Add-Ins are a unique feature of the Windows Home Server and one that allows infinite variability to the product, making each home server unique to its user.
At the last count there were more than 50 Windows Home Server add-ins available to the WHS user, with capabilities ranging from changing the picture on your WHS Remote Access home page (Whiist and WHS Customiser) to home automation (ipsHomeControl). If your finger is a little sore from clicking the left and right buttons in the WHS home console tabbed area to get to all those add-ins you have installed, then let the scroll wheel on your mouse do the work for you!
Tab Scroller
The first of two add-in management tools from Brendan Grant, Tab Scroller, allows you to scroll left and right between add-in tabs in the Windows Home Server Console’s toolbar. After the straightforward process of installing the Add-In from within the WHS console, then restarting it, a click on one of the Tab buttons at the top of the console activates the scrolling function. A forward and backward scroll of the mouse wheel moves the tabs to the left or right. You can then select the tab you need by clicking on it with the mouse. You may well live a perfectly happy and productive life without ever installing this add-in but if you are a regular user of the scroll wheel and your list of add-ins is long then this does the job nicely.
Tab Reorderer
The second add-in management tool from Brendan Grant is Tab Reorderer. If you are unhappy with the order in which your list of add-ins appears within the WHS console then this tool lets you put it right. After installation, Tab Reorderer is accessed via the WHS Console’s Settings button. A click on Tab Reorderer produces a list of all the installed add-ins shown on the WHS console tab.
Change Add-In order
By selecting an add-in it can be moved up or down the list altering its position in the WHS console tab. Moving the add-in up the list pushes it across to the left hand side of the WHS Console add-ins tab, but no further than the fixed Server Storage tab. Moving an add-in down the list pushes it along until it eventually disappears off the tabbed area, and is accessible by clicking the right arrow button or using the tab scroller described previously.
Ignore Add-Ins
As well as changing the order of add-in tabs within console, Tab Reorderer can be set to ignore an add in so that it is removed from the Tab list in Tab Reorderer. Clicking Restore reverses this process and reinstates the entry in the Tab list. Ignored add-ins can be viewed and reinstated from a separate tab within Tab Reorderer.
Delete Add-Ins
The Delete add-in function was developed because Brendan had experienced add-in icons persisting in the WHS console tabbed area after they were uninstalled. So far I have not had that experience when uninstalling an add-in I’ve previously re-ordered. The delete button seems to have no effect when used on an add-in that is active and installed via the WHS console add-in installer, although the console window prompts to close down and needs re-opening afterwards.
The Tab Reorderer add-in tool is simple to use and works. The tool allows add-ins to be grouped together, for example, network management tools or media streaming applications can be grouped together without the need to be concerned about what order you install them, as they can quickly and easily be placed in whatever order you want within the WHS Console.
Brendan has identified a simple need and had created a simple add-in to meet it - just what Microsoft intended with the Windows Home Server SDK.
Download: Tab Scroller | Tab Reorderer
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