The COM Automation interface for EchoLink is installed automatically when EchoLink is installed.
The root object is EchoLinkSession, which has a program ID (ProgID) of "EchoLink.EchoLinkSession".
If you are programming with Visual Basic, add a reference to "EchoLink Object Library ver 1.8" to your project.
The EchoLinkSession component is implemented as an out-of-process COM server, hosted by the EchoLink program (EchoLink.exe) itself.
When your program instantiates EchoLinkSession, it will connect to the existing, running instance of EchoLink, if any. If EchoLink is not already running, instantiating EchoLinkSession will start it up automatically. It is not possible to create multiple, distinct instances of EchoLink; all references to EchoLinkSession will refer to the same running instance.
Please disable the Tip of the Day feature (in EchoLink) when using the Automation interface, as it may interfere with proper operation of the API after EchoLink starts.