ManagementReferenceAttribute Class (System.Management.Instrumentation)

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ManagementReferenceAttribute Class

The ManagementReferenceAttribute marks a class member, property or method parameter as a reference to another management object or class.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.Attribute
    System.Management.Instrumentation.ManagementReferenceAttribute

Namespace:  System.Management.Instrumentation
Assembly:  System.Core (in System.Core.dll)
Syntax

Visual Basic
<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Property Or AttributeTargets.Field Or AttributeTargets.Parameter, AllowMultiple := False)> _
<HostProtectionAttribute(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, MayLeakOnAbort := True)> _
Public NotInheritable Class ManagementReferenceAttribute _
	Inherits Attribute
C#
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Property|AttributeTargets.Field|AttributeTargets.Parameter, AllowMultiple = false)]
[HostProtectionAttribute(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, MayLeakOnAbort = true)]
public sealed class ManagementReferenceAttribute : Attribute
Visual C++
[AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets::Property|AttributeTargets::Field|AttributeTargets::Parameter, AllowMultiple = false)]
[HostProtectionAttribute(SecurityAction::LinkDemand, MayLeakOnAbort = true)]
public ref class ManagementReferenceAttribute sealed : public Attribute
F#
[<Sealed>]
[<AttributeUsageAttribute(AttributeTargets.Property|AttributeTargets.Field|AttributeTargets.Parameter, AllowMultiple = false)>]
[<HostProtectionAttribute(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, MayLeakOnAbort = true)>]
type ManagementReferenceAttribute =  
    class
        inherit Attribute
    end

The ManagementReferenceAttribute type exposes the following members.

Constructors

  Name Description
Public method ManagementReferenceAttribute Initializes a new instance of the ManagementReferenceAttribute class. This is the default constructor.
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Properties

  Name Description
Public property Type Gets or sets the name of the referenced type.
Public property TypeId When implemented in a derived class, gets a unique identifier for this Attribute. (Inherited from Attribute.)
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Methods

  Name Description
Public method Equals Infrastructure. Returns a value that indicates whether this instance is equal to a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected method Finalize Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method GetHashCode Returns the hash code for this instance. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Public method GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method IsDefaultAttribute When overridden in a derived class, indicates whether the value of this instance is the default value for the derived class. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Public method Match When overridden in a derived class, returns a value that indicates whether this instance equals a specified object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Protected method MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
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Explicit Interface Implementations

  Name Description
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetIDsOfNames Maps a set of names to a corresponding set of dispatch identifiers. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetTypeInfo Retrieves the type information for an object, which can be used to get the type information for an interface. (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.GetTypeInfoCount Retrieves the number of type information interfaces that an object provides (either 0 or 1). (Inherited from Attribute.)
Explicit interface implemetation Private method _Attribute.Invoke Provides access to properties and methods exposed by an object. (Inherited from Attribute.)
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Remarks

You can use this attribute to create association classes as demonstrated in the following example.

Note Note

The HostProtectionAttribute attribute applied to this type or member has the following Resources property value: MayLeakOnAbort. The HostProtectionAttribute does not affect desktop applications (which are typically started by double-clicking an icon, typing a command, or entering a URL in a browser). For more information, see the HostProtectionAttribute class or SQL Server Programming and Host Protection Attributes.

Examples

This example demonstrates how to use the ManagementReferenceAttribute attribute together with the ManagementQualifierAttribute to create an association WMI class that links two other WMI classes. The example is a decoupled provider that exposes three WMI classes in the root/assoc namespace. The first two classes, NumberPhonetic and NumberLetter, are linked by the last class, LetterPhonetic.

To compile the example, you will need to include references to both System.Management.Instrumentation and System.Configuration.Install. You must run installutil.exe against the resulting executable and ensure that the program is running in order to use the implemented WMI classes.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Management.Instrumentation;

[assembly: WmiConfiguration("root/assoc", HostingModel = ManagementHostingModel.Decoupled)]

[System.ComponentModel.RunInstaller(true)]
public class TheInstaller : DefaultManagementInstaller
{ }


namespace AssocExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            InstrumentationManager.RegisterType(typeof(NumberPhonetic));
            InstrumentationManager.RegisterType(typeof(NumberLetter));
            InstrumentationManager.RegisterType(typeof(LetterPhonetic));

            Console.WriteLine("Press enter to exit");
            Console.ReadLine();

            InstrumentationManager.UnregisterType(typeof(NumberPhonetic));
            InstrumentationManager.UnregisterType(typeof(NumberLetter));
            InstrumentationManager.UnregisterType(typeof(LetterPhonetic));
             
        }
    }

  [ManagementEntity]
    public class NumberPhonetic
    {
        [ManagementKey]
        public int Number;

        [ManagementProbe]
        public string Name;

        [ManagementBind]
        public NumberPhonetic(int Number)
        {
           this.Number = Number;
           if(Number == 1)
           {
              Name = "alpha";
           }
           else if(Number == 2)
           {
              Name = "bravo";
           }
           else
           {
              throw new InstanceNotFoundException();
           }
        }

        [ManagementEnumerator]
        static public IEnumerable EnumerateInstances()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i < 3; i++)
            {
                yield return new NumberPhonetic(i);
            }
        }
           
    }

    [ManagementEntity]
    public class NumberLetter
    {
        [ManagementKey]
        public int Number;

        [ManagementProbe]
        public string Letter;

        [ManagementBind]
        public NumberLetter(int Number)
        {
           this.Number = Number;
           if(Number == 1)
           {
              Letter = "A";
           }
           else if(Number == 2)
           {
              Letter = "B";
           }
           else
           {
              throw new InstanceNotFoundException();
           }
        }

        [ManagementEnumerator]
        static public IEnumerable EnumerateInstances()
        {
            for (int i = 1; i < 3; i++)
            {
                yield return new NumberLetter(i);
            }
        }

    }

    [ManagementEntity]
    [ManagementQualifier("Association", Flavor = ManagementQualifierFlavors.DisableOverride)]
    public class LetterPhonetic
    {
        [ManagementReference(Type = "NumberLetter")]
        [ManagementKey]
        public string LetterNumber;

        [ManagementReference(Type = "NumberPhonetic")]
        [ManagementKey]
        public string PhoneticNumber;

        [ManagementEnumerator]
        static public IEnumerable EnumerateInstances()
        {
            ArrayList insts = new ArrayList();
            for (int i = 1; i < 3; i++)
            {
                LetterPhonetic inst = new LetterPhonetic();
                inst.LetterNumber = "Letter = " + i;
                inst.PhoneticNumber = "Phonetic = " + i;
                insts.Add(inst);
            }
            return insts;
        }

    }

}
Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1
Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
See Also

Reference

Community Content

Vadim Meleshuk
Reference syntax and reference publishing
To get the associations to work, one should use correct CIM reference syntax such as [namespace:]ClassName.KeyName=Value. In the example above, "Letter = " needs to be replaced with "NumberLetter.Number=". Note that there should be no spaces around '='.

Also, for any references to be picked up by WMI.NET, ManagementReferenceAttribute needs to be accompanied by ManagementProbe, ManagementConfiguration or ManagementKey; otherwise the property will be ignored.