SWbemServices.InstancesOf method

Applies to: desktop apps only

The InstancesOf method of the SWbemServices object creates an enumerator that returns the instances of a specified class according to the user-specified selection criteria. This method implements a simple query. More complex queries may require the use of SWbemServices.ExecQuery.

The method is called in the semisynchronous mode. For more information, see Calling a Method.

For an explanation of this syntax, see Document Conventions for the Scripting API.

Syntax

objWbemObjectSet = .InstancesOf( _
  ByVal strClass, _
  [ ByVal iFlags ], _
  [ ByVal objWbemNamedValueSet ] _
)

Parameters

strClass

Required. String that contains the name of the class for which instances are desired. This parameter cannot be blank.

iFlags [optional]

This parameter determines how deep the call enumerates and if this call returns immediately. The default value for this parameter is wbemFlagReturnImmediately. This parameter can accept the following values.

Value	Meaning
wbemFlagForwardOnly 32 (0x20)	Causes a forward-only enumerator to be returned. Forward-only enumerators are generally much faster and use less memory than conventional enumerators, but they do not allow calls to SWbemObject.Clone_.
wbemFlagBidirectional 0 (0x0)	Causes WMI to retain pointers to objects of the enumeration until the client releases the enumerator.
wbemFlagReturnImmediately 16 (0x10)	Default value for this parameter. This flag causes the call to return immediately.
wbemFlagReturnWhenComplete 0 (0x0)	Causes this call to block until the query has completed. This flag calls the method in the synchronous mode.
wbemQueryFlagShallow 1 (0x1)	Forces the enumeration to include only immediate subclasses of the specified parent class.
wbemQueryFlagDeep 0 (0x0)	Default value for this parameter. This value forces the enumeration to include all classes in the hierarchy.
wbemFlagUseAmendedQualifiers 131072 (0x20000)	Causes WMI to return class amendment data with the base class definition. For more information, see Localizing WMI Class Information.

 

objWbemNamedValueSet [optional]

Typically, this is undefined. Otherwise, this is an SWbemNamedValueSet object whose elements represent the context information that can be used by the provider that is servicing the request. A provider that supports or requires such information must document the recognized value names, data type of the value, allowed values, and semantics.

Return value

If successful, the method returns an SWbemObjectSet.

Error codes

Upon the completion of the InstancesOf method, the Err object may contain one of the error codes in the following table.

Note  A returned enumerator with zero elements is not an error.

Remarks

The InstancesOf method only works for class objects.

Examples

For script code examples, see WMI Tasks for Scripts and Applications and the TechNet ScriptCenter Script Repository.

Requirements

See also

SWbemObjectSet

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Build date: 3/9/2012