How to Add a Condition to an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence Step

Conditions can be added to an operating system deployment step (action and group), in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, by creating a SMS_TaskSequence_Condition class instance and then associating it with the step. If the condition operands are all met, then the step is processed; otherwise it is not. The condition can have one or more operands that are instances of SMS_TaskSequence_Condition derived classes. You specify operators for the operands with instances of SMS_TaskSequence_ConditionOperator.

Note
Configuration Manager 2007 provides several classes that provide useful expressions such as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) queries and file operations. For more information, see Operating System Deployment Server WMI Classes.

To add a condition to a step

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see About the SMS Provider in Configuration Manager.
Obtain a task sequence step object. This can be an SMS_TaskSequence_Group object for a group, or a SMS_TaskSequenceAction derived class object for an action, for more information, see How to Add an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence Action.
Create a new condition by creating an instance of SMS_TaskSequence_Condition.
Create an expression for the condition by creating an instance of an SMS_TaskSequence_ConditionExpression derived class. For example, SMS_TaskSequence_RegistryConditionExpression.
Populate the expression properties.
Add the expression to the condition Operands property.
Add the condition to the task sequence step class Condition property.

Example

The following example method adds a condition to a supplied step that determines if the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MICROSOFT registry key exists. The SMS_TaskSequenc_RegistryCondition Expression is used to specify the condition.

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

Visual Basic Script	Copy Code
Sub AddRegistryCondition (connection, taskSequenceStep) Dim condition Dim registryExpression Dim operands ' Get or create the condition. if IsNull ( taskSequenceStep.Condition) Then Set condition = connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequence_Condition").SpawnInstance_ Else Set condition = taskSequenceStep.Condition End If ' Populate the condition. Set registryExpression=connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequence_RegistryConditionExpression").SpawnInstance_ registryExpression.KeyPath="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MICROSOFT" registryExpression.Operator="exists" registryExpression.Type="REG_SZ" registryExpression.Data=Null ' Add the condition. operands=Array(registryExpression) condition.Operands=operands taskSequenceStep.Condition=condition End Sub

Visual Basic Script

Copy Code

Sub AddRegistryCondition (connection, taskSequenceStep)

	Dim condition
	Dim registryExpression
	Dim operands
   
	' Get or create the condition.
	if IsNull ( taskSequenceStep.Condition) Then
	 Set condition = connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequence_Condition").SpawnInstance_
	Else
		Set condition = taskSequenceStep.Condition
	End If   
		 
	' Populate the condition.
	Set registryExpression=connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequence_RegistryConditionExpression").SpawnInstance_
	registryExpression.KeyPath="HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MICROSOFT"
	registryExpression.Operator="exists"
	registryExpression.Type="REG_SZ"
	registryExpression.Data=Null

	' Add the condition.
	operands=Array(registryExpression)
	condition.Operands=operands
	taskSequenceStep.Condition=condition

End Sub

C#	Copy Code
public void AddRegistryCondition( WqlConnectionManager connection, IResultObject taskSequenceStep) { try { IResultObject condition; if (taskSequenceStep["Condition"].ObjectValue == null) { // Create a new condition. condition = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_TaskSequence_Condition"); } else { // Get the existing condition. condition = taskSequenceStep.GetSingleItem("Condition"); } // Create and populate the expression. IResultObject registryExpression = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_TaskSequence_RegistryConditionExpression"); registryExpression["KeyPath"].StringValue = @"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MICROSOFT"; registryExpression["Operator"].StringValue = "exists"; registryExpression["Type"].StringValue = "REG_SZ"; registryExpression["Data"].StringValue = null; // Get the operands and add the expression. List<IResultObject> operands = condition.GetArrayItems("Operands"); operands.Add(registryExpression); // Add the expresssion to the list of operands. condition.SetArrayItems("Operands", operands); // Add the condition to the sequence. taskSequenceStep.SetSingleItem("Condition", condition); } catch (SmsException e) { Console.WriteLine("Failed to create Task Sequence: " + e.Message); throw; } }

Copy Code

public void AddRegistryCondition(
	WqlConnectionManager connection, 
	IResultObject taskSequenceStep)
{
	try
	{
		IResultObject condition;

		if (taskSequenceStep["Condition"].ObjectValue == null)
		{
			// Create a new condition.
			condition = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_TaskSequence_Condition");
	}
		else
		{   // Get the existing condition.
			condition = taskSequenceStep.GetSingleItem("Condition");
	}

		// Create and populate the expression.
		IResultObject registryExpression = connection.CreateEmbeddedObjectInstance("SMS_TaskSequence_RegistryConditionExpression");

		registryExpression["KeyPath"].StringValue = @"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MICROSOFT";
		registryExpression["Operator"].StringValue = "exists";
		registryExpression["Type"].StringValue = "REG_SZ";
		registryExpression["Data"].StringValue = null;

		// Get the operands and add the expression.
		List<IResultObject> operands = condition.GetArrayItems("Operands");
		operands.Add(registryExpression);

		// Add the expresssion to the list of operands.
		condition.SetArrayItems("Operands", operands);

		// Add the condition to the sequence.
		taskSequenceStep.SetSingleItem("Condition", condition);
}
	catch (SmsException e)
	{
		Console.WriteLine("Failed to create Task Sequence: " + 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.
taskSequenceStep	Managed: IResultObject VBScript: SWbemObject	A valid task sequence step (SMS_TaskSequenceStep).

Compiling the Code

The C# example has the following compilation requirements:

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.