4.6 A script to explore the CIM repository

As we explore WMI we discover many tables describing the methods and the properties exposed by the different objects that constitute the WMI scripting API. Besides the WMI scripting API features list, there are also the CIM class definitions. The only CIM class definition really used (up to now) is the Win32_Service class shown in Table 4.1. WMI offers more than 600 CIM classes. As the number of CIM classes is quite huge, it is impossible to list all the properties and methods exposed by these classes.

Based on the materials covered in this chapter, it is much more valuable to think about a script retrieving the interesting information about any CIM classes. Because everything resides in the CIM repository, it is possible to produce readable output of that content. This is the purpose of the next sample, which summarizes the miscellaneous WMI scripting APIs we have discovered.

What do we mean by "readable output"? Since there is a lot of information to display, a good place to load this information is in an Excel sheet. This facilitates the review of the information once the script has been executed. Which information is to loaded in the Excel sheet? The script retrieves all information related to the CIM class definitions. This implies the following:

• The CIM class with its related qualifiers

• The CIM class properties with their related qualifiers

• The CIM class methods with their related qualifiers

• The CIM class method parameters...