to connect to your blync device, so you need that connected.
Runs a timer every minute to examine your status, and change the light to the appropriate color if it's not already.
Creates an event so when a new conversion starts, it it contains audio, the light blinks blue for a second, then returns to your status color.






In conclusion, I really love the Blync device, it's a beacon even my kids can't miss. The price was fine to solve the issue I had, and with a little programming the short comings of the included software are easily overcome.


If you'd like an MSI install of this, just leave me a comment on the blog and i'll hook you up.


Doug Routledge, C# Lync, SQL, Exchange, UC Developer