OL97: Automatic Resource Booking Available with Sample Scripts

• Microsoft Outlook 97
• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 5.5

SUMMARY

Automatic resource booking, a scheduling feature, is the ability to have a "resource" account, conference room, piece of equipment, or such, automatically accept or reject meeting requests based on availability. The Microsoft Schedule+ implementation of this feature allows the automatic processing of meeting requests to take place without the use of a delegate account, and without the resource account logging on. The implementation is different in Microsoft Outlook 97. Outlook requires that either a delegate be assigned to the resource account to accept/decline requests, or that the account be logged on continuously so that automatic processing can be enabled.

Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 introduces a new feature that allows events, such as a meeting request arriving in a mailbox, to trigger automated scripts. This feature is the Microsoft Exchange Scripting Agent. One of the Sample scripts on the Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 compact disc, automates the processing of meeting requests. Using this server script provides the same level of automatic booking in Outlook as in Schedule+, and provides several additional benefits.

NOTE: This is a sample script; support is not available for the script beyond this explanation of how to install and use it. This sample is provided as an example of how to use the scripting agent.

There is an updated AutoAccept Event script available which has added functionality. For more information on this updated script, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q184271 INFO: Updated AutoAccept Event Script

MORE INFORMATION

There are several steps to complete in order to configure the Microsoft Exchange Scripting agent install it and use the sample auto-booking script.

• Install the Scripting Agent



• Assign Client Permissions



• Install the AutoAccept Sample Script



• Test the script

Install the Scripting Agent

1. Re-run Setup from the Microsoft Exchange Server compact disc. This will start Maintenance Mode Setup.



2. Click Add/Remove Components.



3. Click to select Microsoft Exchange Server, then click Change Options.



4. Click to select "Microsoft Exchange Event Service."



5. Click OK twice to start Setup.



6. Restart the server if prompted.

Assign Client Permissions

1. Navigate to the Events Root entry that is under the ORG\Folders\System object.



2. Select the EventConfig entry for the server that contains the accounts that you want to install scripts for. For example, if a conference room account is on the server named CORPORATE, select the entry titled "EventConfig_Corporate".



3. On the File menu, click Properties and on the General tab, click Client Permissions to grant permission to the resource account.

Install the AutoAccept Sample Script

1. On the Server compact disc, open: Server\Support\Collab\Sampler\Scripts\AUTOACCEPT.



2. Double-click the Autoaccept.txt file to open it in Notepad.



3. On the Edit menu, click Select All, and on the Edit menu click Copy to copy the script to the clipboard.



4. In Outlook 8.03, click the Inbox of the Resource account mailbox.



5. On the File menu, click Properties and click to select the Agents tab. If you do not see an Agents tab, refer to the third question in the "Common Questions and Answers" section below.



6. In Agents, click New. Type an appropriate name for the script such as, Process Meeting Requests.



7. Click to select the event "A New Item Is Posted In This Folder."



8. Click Edit Script. This will launch Notepad with boilerplate text.



9. On the Edit menu, click Select All and then press DELETE to clear the text.



10. On the Edit menu, click Paste. The text from Autoaccept.txt appears.



11. On the File menu, click Save, and then quit Notepad.

Test the Script

1. Quit any client that is logged onto the resource account. The resource account does not need to be logged on for the script to execute.



2. Using a different account, in the Outlook Calendar folder on the Calendar menu, click New Meeting Request. Include the resource account in the meeting request.

Common Questions and Answers

Q.  Where can I get additional help?

A.  Additional help on configuring the event service and assigning client
    permissions can be obtained in the Agents.hlp Help file located in the
    Server\Support\Collab\Sampler\Scripts folder. Additional information on
    the specific autoaccept script can be found in the Readme.txt file
    in the Server\Support\Collab\Sampler\Scripts\Autoaccept folder. Also,
    since most scripts are written to take advantage of the Collaborative
    Data Object (CDO) object model, all reference information on CDO on
    the Microsoft Web (www.microsoft.com) is applicable.

Q.  Why do I not see the event service in Control-Panel Service?

A.  It probably was not installed during Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5
    Setup. Use the maintenance mode of Setup to add the event service
    component.

Q.  Why do I not see the Agents tab when viewing Properties on a folder
    from Outlook?

A.  The Agents tab is provided by an extension in Outlook. This extension
    is automatically added during the Outlook 8.03 Typical Setup. To make
    sure that the extension is installed, on the Tools menu click Options
    and on the General tab click Add-In Manager. There should be an entry
    for Server Scripting. If the entry is not there, rerun Outlook 8.03
    Setup and use the Add/Remove option to add the Server Scripting
    extension. If the extension is installed  and checked, and no Agent
    tab appears, then you do not have client permissions to install and
    manage scripts. These must be granted using the Microsoft Exchange
    Admin program as described in the section above titled "Assign Client
    permissions".

Q.  Everything is installed properly, but the Script is not executing.

    What's wrong?

A.  Wait a few minutes. server scripts are processed asynchronously, and
    there may be a couple of minutes lag time between processing.
    If you have waited more than 10 minutes with no action, then recheck
    the event that you selected for the script. For this sample, the event
    "A Message Is Posted To This Folder" is the only event that should be
    selected. Also verify that your code did in fact get copied intact
    into the script by using the Edit-Script button.

Q.  What advantages does this script give me over the existing Outlook and
    Schedule+ implementations of resource booking?

A.  The advantages over the existing Outlook method are that the script
    method does not require delegate interaction to manually
    accept/decline requests, and it does not require that the resource
    account be logged in to automatically process the request. The
    advantages over the Schedule+ implementation are that the processing
    works even when the meeting organizer is offline, and the meeting
    organizer does not have to be granted specific permission for the
    direct booking.

Q.  The script is declining my request, even though the resource is
    available. Why?

A.  The example script as written only handles 30 minute appointments. If
    your appointment is greater than 30 minutes in duration, the request
    will always be denied due to the decision logic in the script.
    Microsoft plans to remove this limitation in a subsequent sample
    script and will post more information here when that revision becomes
    available. 

Additional query words:

Keywords          : kbdta GnlCal 
Version           : WINDOWS:97; winnt:5.5
Platform          : WINDOWS winnt 
Issue type        : kbhowto 

Last Reviewed: June 21, 1999