How to Create a Collection Variable in Configuration Manager

Article
10/04/2022

You create a collection variable for a Configuration Manager collection by adding instances of SMS_CollectionVariable Server WMI Class to the CollectionVariables property of SMS_CollectionSettings Server WMI Class.

To create a collection variable

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see SMS Provider fundamentals.
Get an instance of SMS_CollectionSettings.
For each variable to be added, add instances of the embedded object SMS_CollectionVariable to the CollectionVariables array property.
Commit the changes to the SMS_CollectionSettings class instance.

Example

The following example method creates a collection variable and adds it to the collection identified by the supplied identifier. If the SMS_CollectionSettings object for the collection does not exist, it is created.

For information about calling the sample code, see Calling Configuration Manager Code Snippets.

Sub CreateCollectionVariable( connection, name, value, mask, collectionId, precedence)  

    Dim collectionSettings  
    Dim collectionVariables  
    Dim collectionVariable  
    Dim Settings  

    ' See if the settings collection already exists. if it does not, create it.  
    Set settings = connection.ExecQuery _  
      ("Select * From SMS_CollectionSettings Where CollectionID = '" & collectionID & "'")  

    If settings.Count = 0 Then  
        Wscript.Echo "Creating collection settings object"  
        Set collectionSettings = connection.Get("SMS_CollectionSettings").SpawnInstance_  
        collectionSettings.CollectionID = collectionId  
        collectionSettings.Put_  
    End If    

    ' Get the collection settings object.  
    Set collectionSettings = connection.Get("SMS_CollectionSettings.CollectionID='" & collectionId &"'" )  

    ' Get the collection variables.  
    collectionVariables=collectionSettings.CollectionVariables  

    ' Create and populate a new collection variable.  
    Set collectionVariable = connection.Get("SMS_CollectionVariable").SpawnInstance_  
    collectionVariable.Name = name  
    collectionVariable.Value = value  
    collectionVariable.IsMasked = mask  

    ' Add the new collection variable.  
    ReDim Preserve collectionVariables (UBound (collectionVariables)+1)  
    Set collectionVariables(UBound(collectionVariables)) = collectionVariable  

    collectionSettings.CollectionVariables=collectionVariables  

    collectionSettings.Put_  

 End Sub

public void CreateCollectionVariable(  
    WqlConnectionManager connection,   
    string name,   
    string value,   
    bool mask,   
    string collectionId,   
    int precedence)  
{  
    try  
    {  
        IResultObject collectionSettings = null;  

        // Get the collection settings. Create it if necessary.  

         IResultObject collectionSettingsQuery = connection.QueryProcessor.ExecuteQuery(  
                    "Select * from SMS_CollectionSettings where CollectionID='" + collectionId + "'");  

         foreach (IResultObject setting in collectionSettingsQuery)  
         {  
             collectionSettings = setting;  
         }  

        if ( collectionSettings == null)  
         {  
             collectionSettings = connection.CreateInstance("SMS_CollectionSettings");  
             collectionSettings["CollectionID"].StringValue = collectionId;  
             collectionSettings.Put();  
             collectionSettings.Get();  
         }  

        // Create the collection variable.  
        List<IResultObject> collectionVariables = collectionSettings.GetArrayItems("CollectionVariables");  
        IResultObject collectionVariable = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_CollectionVariable");  
        collectionVariable["Name"].StringValue = name;  
        collectionVariable["Value"].StringValue = value;  
        collectionVariable["IsMasked"].BooleanValue = mask;  

        // Add the collection variable to the collection settings.  
        collectionVariables.Add(collectionVariable);  
        collectionSettings.SetArrayItems("CollectionVariables", collectionVariables);  

        // Set the collection variable precedence.  
        collectionSettings["CollectionVariablePrecedence"].IntegerValue = precedence;  

        collectionSettings.Put();  
    }  
    catch (SmsException e)  
    {  
        Console.WriteLine("Failed to create collection variable: " + e.Message);  
        throw;  
   }  
}

The example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
`Connection`	- Managed: `WqlConnectionManager` - VBScript: SWbemServices	A valid connection to the SMS Provider.
`Name`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The name of the variable to be created.
`Value`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The value of the variable
`Mask`	- Managed: `Boolean` - VBScript: `Boolean`	Specifies whether the value is displayed in the Configuration Manager console. `true` - the variable value is not displayed. `false` - the variable value is displayed.
`CollectionID`	- Managed: `String` - VBScript: `String`	The collection that the variable is added to.
`Precedence`	- Managed: `Integer` - VBScript: `Integer`	The precedence of the variable over other variables in the array.

Compiling the Code

The C# example has the following compilation requirements:

Namespaces

System

System.Collections.Generic

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider

Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ManagementProvider.WqlQueryEngine

Assembly

microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider

adminui.wqlqueryengine

Robust Programming

For more information about error handling, see About Configuration Manager Errors.

.NET Framework Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see Configuration Manager role-based administration.