Windows Server 2012 MMC Administration (part 8) - Designing custom taskpads for the MMC - Getting started with taskpads, Understanding taskpad view styles

3. Designing custom taskpads for the MMC

When you want to simplify administration or limit the available tasks for junior administrators or Power Users, you might want to consider adding a taskpad to a console tool. By using taskpads, you can create custom views of your console tools that contain shortcuts to menu commands, shell commands, and navigation components.

Getting started with taskpads

Basically, taskpads let you create a page of tasks you can perform quickly by tapping or clicking the associated shortcut links rather than using the existing menu or interface provided by snap-ins. You can create multiple taskpads in a console, each of which is accessed as a taskpad view. The revised Control Panel introduced with Windows XP features a taskpad view of the Control Panel. As with most taskpads, the Control Panel has two purposes: It provides direct access to the commands or tasks so that you don’t have to navigate menus, and it limits your options to a set of predefined tasks you can perform.

You create taskpads when you are working with a console tool in author mode. Taskpads can contain the following items:

• Menu commands Menu commands are used to run the standard menu options of included snap-ins.

• Shell commands Shell commands are used to run scripts or programs or to open webpages.

• Navigation components Navigation components are used to navigate to a saved view on the Favorites menu.

Taskpad commands are also called tasks. You run tasks simply by tapping or tapping or clicking their links. In the case of menu commands, tapping or clicking the links runs the menu commands. For shell commands, tapping or clicking the links runs the associated scripts or programs. For navigation components, tapping or clicking the links displays the designated navigation views. If you have multiple levels of taskpads, you must include navigation components to allow users to get back to the top-level taskpad. The concept is similar to having to create a home link on webpages.

Figure 14 shows a taskpad created for the Active Directory Users And Computers snap-in that has been added to the custom tool created earlier in the chapter.

Figure 14. A custom console with a taskpad that uses a vertical list.

As you can see, the task page view is labeled AD Management, and it provides the following commands:

• Create Computer Used to start the New Object—Computer Wizard

• Find Objects Used to open the Find Users, Contacts, And Groups dialog box

• Create Group Used to start the New Object—Group Wizard

• Create User Used to start the New Object—User Wizard

• Connect To Domain Used to select the domain to work with

• Create Advanced Query Used to define an Active Directory query and save it so that it can be reused

Note

You could also add a Connect To Domain Forest option that would be used to select the domain forest to work with. We haven’t used the taskpad to limit the options; rather, we’ve simply provided quick access shortcuts to commonly run tasks. In the next section, you’ll learn how to limit user options.

Understanding taskpad view styles

Taskpads can be organized in several ways. By default, they will have two views: an extended taskpad view and a standard view. The extended view contains the list of tasks you’ve defined and can also contain the console items being managed. The standard view contains only the console items being managed. When you create the taskpad, you have the option of hiding the standard view simply by selecting the Hide Standard Tab check box.

The extended view of the taskpad can be organized using a vertical list, a horizontal list, or no list. In a vertical list, as shown previously in Figure 14, taskpad commands are listed to the left of the console items they are used to manage. This organization approach works well when you have a long list of tasks and you still want users to be able to work with the related snap-ins.

With a horizontal list, as shown in Figure 15, the console items managed by the taskpad are listed above the taskpad commands. This organization style is best when you want to display multiple columns of taskpad commands and still be able to work with the related snap-ins.

Figure 15. A custom console with a taskpad that uses a horizontal list.

In some cases, you might not want to show the console items being managed by the taskpad on the same view as the tasks. In this case, you can specify that no list should be used. When you choose the No List option, the taskpad commands are shown by themselves in the taskpad tab (AD Management in the example), and users can tap or click the Standard tab to access the related console items.

Limiting user options in taskpads

As discussed, you can limit the options users have in console tools by selecting both the No List option and the Hide Standard Tab check box. Keep in mind that if the console tool doesn’t include a taskpad for a snap-in, users will still be able to manage the snap-in in the usual way. For example, the taskpad shown in Figure 15 doesn’t define any tasks that manage policy or security, so the snap-ins in these folders will be fully accessible. To make it so that users can’t work with these snap-ins directly, you must define taskpads for those snap-ins or add tasks that use menu commands from those snap-ins to the current taskpad or another taskpad.

When you select the No List option, you can limit users’ options to the tasks you’ve defined and not allow users to access the console items being managed. To do this, you specify that the Standard tab should be hidden. From then on, when working with the console items being managed, users can perform only the tasks defined on the taskpad, such as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16. By using the No List style and hiding the Standard tab, you can limit user options.