Understanding the embedding process

Intuitive Dashboards is a native web application and has been designed to be embeddable into another piece of software or website. Slightly differing approaches are used to embed into a website or web application as opposed to a thick-client desktop application. However the two approaches use a common set of principles, components and techniques.

A variety of approaches are possible to the setup of security between the host and dashboard software, allowing a common view of user permissions: The approaches include having both applications refer to an Active Directory domain controller, having the dashboard server reuse the host user repository through a custom membership provider, or entirely separate security setups.
  
Once security integration is established, the user can be presented with a seamless authentication experience using Active Directory auto-login or by passing the user token through the URL. Both techniques remove the need for a user to log in twice. 
  
Once the user is established and logged in, the hosting application or website can control what dashboards are displayed by passing parameters through the dashboard URL. Additionally filters can be passed programmatically and user interface elements turned on or off. On the open internet, URL tokens and parameters can be protected from view using encryption.
  
As the user navigates the embedded dashboard, it is possible at selected points to pass control back to the host software using a variety of techniques. In this way the user can seamlessly switch between the embedded dashboard and the surrounding application without opening new windows or browser tabs.
 
Finally, in order to match the look and feel of the hosting software, the appearance of the dashboard user interface can be customised as appropriate.