Example: Calling a Provider Method

Article
01/07/2021

You can use the procedure and code examples in this topic to create a complete WMI client application that performs COM initialization, connects to WMI on the local computer, calls a provider method, and then cleans up. The Win32_Process::Create method is used to start Notepad.exe in a new process.

The following procedure is used to execute the WMI application. Steps 1 through 5 contain all of the steps needed to set up and connect to WMI, and 6 is where the provider method is called.

To call a provider method

Initialize COM parameters with a call to CoInitializeEx.

For more information, see Initializing COM for a WMI Application.
Initialize COM process security by calling CoInitializeSecurity.

For more information, see Setting the Default Process Security Level Using C++.
Obtain the initial locator to WMI by calling CoCreateInstance.

For more information, see Creating a Connection to a WMI Namespace.
Obtain a pointer to IWbemServices for the root\cimv2 namespace on the local computer by calling IWbemLocator::ConnectServer. To connect to a remote computer, see Example: Getting WMI Data from a Remote Computer.

For more information, see Creating a Connection to a WMI Namespace.
Set IWbemServices proxy security so the WMI service can impersonate the client by calling CoSetProxyBlanket.

For more information, see Setting the Security Levels on a WMI Connection.
Use the IWbemServices pointer to make requests to WMI. This example uses IWbemServices::ExecMethod to call the provider method Win32_Process::Create.

For more information about making requests to WMI, see Manipulating Class and Instance Information and Calling a Method.

If the provider method has any in-parameters or out-parameters, then values of the parameters must be given to IWbemClassObject pointers. For in-parameters, you must spawn an instance of the in-parameter definitions, and then set the values of these new instances. The Win32_Process::Create method requires a value for the CommandLine in-parameter to execute properly.

The following code example creates an IWbemClassObject pointer, spawns a new instance of the Win32_Process::Create in-parameter definitions, and then sets the value of the CommandLine in-parameter to Notepad.exe.
```
// Set up to call the Win32_Process::Create method
BSTR MethodName = SysAllocString(L"Create");
BSTR ClassName = SysAllocString(L"Win32_Process");

IWbemClassObject* pClass = NULL;
hres = pSvc->GetObject(ClassName, 0, NULL, &pClass, NULL);

IWbemClassObject* pInParamsDefinition = NULL;
hres = pClass->GetMethod(MethodName, 0, 
    &pInParamsDefinition, NULL);

IWbemClassObject* pClassInstance = NULL;
hres = pInParamsDefinition->SpawnInstance(0, &pClassInstance);

// Create the values for the in-parameters
VARIANT varCommand;
varCommand.vt = VT_BSTR;
varCommand.bstrVal = _bstr_t(L"notepad.exe");

// Store the value for the in-parameters
hres = pClassInstance->Put(L"CommandLine", 0,
    &varCommand, 0);
wprintf(L"The command is: %s\n", V_BSTR(&varCommand));
```
The following code example shows how the Win32_Process::Create method out-parameters are given to an IWbemClassObject pointer. The out-parameter value is obtained with the IWbemClassObject::Get method and stored in a VARIANT variable so that it can be displayed to the user.
```
// Execute Method
IWbemClassObject* pOutParams = NULL;
hres = pSvc->ExecMethod(ClassName, MethodName, 0,
    NULL, pClassInstance, &pOutParams, NULL);

VARIANT varReturnValue;
hres = pOutParams->Get(_bstr_t(L"ReturnValue"), 0, 
    &varReturnValue, NULL, 0);
```

The following code example shows how to call a provider method using WMI.

#define _WIN32_DCOM

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
#include <comdef.h>
#include <Wbemidl.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "wbemuuid.lib")

int main(int iArgCnt, char ** argv)
{
    HRESULT hres;

    // Step 1: --------------------------------------------------
    // Initialize COM. ------------------------------------------

    hres =  CoInitializeEx(0, COINIT_MULTITHREADED); 
    if (FAILED(hres))
    {
        cout << "Failed to initialize COM library. Error code = 0x" 
             << hex << hres << endl;
        return 1;                  // Program has failed.
    }

    // Step 2: --------------------------------------------------
    // Set general COM security levels --------------------------

    hres =  CoInitializeSecurity(
        NULL, 
        -1,                          // COM negotiates service
        NULL,                        // Authentication services
        NULL,                        // Reserved
        RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_DEFAULT,   // Default authentication 
        RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE, // Default Impersonation
        NULL,                        // Authentication info
        EOAC_NONE,                   // Additional capabilities 
        NULL                         // Reserved
        );


    if (FAILED(hres))
    {
        cout << "Failed to initialize security. Error code = 0x" 
             << hex << hres << endl;
        CoUninitialize();
        return 1;                      // Program has failed.
    }

    // Step 3: ---------------------------------------------------
    // Obtain the initial locator to WMI -------------------------

    IWbemLocator *pLoc = NULL;

    hres = CoCreateInstance(
        CLSID_WbemLocator,
        0, 
        CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, 
        IID_IWbemLocator, (LPVOID *) &pLoc);
 
    if (FAILED(hres))
    {
        cout << "Failed to create IWbemLocator object. "
             << "Err code = 0x"
             << hex << hres << endl;
        CoUninitialize();
        return 1;                 // Program has failed.
    }

    // Step 4: ---------------------------------------------------
    // Connect to WMI through the IWbemLocator::ConnectServer method

    IWbemServices *pSvc = NULL;
 
    // Connect to the local root\cimv2 namespace
    // and obtain pointer pSvc to make IWbemServices calls.
    hres = pLoc->ConnectServer(
        _bstr_t(L"ROOT\\CIMV2"), 
        NULL,
        NULL, 
        0, 
        NULL, 
        0, 
        0, 
        &pSvc
    );

    if (FAILED(hres))
    {
        cout << "Could not connect. Error code = 0x" 
             << hex << hres << endl;
        pLoc->Release();
        CoUninitialize();
        return 1;                // Program has failed.
    }

    cout << "Connected to ROOT\\CIMV2 WMI namespace" << endl;


    // Step 5: --------------------------------------------------
    // Set security levels for the proxy ------------------------

    hres = CoSetProxyBlanket(
        pSvc,                        // Indicates the proxy to set
        RPC_C_AUTHN_WINNT,           // RPC_C_AUTHN_xxx 
        RPC_C_AUTHZ_NONE,            // RPC_C_AUTHZ_xxx 
        NULL,                        // Server principal name 
        RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_CALL,      // RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_xxx 
        RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE, // RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_xxx
        NULL,                        // client identity
        EOAC_NONE                    // proxy capabilities 
    );

    if (FAILED(hres))
    {
        cout << "Could not set proxy blanket. Error code = 0x" 
             << hex << hres << endl;
        pSvc->Release();
        pLoc->Release();
        CoUninitialize();
        return 1;               // Program has failed.
    }

    // Step 6: --------------------------------------------------
    // Use the IWbemServices pointer to make requests of WMI ----

    // set up to call the Win32_Process::Create method
    BSTR MethodName = SysAllocString(L"Create");
    BSTR ClassName = SysAllocString(L"Win32_Process");

    IWbemClassObject* pClass = NULL;
    hres = pSvc->GetObject(ClassName, 0, NULL, &pClass, NULL);

    IWbemClassObject* pInParamsDefinition = NULL;
    hres = pClass->GetMethod(MethodName, 0, 
        &pInParamsDefinition, NULL);

    IWbemClassObject* pClassInstance = NULL;
    hres = pInParamsDefinition->SpawnInstance(0, &pClassInstance);

    // Create the values for the in parameters
    VARIANT varCommand;
    varCommand.vt = VT_BSTR;
    varCommand.bstrVal = _bstr_t(L"notepad.exe");

    // Store the value for the in parameters
    hres = pClassInstance->Put(L"CommandLine", 0,
        &varCommand, 0);
    wprintf(L"The command is: %s\n", V_BSTR(&varCommand));

    // Execute Method
    IWbemClassObject* pOutParams = NULL;
    hres = pSvc->ExecMethod(ClassName, MethodName, 0,
    NULL, pClassInstance, &pOutParams, NULL);

    if (FAILED(hres))
    {
        cout << "Could not execute method. Error code = 0x" 
             << hex << hres << endl;
        VariantClear(&varCommand);
        SysFreeString(ClassName);
        SysFreeString(MethodName);
        pClass->Release();
        pClassInstance->Release();
        pInParamsDefinition->Release();
        pOutParams->Release();
        pSvc->Release();
        pLoc->Release();
        CoUninitialize();
        return 1;               // Program has failed.
    }

    // To see what the method returned,
    // use the following code.  The return value will
    // be in &varReturnValue
    VARIANT varReturnValue;
    hres = pOutParams->Get(_bstr_t(L"ReturnValue"), 0, 
        &varReturnValue, NULL, 0);


    // Clean up
    //--------------------------
    VariantClear(&varCommand);
    VariantClear(&varReturnValue);
    SysFreeString(ClassName);
    SysFreeString(MethodName);
    pClass->Release();
    pClassInstance->Release();
    pInParamsDefinition->Release();
    pOutParams->Release();
    pLoc->Release();
    pSvc->Release();
    CoUninitialize();
    return 0;
}

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Example: Calling a Provider Method

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