Configuration Manager 2007 console actions are tasks or commands that are performed by making context menu or action panel selections. There are a number of standard action types such as cut, paste, and properties. You can also add your own custom actions to perform tasks such as running programs and displaying dialog boxes. You can restrict the availability of actions to such criteria as regular expressions, security permissions, and method call results.

In the Configuration Manager console, actions are defined in XML by the Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.Schema.ActionDescription element.

Standard Actions

A custom action can be associated with several standard actions. For example, a ShowDialog action can be associated with a Properties standard action. In this case, a property page is integrated into the properties property sheet for a selected object.

The standard actions are:

  • Cut

  • Copy

  • Paste

  • Rename

  • Delete

  • Refresh

  • Print

  • Properties

Custom Actions

You can define the following custom actions.

Action Description

Configuration Manager Executable Action

Runs a program or opens a file by using the program registered with Windows.

Configuration Manager ShowDialog Action

Opens a dialog box.

Configuration Manager Report Action

Opens a report.

Configuration Manager AssemblyType Action

Defines the type and assembly for a method that is called.

Configuration Manager Group Action

Creates a menu group, also known as a submenu.

Separator

Creates a separator (line) under an action.

Adding Custom Actions

The steps for adding a new custom action to the Configuration Manager console are:

  1. Create the action XML file. The name you choose for the file should have the .xml extension. The arrangement of the actions in the context menu and actions pane is based on the alphabetical ordering of the file names in the actions folder.

  2. Deploy the action XML. The custom action XML file is placed in the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Configuration Manager\AdminUI\XmlStorage\Extensions\Actions folder under the GUID named folder of the Configuration Manager console node.

For example, to create an action that is displayed on the software updates node you would have following folder structure:

AdminUI\XmlStorage\Extensions\Actions\392b72f3-1c83-42e1-90ed-611798bc0dd0\myfilename.xml

For more information, see How to Create a Configuration Manager Action.

For more information about the Configuration Manager console nodes, see Configuration Manager Console Nodes.

Conditional Actions

Actions can be made available (displayed) according to specified conditions. The conditions are defined by the following:

Condition Description

Regular expression

The action is made available depending on a defined search pattern.

Method call

The action is made available depending on the result of a method call.

Security permissions

The action is made available depending on the security permissions of the selected item.

For more information, see Configuration Manager Conditional Actions.

See Also

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