Via WMI I can not only see the methods available for a particular class:
$WMIClass = [wmiclass]"\\$env:ComputerName\root\cimv2:Win32_Share"
$WMIClass.psbase.Methods
But I can also see the parameters required for said method by creating a valid object pre-populated with the parameters:
$WMIParams = $WMIClass.psbase.GetMethodParameters('Create')
What makes this especially helpful is that the resulting object keeps the details and types of each parameter:
PS C:\> $WMIParams
__GENUS : 2
__CLASS : __PARAMETERS
__SUPERCLASS :
__DYNASTY : __PARAMETERS
__RELPATH :
__PROPERTY_COUNT : 7
__DERIVATION : {}
__SERVER :
__NAMESPACE :
__PATH :
Access :
Description :
MaximumAllowed :
Name :
Password :
Path :
Type :
PSComputerName :
PS C:\> $WMIParams | gm
TypeName: System.Management.ManagementBaseObject#\__PARAMETERS
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
PSComputerName AliasProperty PSComputerName = __SERVER
Access Property System.Management.ManagementObject#Win32_SecurityDescriptor Access {get;set;}
Description Property string Description {get;set;}
MaximumAllowed Property uint32 MaximumAllowed {get;set;}
Name Property string Name {get;set;}
Password Property string Password {get;set;}
Path Property string Path {get;set;}
Type Property uint32 Type {get;set;}
__CLASS Property string __CLASS {get;set;}
__DERIVATION Property string[] __DERIVATION {get;set;}
__DYNASTY Property string __DYNASTY {get;set;}
__GENUS Property int __GENUS {get;set;}
__NAMESPACE Property string __NAMESPACE {get;set;}
__PATH Property string __PATH {get;set;}
__PROPERTY_COUNT Property int __PROPERTY_COUNT {get;set;}
__RELPATH Property string __RELPATH {get;set;}
__SERVER Property string __SERVER {get;set;}
__SUPERCLASS Property string __SUPERCLASS {get;set;}
This is especially helpful because it allows one to easily create a valid parameter/argument object for use during invocation and would not allow someone to set $WMIParams.Access to something that wasn't a Win32_SecurityDescriptor, failing with a type
mismatch error giving them a clue at population time versus invocation.
$WMIParams.Access = [Win32_SecurityDescriptor_Object]
$WMIParams.Description = 'New Description'
$WMIParams.MaximumAllowed = [uint32] 10
Invoke-WmiMethod -ComputerName $env:ComputerName -Class Win32_Share -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -Name SetShareInfo -ArgumentList $WMIParams -Verbose -ErrorAction Stop
In my endeavor to get more comfortable with CIM I'm wondering if there is an equivalent CIM method.
$CIMClass = Get-CimClass -ClassName Win32_Share -Namespace root\cimv2 -ComputerName $env:COMPUTERNAME
$CIMClass.CimClassMethods
$CimClass.CimClassMethods.Item('SetShareInfo')
$CimParams = ??
So far I've been doing it this way:
$CimParams = @{
Access = $Win32_SecurityDescriptor_Object
Description = 'New Description'
MaximumAllowed = [uint32] 10
}
Invoke-CimMethod -ComputerName $env:ComputerName -ClassName Win32_Share -Namespace 'root\cimv2' -MethodName SetShareInfo -Arguments $CimParams -Verbose
With CIM on the other hand one is left to create their own object Hashtable System.Object and they just have to know ahead of time what type each parameter/property wants.
This isn't a problem - just more about my level of curiosity to the 1-to-1 functionality between WMI and CIM.
