What is the best way to go about coding for Exchange Server?

[bobbert]

Alright. Probably one of the most niggly little things I've come across in my years of coding is deciding on how to go about developing an application which accesses Exchange Server 2003. I have the SDK and have been to site after site after site and yet there is no definitive way to go about coding for Exchange. So far the only real option is to use WebDAV. There's also CDO and the rest but which is best?

I am now a .NET 2.0 developer through an through and having to muck about with XMLDOM and such is particularly tedious when all a person wants to do is check the Exchange Server for something simple like new email, etc. That aside, there are articles on the web for doing various things with Exchange but they almost always differ in the manner in which they get things done.

What I really want to know is: What is the best way to go about accessing Exchange? What about using .NET 2.0? What sites are out there which are comprehensive about coding for Exchange?

These are questions which alot of people want answered but alas there are only a few people out there with the experience and expertise to answer them. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions on the matter please post them. Thanks in advance! >_<

[RogueSpear]

It totally depends on what it is that you are looking to do. As far as routine admin type chores, Monad was designed with Exchange server in mind. If you're looking to make a GUI application that interacts with the server, then I'd probably look into doing something based on .NET 2.0 - either VB or C#, it probably doesn't matter since they both have access to the same runtime.

[bobbert]

Okay, so using .NET 2.0 should be the simplest but which classes and that should be used? Most of the stuff is done remotely as well. Are there any classes or controls in NET 2.0 that actually allow interaction with Exchange? Interop style?

[RogueSpear]

Everything you would need to at least get started should be here.