How to Create an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence Package

Article
05/03/2011

Applies To: System Center Configuration Manager 2007, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1, System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2

You create an operating system deployment task sequence, in Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, by creating an instance of the SMS_TaskSequencePackage class. This class derives from the SMS_Package class and holds the task sequence. It is advertised to clients who can then run the task sequence. The task sequence is associated with the task sequence package by using the SMS_TaskSequencePackage class SetSequence method.

You can organize task sequence packages into categories by assigning a category to them with the SMS_TaskSequence class Category property.

For more information about creating task sequences, see How to Create an Operating System Deployment Task Sequence. For more information about task sequence packages, see the Operating System Deployment Task Sequence Object Model.

You advertise a task sequence package in the same way that you advertise a Configuration Manager 2007 package (SMS_Package). For more information, see How to Create an Advertisement.

To create a task sequence package

Set up a connection to the SMS Provider. For more information, see How to Connect to an SMS Provider in Configuration Manager by Using Managed Code.
Create an instance of SMS_TaskSequencePackage.
Populate the task sequence package properties.
Call the SMS_TaskSequencePackage class SetSequence method to associate a task sequence (SMS_TaskSequence) with the task sequence package.

Example

The following example method creates a task sequence package (SMS_TaskSequencePackage) and associates task sequence (SMS_TaskSequence) with it.

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

Sub CreateTaskSequencePackage (connection, taskSequence)
   
    Dim taskSequencePackage
    Dim packageClass
    Dim objInParams
    Dim objOutParams
        
    ' Create the new package object.
    Set taskSequencePackage = connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequencePackage").SpawnInstance_

    ' Populate the new package properties.
    taskSequencePackage.Name = "New task sequence package"
    taskSequencePackage.Description = "A new task sequence package description"
      
    ' Get the parameters object.
    Set packageClass = connection.Get("SMS_TaskSequencePackage")
       
    Set objInParams = packageClass.Methods_("SetSequence"). _
        inParameters.SpawnInstance_()

    ' Add the input parameters.
    objInParams.TaskSequence =  taskSequence
    objInParams.TaskSequencePackage = taskSequencePackage

    ' Add the sequence.
     Set objOutParams = connection.ExecMethod("SMS_TaskSequencePackage", "SetSequence", objInParams)

End Sub

public IResultObject CreateTaskSequencePackage(
    WqlConnectionManager connection, 
    IResultObject taskSequence)
{
    try
    {
        Dictionary<string, object> inParams = new Dictionary<string, object>();

        // Create the new task sequence package.
        IResultObject taskSequencePackage = connection.CreateInstance("SMS_TaskSequencePackage");

        taskSequencePackage["Name"].StringValue = "New task sequence package";
        taskSequencePackage["Description"].StringValue = "A brand new task sequence package";
        taskSequencePackage["Category"].StringValue = "A custom category";

        // Note. Add other package properties as required.

        // Set up parameters that associate the task sequence with the package.
        inParams.Add("TaskSequence", taskSequence);
        inParams.Add("TaskSequencePackage", taskSequencePackage);

        // Associate the task sequence with the package. Note that a call to Put is not required.
        IResultObject result = connection.ExecuteMethod("SMS_TaskSequencePackage", "SetSequence", inParams);

        // The path to the new package.
        Console.WriteLine(result["SavedTaskSequencePackagePath"].StringValue);

        return taskSequencePackage;
    }
    catch (SmsException e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Failed to create Task Sequence: " + e.Message);
        throw;
    }
}

This example method has the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
connection	Managed: WqlConnectionManager VBScript: SWbemServices	A valid connection to the SMS Provider.
taskSequence	Managed: IResultObject VBScript: SWbemObject	A valid task sequence (SMS_TaskSequence).

Compiling the Code

The C# example requires:

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.

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