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How to: Deploy the Add-In

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Applies To: Windows Server 2012 Essentials

Once you have created the configuration file, coded the add-in assembly, and modified any necessary UI, you can deploy your solution to a Windows Server Essentials installation. The process of creating deployment package is described elsewhere in the documentation. The main unique pieces of information for a hosted email add-in are the installation directory, as well as the description of the modifications to the UI.

To create a deployment package

  1. Create the adapter add-in, and associated UI modifications, as described in Creating the Add-In and Modifying the UI.

    During this process, you will have created a configuration file, as well as a series of adorners.

  2. If you have replaced the built-in UI with your own custom UI, be sure to indicate that in the Configuration file. For more information, see How to: Create a Configuration XML File.

  3. For each adorner, you must create an *.addin file.

    For information on how to create an *.addin file, see How to: Create the Metadata File for the Add-In. The following XML describes the content of a simple adorner addin file:

    <addin name="Hosted Email Add User Wizard Add-in" basedir="C:\Program Files\Windows Server\Bin\" type="Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.MailService.AddUserWizardAdorner, HEAddin" />

  4. A hosted email add-in may contain multiple UI extensions; in this case, it is recommended that you package all the UI extensions in a single assembly and use the same assembly in all *.addin files.

    The benefit of doing so is that all UI extensions will be considered as part of the same hosted email add-in rather than separate add-ins. Doing so simplifies your code, as you do not need to load add-ins.

  5. Create the deployment package, as described in Creating and Deploying an Add-In Package.

  6. The assembly implementing the adapter is recommended to be deployed under %ProgramFiles%\Windows Server\Bin\

  7. The folder path should be specified in the configuration file root element, as described in the following code sample:

    <addin id="1F8D7206-D1F1-476C-A1DE-D1560634F8FB" name="Hosted Email Add-in" basedir="c:\program files\Windows Server\Bin" type="Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.HostedEmailIntegration, CustomAddin" >

  8. During the installation process, deploy the *.addin files to the %ProgramFiles%\Windows Server\Bin\Addins directory, in the following subdirectories:

    Adorner type Location
    Add User Wizard adorners Users\AddUserWizard\*.addin
    User Properties Dialog adorners Users\UserPropertyDialog\*.addin
    Remove User Wizard adorners Users\RemoveUserWizard\*.addin
    Enable User Dialog adorners Users\EnableUserDialog\*.addin
    Disable User Dialog adorners Users\DisableUserDialog\*.addin
    Reset Password Dialog adorners Users\ResetPasswordDialog\*.addin