Modifying the UI
Applies To: Windows Server 2012 Essentials
There are three ways you can modify the user interface to integrate your hosted email service:
Use the built-in Dashboard UI elements to access your service.
The Hosted Email Integration framework extends the Dashboard UI to hook into the built-in email provider. Once you integrate your adapter, the operating system activates these elements. An administrator can use the additional UI to set up and access email accounts. For more information, see Working with the Built-In Email UI.
Extend the existing Dashboard elements.
You can extend both the existing Dashboard UI elements and the new built-in email UI elements using the standard extension techniques discussed in Creating a Dashboard Add-In. The main difference is that you will likely use the new HostedEmailManager interface to retrieve and display data. For more information, see Modifying the Email UI.
Install a new UI of your own design.
The built-in UI are designed with most traditional email administration scenarios in mind. However, your custom solution may have unique features that the default UI simply does not handle well. In that case, you can disable the new email UI elements, and install your own completely custom UI in their place. For more information, see Extending and Replacing the Email UI.
Once you have designed and integrated the UI updates, you can package them up with the deployment package. For more information, see How to: Deploy the Add-In.