Creating a Remote Web Access Add-In
Published: December 17, 2010
Updated: October 9, 2012
Applies To: Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Server 2012 Essentials, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 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 templates that you obtained with the SDK. You must also ensure that Microsoft .Net Framework 4 is installed on your development computer.
The following table lists the templates that you can use to develop add-ins for Remote Web Access.
| Template name | Description |
|---|---|
|
WebAddIn.zip |
The project template that contains a complete add-in. |
|
ContentPage.zip |
An item template for a content page. |
|
Gadget.zip |
An item template for a gadget. |
The project and item templates are located in a folder named Remote Access.
To install the templates
-
Copy the WebAddIn.zip file from the Remote Access folder to the following location:
\My Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ProjectTemplates\Visual C#
-
Copy the ContentPage.zip file from the Remote Access folder to the following location:
\My Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ItemTemplates\Visual C#
-
Copy the Gadget.zip file to the following location:
\MyDocuments\Visual Studio 2010\Templates\ItemTemplates\Visual C#
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
-
Ensure that the add-in files are published to the file system. To do this:
-
In the Solution Explorer, right click the add-in project, and then click Publish.
-
Select File System for the Publish method.
-
Browse to the folder that you want to use for the Target Location.
-
Click Publish.
-
In the Solution Explorer, right click the add-in project, and then click Publish.
-
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\%PROJECT_NAME%.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 %PROJECT_NAME% is the name of your add-in project. -
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%.
