Creating a Remote Web Access Add-In

 

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 Essentials, Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials

You can create and deploy an add-in that extends the capabilities of Remote Web Access. The following table lists the areas that can be extended for Remote Web Access.

Remote Web Access Area	Description
Online Services	The home page of Remote Web Access contains an area that lists links to online services. You can add links in this area to additional online services.
Menu Bar	The menu bar on the home page provides easy access to other pages and sites. You can add additional items to the menu bar that access other pages and sites.
Gadgets	A gadget is a custom area on the home page that performs a specific function. You can add your own gadgets to the home page.
Content Pages	Content pages provide specific information for a Remote Web Access user. You can add additional content pages and access them from the menu bar.

The procedures in this section require Visual Studio 2010 with the Microsoft Visual C# 2010 and Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 components installed.

Setting up the development environment

You can more easily create add-ins for Remote Web Access if you use the available templates. You must also ensure that Microsoft .NET Framework 4 is installed on your development computer.

1. Confirm that you have installed the Windows Server Essentials SDK.

2. In Visual Studio, click Tools, and then click Extensions and Updates….

3. On the Extensions and Updates dialog, click Online, and then search for “Windows Server”.

4. In the results pane, click on Windows Server Essentials Add-In Templates, and then click Download.

5. On the Installation dialog, click Install, and then click Close.

6. The WSS Web Add-in template should now be available through the New Project dialog, under the Templates directory.

Creating the Remote Web Access add-in files

See the following subsections for information about how to create the files that are used to add elements to Remote Web Access pages:

• How to: Create a New Project For Your Remote Web Access Add-In

• How to: Add a Link to the Online Services Section of the Home Page

• How to: Add an Item to the Menu Bar of the Home Page

• How to: Create a Gadget for the Home Page

• How to: Create a Content Page

• How to: Create a Mobile Version of a Content Page

• How to: Add Navigation Elements to a Content Page

Installing the Remote Web Access add-in files

To install the files for your Remote Web Access add-in, you publish the add-in files to the file system, and then copy the files to a specific folder on the server. It is recommended that you change the name of your add-in files to correspond to a unique identifier, such as a GUID. Complete the steps in the following procedure to install the add-in files.

To install the add-in files

1. Ensure that the add-in files are published to the file system. To do this:

   1. In the Solution Explorer, right click the add-in project, and then click Publish.

   2. Select File System for the Publish method.

   3. Browse to the folder that you want to use for the Target Location.

   4. Click Publish.

2. Copy the add-in assembly to the installation folder on the server. For example, the following command can be used if the add-in was developed on the server:

   copy %ADDIN%\bin\%ADDIN_GUID%.dll %Program files%\Windows Server\bin\WebApps\RemoteAccess\bin\%ADDIN_GUID%.dll  
   

   Note

   %ADDIN% represents the project folder where you developed your add-in and %ADDIN_GUID% is the GUID of your add-in.

3. Delete the bin folder and the web.config file from the publish folder, and then copy the remainder of the files to %Program files%\Windows Server\bin\WebApps\RemoteAccess\AddIns\%ADDIN_GUID%.