Move an Application Page from WebApplication to Central Administration

Question

I've made an Application Page (derived from LayoutsPageBase) and it's showing in the WebApplication Settings correctly. Now, I need to move it to the Central Administration level.

1. Must I change my VS2010 SharePoint project Site URL ?
2. If yes, is there another way ?
3. Any ideas ?

Answer 1

It's not too complicated.

1. Move your page from the Layouts mapped directory to the TEMPLATE\ADMIN mapped directory.
2. Modify your Page Link or Module Elements.xml

as following :

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <CustomAction Id="(YourActionId)"
     GroupId="SiteDirectory"
     Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.GeneralApplicationSettings"
     Sequence="1000"
     Title="(YourTitle)">
        <UrlAction Url="_admin/(YourPath)/(YourPage).aspx"/>
    </CustomAction>
</Elements>

You can customize the GroupId and the Location with these options (MSDN). All that left is to go to your Central Administration -> Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Manage Site Collections Features -> Activate your feature.