How to Set an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence Variable

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

In Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, you create an operating system deployment task sequence variable by creating an instance of the SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction class, adding to a task sequence. You can also create task sequence variables while the task sequence is running on the client. For more information, see How to Use Task Sequence Variables in a Running Configuration Manager Task Sequence.

A task sequence variable is a name/value pair that you can access by task sequence steps. You can also create computer and collection-specific variables. For more information, see How to Create a Collection Variable in Configuration Manager and How to Create a Computer Variable in Configuration Manager.

Note

Variables that are set with the SMS_TaskSequenceSetVariableAction class override variables that are set elsewhere. For example, If a collection variable and a SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction have the same name, the value of the SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction variable takes precedence.

To set a task sequence variable

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see About the SMS Provider in Configuration Manager.
Get a task sequence to add the task sequence variable to. For more information, see How to Create an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence.
Create an instance of SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction.
Set the VariableName and VariableValue properties for the variable that you are adding.
Add the SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction object to the task sequence.

Example

The following example method sets a task sequence variable name and value.

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

Sub AddTaskSequenceVariable(connection, taskSequence, variableName, variableValue)   
    
    Dim variable
    Dim steps
        
    Set variable = connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction").SpawnInstance_
    
    variable.Name="MyTaskSequenceVariable"
    variable.Description = "A task sequence variable"
    variable.Enabled=True
    variable.ContinueOnError=False
    variable.VariableName=variableName
    variable.VariableValue=variableValue
        
      
    steps= Array(taskSequence.Steps)
            
    ReDim steps (UBound (taskSequence.Steps)+1)  
      
    taskSequence.Steps(UBound(steps))=variable
      
End Sub

public void AddTaskSequenceVariable(
    WqlConnectionManager connection, 
    IResultObject taskSequence, 
    string variableName, 
    string variableValue)
{
    try
    {
        // Create the task sequence variable object.
        IResultObject variable = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction");

        // Populate the properties.
        variable["Name"].StringValue = "MyTaskSequenceVariable";
        variable["ContinueOnError"].BooleanValue = false;
        variable["Description"].StringValue = "A task sequence variable set with SMS_TaskSequence_SetVariableAction";
        variable["Enabled"].BooleanValue = true;
        variable["VariableName"].StringValue = variableName;
        variable["VariableValue"].StringValue = variableValue;

        // Add the step to the task sequence.
        List<IResultObject> array = taskSequence.GetArrayItems("Steps");

        array.Add(variable);
        taskSequence.SetArrayItems("Steps", array);
    }
    catch (SmsException e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Failed to set task sequence variable: " + e.Message);
        throw;
    }
}

This example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
connection	Managed: WqlConnectionManager VBScript: SWbemServices	A valid connection to the SMS Provider.
taskSequence	Managed: WqlConnectionManager VBscript: SWbemServices	The task sequence the variable is added to.
variableName	Managed: String VBScript: String	The name of the variable.
variableValue	Managed: String VBScript: String	The value for the variable.

Compiling the Code

This C# example requires:

Namespaces

System

System.Collections.Generic

System.Text

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.