How to Create a Configuration Manager Property Sheet

To create a Configuration Manager console property sheet, in Configuration Manager, you create a .NET Framework assembly that inherits from the following class:

Class	Description
SmsPageControl	The control displayed on the property page.

The following procedures show you how to create a Configuration Manager property sheet assembly by using Visual Studio. The property sheet displays a property page that contains a button. When it is clicked, the button displays the name of a package selected in the Configuration Manager console Packages node.

After you have successfully built the dialog box assembly, you must do the following to integrate it into the Configuration Manager console:

1. Define and deploy the form XML that links the selected action to the assembly you create in this topic. For more information, see How to Create the Form XML for a Configuration Manager Property Sheet.

2. Define and deploy the action XML for displaying the context menu that the user selects. For more information, see How to Create Action XML for a Configuration Manager Property Sheet.

   When you have created the property sheet assembly and XML, right-click a package in the Configuration Manager console tree Packages node results pane, and select the menu item Show my Property Sheet. A property sheet is displayed. You can enhance the control by accessing the package that was selected in the Configuration Manager console. For more information, see How to Use Objects Passed to a Configuration Manager Forms.

Create the Control Class

The following procedure creates the control for the property sheet.

To create the Visual Studio project

1. In Visual Studio 2010, on the File menu, point to New, and then click Project to open the New Project dialog box.

2. From the list of Visual C#, Windows projects, select the Windows Forms Control Library project template, and then type ConfigMgrControl in the Name box.

3. Click OK to create the Visual Studio project.

4. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Properties. On the Application tab, change Target framework to .NET Framework 4.

5. In Solution Explorer, right-click UserControl1.cs, click Rename, and then change the name to ConfigMgrControl.cs.

6. In Solution Explorer, right-click References and then click Add Reference.

7. In the Add Reference dialog box, click the Browse tab, navigate to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Endpoint Manager\AdminConsole\bin and then select microsoft.configurationmanagement.exe, Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.DialogFramework.dll and microsoft.configurationmanagement.managementprovider.dll . Click OK to add the assemblies as project references.

8. In Solution Explorer, right-click ConfigMgrControl.cs, and then click View Code.

9. In the source code, change the namespace to Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.ConfigMgrPropertySheet

10. Change the class ConfigMgrControlPage so that it derives from SmsPageControl.

11. In Solution Explorer, right-click ConfigMgrControl.Designer.cs, and then click View Code.

12. In the source code, change the namespace to Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.ConfigMgrPropertySheet

13. In ConfigMgrControl.cs, Add the following new constructor to the ConfigMgrControlPage class:

    public ConfigMgrControlPage (SmsPageData pageData) : base(pageData)  
    {  
        InitializeComponent();  
    }  
    

14. Add the following method to initialize the control:

    public override void InitializePageControl()  
    {  
       base.InitializePageControl();  
    }  
    

Deploy the Assembly

The following procedure builds and copies the assembly that you have created to the Configuration Manager console assemblies folder. For important information about deploying Configuration Manager console extensions, see About Configuration Manager Administrator Console Extension Deployment.

To deploy the property sheet assembly

1. Build the project. The assembly should be created as \Visual Studio 2010\Projects\ConfigMgrControl\ConfigMgrControl\bin\Debug\ConfigMgrControl.dll.

2. Copy the assembly to the folder %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Endpoint Manager\AdminConsole\bin.

See Also

How to Add a Property Page to an Existing Configuration Manager Property Sheet
How to Create Action XML for a Configuration Manager Property Sheet
How to Create Form XML for a Configuration Manager Property Sheet
How to Use Objects Passed to a Configuration Manager Forms