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Get appointments and meetings by using EWS in Exchange

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Learn how to get appointments and meetings by using the EWS Managed API or EWS in Exchange.

You can retrieve appointments and meetings from a calendar folder by using the CalendarFolder.FindAppointments EWS Managed API method or the FindItem EWS operation.

Get appointments by using the EWS Managed API

The following code example shows how to use the EWS Managed API to retrieve a user's appointments that fall between a specified start and end time.

       // Initialize values for the start and end times, and the number of appointments to retrieve.
            DateTime startDate = DateTime.Now;
            DateTime endDate = startDate.AddDays(30);
            const int NUM_APPTS = 5;
            // Initialize the calendar folder object with only the folder ID. 
            CalendarFolder calendar = CalendarFolder.Bind(service, WellKnownFolderName.Calendar, new PropertySet());
            // Set the start and end time and number of appointments to retrieve.
            CalendarView cView = new CalendarView(startDate, endDate, NUM_APPTS);
            // Limit the properties returned to the appointment's subject, start time, and end time.
            cView.PropertySet = new PropertySet(AppointmentSchema.Subject, AppointmentSchema.Start, AppointmentSchema.End);
            // Retrieve a collection of appointments by using the calendar view.
            FindItemsResults<Appointment> appointments = calendar.FindAppointments(cView);
            Console.WriteLine("\nThe first " + NUM_APPTS + " appointments on your calendar from " + startDate.Date.ToShortDateString() + 
                              " to " + endDate.Date.ToShortDateString() + " are: \n");
            
            foreach (Appointment a in appointments)
            {
                Console.Write("Subject: " + a.Subject.ToString() + " ");
                Console.Write("Start: " + a.Start.ToString() + " ");
                Console.Write("End: " + a.End.ToString());
                Console.WriteLine();
            }

The following is the output from the code example.

The first five appointments on your calendar from 8/21/2013 to 9/20/2013 are: 
  
Subject: Contoso devs team meeting Start: 8/21/2013 12:30:00 PM End: 8/21/2013 1:00:00 PM
  
Subject: Daily status meeting Start: 8/21/2013 1:00:00 PM End: 8/21/2013 2:00:00 PM
  
Subject: Lunch with sales team Start: 8/21/2013 2:30:00 PM End: 8/21/2013 3:30:00 PM
  
Subject: Tennis at the club Start: 8/22/2013 11:00:00 AM End: 8/22/2013 12:00:00 PM
  
Subject: Online training webcast: 8/22/2013 2:00:00 PM End: 8/22/2013 3:00:00 PM

Get appointments by using EWS

The following XML shows a GetFolder operation request to return a folder ID for the FindItem operation.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
       xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
       xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
       xmlns:soap="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <soap:Header>
    <t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2007_SP1" />
  </soap:Header>
  <soap:Body>
    <m:GetFolder>
      <m:FolderShape>
        <t:BaseShape>IdOnly</t:BaseShape>
      </m:FolderShape>
      <m:FolderIds>
        <t:DistinguishedFolderId Id="calendar" />
      </m:FolderIds>
    </m:GetFolder>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The following XML shows the GetFolder response. Note that the FolderID and ChangeKey attributes are shortened for readability.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <s:Header>
    <h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15" MinorVersion="0" MajorBuildNumber="731" MinorBuildNumber="10" Version="V2_3" 
 xmlns:h="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
 xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" />
  </s:Header>
  <s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
    <m:GetFolderResponse xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
 xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
      <m:ResponseMessages>
        <m:GetFolderResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
          <m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
          <m:Folders>
            <t:CalendarFolder>
              <t:FolderId Id="AAMk" ChangeKey="AgAA" />
            </t:CalendarFolder>
          </m:Folders>
        </m:GetFolderResponseMessage>
      </m:ResponseMessages>
    </m:GetFolderResponse>
  </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

The following XML shows the FindItem request used to return the requested appointments. Note that the FolderID and ChangeKey attributes are shortened for readability.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
       xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
       xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
       xmlns:soap="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <soap:Header>
    <t:RequestServerVersion Version="Exchange2007_SP1" />
  </soap:Header>
  <soap:Body>
    <m:FindItem Traversal="Shallow">
      <m:ItemShape>
        <t:BaseShape>IdOnly</t:BaseShape>
        <t:AdditionalProperties>
          <t:FieldURI FieldURI="item:Subject" />
          <t:FieldURI FieldURI="calendar:Start" />
          <t:FieldURI FieldURI="calendar:End" />
        </t:AdditionalProperties>
      </m:ItemShape>
      <m:CalendarView MaxEntriesReturned="5" StartDate="2013-08-21T17:30:24.127Z" EndDate="2013-09-20T17:30:24.127Z" />
      <m:ParentFolderIds>
        <t:FolderId Id="AAMk" ChangeKey="AgAA" />
      </m:ParentFolderIds>
    </m:FindItem>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The following XML shows the FindItem response. Note that the ItemID and ChangeKey attributes are shortened for readability.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Envelope xmlns:s="https://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <s:Header>
    <h:ServerVersionInfo MajorVersion="15" MinorVersion="0" MajorBuildNumber="731" MinorBuildNumber="10" Version="V2_3" 
 xmlns:h="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
 xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types" 
 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" />
  </s:Header>
  <s:Body xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
    <m:FindItemResponse xmlns:m="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/messages" 
xmlns:t="https://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/services/2006/types">
      <m:ResponseMessages>
        <m:FindItemResponseMessage ResponseClass="Success">
          <m:ResponseCode>NoError</m:ResponseCode>
          <m:RootFolder TotalItemsInView="33" IncludesLastItemInRange="false">
            <t:Items>
              <t:CalendarItem>
                <t:ItemId Id="AAMk" ChangeKey="DwAA" />
                <t:Subject>Contoso devs team meeting</t:Subject>
                <t:Start>2013-08-21T19:30:00Z</t:Start>
                <t:End>2013-08-21T20:00:00Z</t:End>
              </t:CalendarItem>
              <t:CalendarItem>
                <t:ItemId Id="AAMk" ChangeKey="DwAA" />
                <t:Subject>Daily status meeting</t:Subject>
                <t:Start>2013-08-21T20:00:00Z</t:Start>
                <t:End>2013-08-21T21:00:00Z</t:End>
              </t:CalendarItem>
              <t:CalendarItem>
                <t:ItemId Id="AAMk" ChangeKey="DwAA" />
                <t:Subject>Lunch with sales team</t:Subject>
                <t:Start>2013-08-21T21:30:00Z</t:Start>
                <t:End>2013-08-21T22:30:00Z</t:End>
              </t:CalendarItem>
              <t:CalendarItem>
                <t:ItemId Id="AAMk" ChangeKey="DwAA" />
                <t:Subject>Tennis at the club</t:Subject>
                <t:Start>2013-08-22T18:00:00Z</t:Start>
                <t:End>2013-08-22T19:00:00Z</t:End>
              </t:CalendarItem>
              <t:CalendarItem>
                <t:ItemId Id="AAMkA" ChangeKey="DwAA" />
                <t:Subject>Online training webcast</t:Subject>
                <t:Start>2013-08-22T21:00:00Z</t:Start>
                <t:End>2013-08-22T22:00:00Z</t:End>
              </t:CalendarItem>
            </t:Items>
          </m:RootFolder>
        </m:FindItemResponseMessage>
      </m:ResponseMessages>
    </m:FindItemResponse>
  </s:Body>
</s:Envelope>

Recurring meetings and the calendar view

The calendar folder is a little different from other folders in a mailbox because occurrences in a recurring series and exceptions to a recurring series are not actual items in the mailbox, but rather are stored internally as attachments to a recurring master. This means that although you can create an EWS request that returns values between a set of start and end values by using one of the EWS Managed API FindItems overload methods, such as ExchangeService.FindItems or the EWS FindItem operation, EWS would not look through the attachment table of every calendar item to find exceptions and occurrences.

Instead, what you really want to do is something akin to applying a Dataview onto a union of two SQL tables, using a CalendarView object. Note that for performance reasons, we recommend that you use the PropertySet property to limit the size of the response by indicating the number of appointments or meetings you want returned, as well as the specific properties you want.

See also