DAIBOLA ChinaBridge - MS(R) Outlook(R) Connector

Brief description: The aim of this software project is to develop a small tool which downloads addresses from a server and stores these contacts into the directory (address book) of Microsoft Outlook. Functionalities: The software shall comprise the following functionalities: - Connect to a central server, namely, the ChinaBridge database, download contacts in the form of XML, parse the XML, store the parsed contacts in the directory - Connect to a central address server, the sedamo server, download addresses in the form of XML, parse the XML, store the parsed addresses - Maintain usernames and passwords for both the ChinaBridge and the sedamo user account - Maintain the TAN list for accessing the sedamo server. (One TAN is used for each downloaded address.) - Import the TAN list from a text file. Workflow: The suggested workflow of the software is: 1) Establish a connection to the ChinaBridge database 2) Download the list of new/changed contacts 3) REPEAT: download one contact, store it into the internal directory (add or update existing). Contacts are identified by an unique name; there should be a user-defined data field “uniquename”. 4) Addresses are transferred as sedamo address codes; there should be a user-defined data field “sedamo”. If an entry is updated and the sedamo address code has changed, then delete (empty) the address field. 5) Close connection 6) REPEAT: download addresses from the sedamo server for those entries which have a sedamo address code but an empty address field User interaction: The aim is to make the software “invisible”, running as a service. There will be the settings dialogues (see below) and a “Synchronise” button which manually triggers the download process. The dialogue for General Settings: Start Synchronisation every [5] hours ChinaBridge username ChinaBridge password sedamo username sedamo password Import TAN button Drop TAN button The dialogue for Import Settings: Within this dialogue, the user can associate the Outlook fields with one or more data fields provided by ChinaBridge SYNC. For example, ChinaBridge provides the company name in English, Chinese characters, and Chinese Pinyin (the Romanisation of Chinese). The user shall be able to choose a setting such as: Outlook field “company name” ← ChinaBridge field company name (English) [CONCATENATED WITH] ChinaBridge field company name (Chinese characters) Documentation: General information on ChinaBridge: [login to view URL] General information on sedamo: [login to view URL] ; [login to view URL] Technical documentation of the ChinaBridge SYNC XML interface: [login to view URL] Technical documentation of the sedamo XML interface: [login to view URL] Others: Free evaluation account for both ChinaBridge and sedamo will be provided to the programmer (including TAN). Chinese language skills can be an advantage, but are not required. Communication language is English. Please refer to other projects you have finished so far.