The survey sample application is another example of the level of customization that can be incorporated into Microsoft Exchange Server groupware applications. It is a reusable survey design tool that enables end users to create surveys, either from scratch or by using another survey as a starting point. The sample application was developed using Visual Basic. The following figure shows a survey in the process of being designed.
The survey sample application illustrates how you can integrate Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange Server applications. For example, a summary of the information collected through the Survey application can be output to Microsoft Word. You can then copy the data into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for further analysis or into a Microsoft Word document that can be printed. Because Visual Basic and Microsoft Office applications use the same engine to build custom solutions, you can take advantage of the strengths of each application and programming interface.
If you want to build a customized application that is closely tied to Microsoft Exchange Server, you can use Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) Programmer's Reference to integrate your applications with Microsoft Exchange Server or to build a custom gateway. You can tailor the Microsoft Exchange Client interface to meet your specific needs, add functionality to the administrative module, or give you access to virtually any part of the Microsoft Exchange Server infrastructure.
Microsoft Exchange Server provides a broad and readily defined infrastructure, including support for connectivity to the Internet and X.400 systems, as well as a powerful development kit upon which to build the custom applications you need.