Every System Center 2012 Configuration Manager action is defined by an ActionDescription XML element that defines the action type and other information that is used by the Configuration Manager console to display the action. An ActionDescription element has a variety of child elements that provide information specific to the action type and also conditional tests made before the action is displayed.

The following XML example describes an action that runs a command prompt, creates .txt file and opens that .txt file in notepad. The ActionDescription element Class attribute denotes an executable action and the Executable element provides both the path of the executable and the parameters to pass to that executableThe ShowOn element tells the console to make this action available both on the context menu and the default home tab of the ribbon menu.

  Copy Code 
<ActionDescription Class="Executable" DisplayName="ExecutableActionName" Description="ExecutableActionDescription">
  <ShowOn>
	<string>DefaultHomeTab</string>
	<string>ContextMenu</string>
  </ShowOn>
  <ResourceAssembly>
	<Assembly>UIExtensionsDemo.dll</Assembly>
	<Type>UIExtensionsDemo.Resources.resources</Type>
  </ResourceAssembly>
  <ImagesDescription>
	<ResourceAssembly>
	<Assembly>UIExtensionsDemo.dll</Assembly>
	<Type>UIExtensionsDemo.Resources.resources</Type>
	</ResourceAssembly>
	<ImageResourceName>ActionIcon</ImageResourceName>
  </ImagesDescription>
  <Executable>
	<FilePath>cmd</FilePath>
	<Parameters>/C &quot;echo ##SUB:__RELPATH## &gt; %temp%\relpath.txt &amp; notepad %temp%\relpath.txt&quot;</Parameters>
  </Executable>
</ActionDescription>

The default actions used by the Configuration Manager console are defined in the XML files located in the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\XmlStorage\ConsoleRoot\ folder. The XML files for custom actions can be placed in the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\XmlStorage\Extensions\Actions folder under the appropriate Configuration Manager console node. The Configuration Manager console node is identified by a folder named with the GUID of the Configuration Manager console folder.

The following are typical attributes for an ActionDescription element:

Attribute Description

ActionVerb

Indicates whether the action is associated with a standard action.

Class

The action type, for example, ShowDialog.

DisplayName

The text displayed in the context menu.

MnemonicDisplayName

The mnemonic display name.

Description

The action description.

ImageDescription

Information about the action's icon.

SelectionMode

Determines when the action is displayed, as follows:

Single (default). Action is shown only when the selection set contains a single item.

Multiple. Action is shown when the selection set contains more than one item.

Both. Action is shown when one or more items are selected.

For a complete list of attributes, see ActionDescription.

There are a number of child elements for any given action type.

See Also