Develop Reference

Push Notification for web site

I have been tasked to add push notification for a web site being developed. Never done one before. I spent a long time googling this and I am not much closer than when I started searching, mostly because most articles describe specific details.
The web application is an intranet app and they are asking for things like when a new report is made available, let the users know about it; or basically any kind of organization/department announcements.
Can someone tell me what are the components involved in developing/deploying this type push notifications? If I know what the pieces are that make this process possible, I can take it from there. I must mention that this web application is being designed to be available on devices (desktop, tablets and phones; if this makes any difference in design/development).

You can try OneSignal Push Notification
in this you can send notifications to websites,android app and ios app
You can also check the documentation for sending notifications to website here
Hope this helps:)

How to setup Azure Notification Hub in C# backend

I'm trying to implement my C# backend's communication with Notification Hub. I've read almost every tutorial about Azure Notification Hub, and I can't find a decent tutorial that explains what actually corresponds to what. I think there are two ways of representing a device (from what I've understood): an Installation and Registration, and Installation seems to be newer and more preferred.
However, when I get into Installation, I get more questions in my mind:
What is InstallationId? Is it something that I create, or something that I get from somewhere, either device or PNS.
Do I need to set up ExpirationTime, or does it default to longest (it says 90 days is the longest)? What if I want it to be longer than 90 days?
What is PushChannel? Is it, just like InstallationId, something that I create, or get from somewhere?
How are templates exactly used?
Out of all these variables, which one is the actual device push token that I get at the client?
I usually don't ask those kind of questions that seek for a tutorial-ish answers and have multiple questions, but I've tried to search everywhere, but the more I search, the more it gets complicated and I don't even know where to start. Any answer would be a good starting point to anyone trying to learn Notification Hubs, just like me.

InstallationId is an abstraction on top of device token/key/channel etc. It's a unique id that you create when you 'install' a device (or user if your OS/platform allows separate tokens for multiple users). This is an id you can use to associate tags, templates etc with the device. You create an installation once and then keep the id somewhere in the local storage and then make updates to the installation associated with the id if you need to.
You don't need to explicitly set ExpirationDate. I think in the past tokens on most platforms used to expire, so this was a way to let Notification Hubs know when not to try to push to the token. I believe now it's not the case. So what happens is if Notification Hubs cannot deliver a notification to a device for a number of times, it just deletes the registration by itself.
Has this post on templates been useful?
PushChannel stands for 'The channel URI if registering the installation for WNS; Device Token if registering for APNS.'
Let me know in the comments if I can clarify any of these and I'll update the answer.

There is actually a 3rd option besides Installation and Notification: DirectSend.
The Direct-Send technique is less of an abstraction than Installation and Notification. With Direct-Send you can send notifications directly to one or more specific devices. Basically you use the actual deviceToken- as in what #NikitaG notes for PushChannel.
If you need to be able to decide specifically when your back-end application pushes to a specific-device-A-but-not-B vs. pushing to a specific-device-B-but-not-A vs. specific-device-A-and-specific-device-B according to some schedule Direct-Send can be enabling.
I'd listed some of the resources discussing Direct-Send at Azure Notification Hubs Send Notification to Specific Device.

access Lync / Skype for Business conversation in C#

I'm facing a use case, where it shall be possible to take over a Lync/Skype for Business Conversation into my Software. The help desk user was contacted by a customer via Skype for Business and now needs to create a ticket from that conversation. Only the chat-conversation is needed, no voip conversations or so.
I could not find any documentation about how to start any Actions out of a Skype for Business conversation window.
I'm sure, somebody solved that before.

Note that:
- "Skype for Business" is basically a rebranded Lync, so Shane's advice about the "Lync Client SDK" is correct.
- "Skype" != "Skype for Business". It's like java and javascript, totally different, just similar names for branding.
- Persistent Chat means "chat rooms that remain". Skype for Business has regular IM chat and its much less used "Persistent Chat".
- tel.red can do this for you if you pay them.

I think what you want is to use the Lync Client SDK specifically the parts dealing with Persistent Chat, there are samples you can play with.
If you don't want to integrate into the Lync Client itself, you can go down the UCMA route and create a "bot" that can take part in chat conversations.

Using Skype's own API is probably the best way.
http://www.skype.com/en/developer/

I am not able to get the lync sdk controls to work when Skype for business/lync is running using app-v. it works fine when the program is "installed" though.
when running Skype for business/lync in app-v, the error is basically lync client not found, even though it is obviously running.

log in using cellphones in asp.net Applications

I have an ASP.NET application done in C#. When a user logs in using a phone it redirects the user to the mobile version of the application. Now what i need, is to find out what type of phone they use when they log in, Android , Iphone , etc...
I'd appreciate any solution.

In javascript you can glean quite a lot of information from navigator.userAgent
example:
function isAndroid()
{
navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i);
}
This will return true if the device is Android.
More information here:
http://www.abeautifulsite.net/blog/2011/11/detecting-mobile-devices-with-javascript/

(disclaimer - not a web dev)
You are going to have to make a best guess by what type of browser they are using.
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3yekbd5b(v=vs.100).aspx
You may be able to determine the OS and device based on this, depending on how the browser is versioned. It will require a xref table to map the browser to a device.
Also, check out this, I think it may help you:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/34422/Detecting-a-mobile-browser-in-ASP-NET
HTH,
Eric

Traffic Data on Windows Phone 8 App, How? What about Terms Of Use?

Can one use Microsof/Nokia's traffic data on Windows Phone 8? How?
It seems to be very easy for a Windows Store app..
So.. I explored Microsoft.Phone.Maps.Controls.Map, no luck.
I can't find any code or post on how to get traffic data in C# for Windows Phone 8. I fear that there is be something I should know.
There is a RESTful Traffic API but I'm somewhat confused about Terms Of Use.
I suppose I would fit in the free-app-with-ads model. In this context, are the transactions billable?

For Bing Maps:
You could easily use the Traffic REST service to provide information about traffic on your control but in fact, there might be issues regarding the Terms of Use as it might be not authorized to use it in another scenario than in a Webpage (whatever the protocol). See 8.2.i (see also point 9 about Mobile APP):
http://www.microsoft.com/maps/product/terms.html
In this case, you'd be in competition against the GPS devices (Garmin and so on) and that's probably the main reason you might have problems to do so. You can reach maplic#microsoft.com if you have a specific use case in mind and want to make sure you would be able to create the application in the way you want.
Anyway, if it's for a Proof Of Concept kind of application, you can use the REST service to get information along a route or for a specific area, see the MSDN here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh441728.aspx
And here is an example to use it in a .Net application (so in your WP client application):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj819168.aspx
For Nokia Maps:
Nokia's offer integrates a dedicated traffic API that is not part of the public API but rather from their Nokia Location Platform (also called Here Platform for Enterprise) and with this API you can retrieve information for a specific area and get precise information like in Bing's REST service.
You should reach your Nokia's representatives to get more information if needed about this service.
Let us know if you have any further question.