System Center 2012 Configuration Manager console views are displayed in the results pane of the Configuration Manager console. You can create your own views and make them available anywhere in the tree view hierarchy.

Creating the View Assembly

To create a view, you must define a class within that implements the IConsoleView2 interface.

After you create the class and build the assembly, place it in the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\bin folder where it is loaded by the Configuration Manager console.

For more information, see How to Create a Configuration Manager Console Custom View.

Creating the Node XML

The view is integrated into the Configuration Manager console when you create an XML file that describes the location, queries, actions, and resources that are needed for the node that displays the view. The node XML file is placed in the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminConsole\ConsoleRoot\Extensions\Nodes folder, under a folder that is named with the GUID of the parent node for the node.

For more information, see How to Create Node XML for a Configuration Manager Console Grid View.

For more information about node XML, see Configuration Manager Console Nodes.

Help

F1 Help

You can add F1 Help support to your views by specifying the HelpID attribute of the view QueryDescription element in the node XML. In the HelpID attribute you specify the path to the .chm file and the topic that you want to display in the following format:

HelpID="<path to chm>::<path to topic><topic name>.htm"

For example, the following QueryDescription element declaration loads the "How to Create a Package" topic from the Configuration Manager .chm. The .chm is assumed to be in c:\chm.

Note
The assembly referenced below (ConfigMgrObjectsControl.dll) is created in the How to Create a Configuration Manager Console Custom View.
  Copy Code 
<ViewAssemblyDescriptions>   
 <ViewAssemblyDescription> 
   <Assembly> ConfigMgrObjectsControl.dll </Assembly>  
   <Type> Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.ConfigMgrObjectsView.ConfigMgrObjectsViewDescription </Type>
   <CustomData> 
	<ConfigurationData xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">  
	 <PropertyItemsData> 	 
	<Properties> 		
	 <string>MyProperty1</string> 
	 <string>MyProperty2</string> 		 
	</Properties> 	
	<ClassName>_SDK</ClassName> 
	 </PropertyItemsData>
	</ConfigurationData> 
   </CustomData> 
  </ViewAssemblyDescription>  
 </ViewAssemblyDescriptions>  
 <Actions>  </Actions> 
  <Queries>   
   <QueryDescription NamespaceGuid="a4b9867e-8fc8-4fae-8a1a-0c798c22e010" Type="WQL" HelpTopic="C:\chm\SystemCenterConfigurationManager_SDK.chm::/html/2c295b3b-e23c-4084-ad4a-8bba328ef6fc.htm"> 
	<Query>GetData</Query> 
	<ReturnedClassType>_SDK</ReturnedClassType>  
	<Actions> 
	 <ActionDescription Class="ShowDialog" DisplayName="ShowDialogActionName" Description="ShowDialogActionDescription"> 	
	<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> 	
 <DialogId>MyDialog</DialogId> 
</ActionDescription> 
</Actions>   
 </QueryDescription>  
</Queries>

For more information about using the QueryDescription element, see How to Create Node XML for a Configuration Manager Console Grid View.

Custom Help

You can also display your own .chm outside of the F1 Help system. For example, you can add a button to your form that opens your Help .chm. For more information about opening Help from Windows forms, see the MSDN documentation about the .NET Framework Class Library Help Class.

See Also