Nodes and IComponentData

The IComponentData interface is closely associated with the functionality of the nodes displayed in the scope pane. A snap-in's IComponentData object adds items to the scope pane when it receives an MMCN_EXPAND notification from the console through its Notify method.

While nodes themselves are maintained by MMC after their creation, IComponentData handles notifications sent to it through its Notify method when the user performs an action on a particular node.

Snap-ins implement IComponentData as COM objects. When the user loads a snap-in in an MMC console, MMC creates an instance of the snap-in by creating its IComponentData object. There is only one instance of IComponentData per instance of a stand-alone snap-in or namespace extension snap-in.