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Extending Wireless Connection Properties

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This topic describes how a Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL extends the properties on the Connection tab that are displayed through the Network Configuration user interface (UI). In this situation, the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL adds properties to the Connection tab for proprietary connection settings.

For more information about the Network Configuration UI and other Native 802.11 components, see Native 802.11 Software Architecture.

Before it displays the Connection tab, the operating system does the following:

  1. Queries the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL for its connection properties through a call to the IDot11ExtUI::GetDot11ExtUIProperties method. The operating system passes a value of DOT11_EXT_UI_CONNECTION to the method's ExtType parameter.

    If the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extension DLL supports a property of type DOT11_EXT_UI_CONNECTION, the DLL returns (through the method's ppDot11ExtUIProperty parameter) the address of the IDot11ExtUIProperty COM interface, which implements the connection property extension. For more information about the COM interfaces that are used to extend connection properties, see Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions COM Interfaces.

    Note  For Windows Vista, the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL must not return more than one IDot11ExtUI COM Interface for a connection property extension.

     

  2. If the Native 802.11 IHV UI Extensions DLL supports a connection property, the operating system queries the friendly name of the property extension by calling the extension's IDot11ExtUIProperty::GetDot11ExtUIPropertyFriendlyName method. The operating system inserts the friendly name within the text "Enable xxx connection settings," where "xxx" is the friendly name of the property extension. The operating system displays this text along with a check box on the Connection tab.

  3. Queries the extension to determine whether it has a custom UI property that can be displayed. The operating system does this by calling the extension's IDot11ExtUIProperty::Dot11ExtUIPropertyHasConfigurationUI method. If the connection property extension supports a custom UI property, the operating system adds a Configure button below the check box for the property.

If the selected proprietary connection setting supports a configuration UI and the end user clicks the Configure button in theConnection tab, the operating system calls the connection property extension's IDot11ExtUIProperty::DisplayDot11ExtUIProperty method to launch the custom UI. The operating system passes the current profile data for the extension through the method's bstrIHVProfile argument.

The profile data is formatted as an XML fragment bounded by the <IHV> </IHV> XML tags. The XML data within these tags is specific to the IHV's implementation and is opaque to the operating system. For more information about the format of the Native 802.11 profile data, refer to the documentation within the Microsoft Windows SDK.

If the profile data is changed through the custom UI, the extension's IDot11ExtUIProperty::DisplayDot11ExtUIProperty method must do the following before returning:

  • Allocate a string buffer for the modified profile data and return a pointer to the buffer through the method's bstrModifiedIHVProfile parameter. Note  The extension's IDot11ExtUIProperty::DisplayDot11ExtUIProperty method must not modify the data referenced by the bstrIHVProfile argument.

     

  • Set the pbIsModified argument to TRUE.