How to Create a Collection Variable in Configuration Manager

Article
05/03/2011

Applies To: System Center Configuration Manager 2007, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2

You create a collection variable for a Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 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 About the SMS Provider in Configuration Manager.
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 doesn't, 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.

Security

For more information about securing Configuration Manager applications, see About Securing Configuration Manager Applications.