WmiSet Component Collection For Delphi, C++Builder

This component collection consists of 10 VCL components for Borland Delphi and C++Builder. Click on the component name to the description of the component.

TWmiQuery	TWmiConnection	TWmiProcessControl	TWmiStorageInfo
TWmiDiskQuotaControl	TWmiOs	TWmiRegistry	TWmiSystemEvents
TWmiMethod	TWmiPerformanceMonitor

The components are designed to manage Windows 9X, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP operating systems. The components are "network enabled": you may use them to configure a local computer, or a network host. All the components are employing WMI technology from Microsoft ^*. This technology is relatively new. It first appeared in late service packs for Windows NT. To understand why this technology came to existence, one must spend a great deal of time programming Windows API. After a while you start realizing that one and the same task must be performed in many different ways, depending on which area of API you are using. For example, you will have to remember which method to use to release memory in each particular case: LsaFreeMemory, FreeContextBuffer, WTSFreeMemory, NetApiBufferFree or something else? WMI offers a unified approach. It does not matter what you need to manage, user accounts or hardware settings. You will need to know one and the same set of COM interfaces. This way WMI brings an end, and a relief from API problems. However, it comes at a price. As with any generic approach, it may be not easy to resolve a concrete task. Now you are responsible for dealing with HRESULT. You will have to interrogate WMI core to learn what properties and methods a particular object has. You may have to write up to a page of code to prepare method parameters, call the method and retrieve the results. You need to learn one more language: WQL.

This is where WmiSet comes in handy. All the components in the collection are written in Delphi. All the methods are explicitly declared. The components have almost the same functionality at design and run time, so you can see what the application will look like while developing. At this time the collection is compatible with Delphi 5, 6, 7, C++Builder 6. At lease "Professional" IDE is required. Registered version comes with full source code. Download binary distribution here.

TWmiProcessControl

Controls the processes running on a local computer and remote hosts. Using this component you can obtain a list of processes, start new or terminate existing processes.

List of features:	WMI classes used:
list, terminate processes start new processes specify environment variables, priority and other startup configuration for new processes find process be name of executable file. React to events when process starts or terminates More info...	Win32_Process Win32_ProcessStartup Win32_ProcessStartTrace Win32_ProcessStopTrace __InstanceDeletionEvent

TWmiStorageInfo

Retrieves variety of information about storage devices of local or remote computers. Detects when new device gets plugged/unplugged in the system.

List of features:	WMI classes used:
enumerate CDROMs, hard drives, floppy drives, tapes, partitions, logical disks installed on the system retrieve a lot of information for each type of device, such as manufacturer, description, storage capacity, and much more. determine transfer rate of CDROM drives. detects plug & play devices joining or leaving the system. More info...	Win32_DiskPartition Win32_LogicalDisk Win32_DiskDrive Win32_CDROMDrive Win32_FloppyDrive Win32_TapeDrive __InstanceOperationEvent

TWmiDiskQuotaControl

Allows to control how much space a user can occupy on the hard drive. This component helps to set limit on disk usage for individual users, as well as to define the quota policy for a disk as a whole.
Usage: Windows XP or higher.

List of features:

WMI classes used:

define if the quotas will be traced, enforced or disabled for a logical disk
define a default limit on disk space usage for new users.
define a warning limit for a disk
define if the event should be written to event log when users exceed warning limit
change quotas for individual users to be different from default settings
detect how much space particular user is occupying on the logical drive
More info...

Win32_LogicalDisk Win32_Account Win32_DiskQuota Win32_QuotaSetting

TWmiQuery

Executes queries against WMI service of destination computer. This component retrieves WMI objects, and exposes their properties via fields that have the same names. This component is a descendant of TDataSet, so it can be used with any of VCL data-aware components.

List of features:	WMI classes used:
Executes WQL queries like "SELECT from Win32_UserAccount"* Navigate through retrieved result with methods Next, Prior, First, Last Retrieve values of WMI properties using FieldByName method. Work with irregular data sets where each row has different set of fields. Work with standard data-aware components, like TDataSource, TDBGrid. Use bookmarks Updates field values More info...	SWbemObject SWbemServices SWbemProperty SWbemPropertySet

TWmiConnection

Connects TWmiQuery component to the WMI service of destination computer. Any number of TWmiQuery components may use one and the same TWmiConnection.

List of features:	WMI classes used:
Establishes connection to WMI service of remote computer. Allows providing alternative set of credentials for connection. Retrieves list of computers on the local area network (LAN). Fires various events when connecting. more info...	SWbemServices

TWmiOs

Monitors the operating system settings on a local or remote computer. This component returns over 60 different data points about the operating system. This includes OS serial number, system directory, local time, time zone, last boot time, number of running processes, number of users, installed updates and much more.

List of features:	WMI classes used:
obtain more than 60 properties of OS shutdown or reboot local or remote computer Modify recovery configuration Set time on remote computer (Windows XP and higher) Change computer's description More info...	Win32_OperatingSystem Win32_OsRecoveryConfiguration Win32_QuickFixEngineering

TWmiRegistry

Reads/writes system registry on a local or remote computer. This component acts pretty much like standard TRegistry component from Delphi VCL. There are the three important differences between TRegistry and TWmiRegistry:

The TWmiRegistry component allows connecting to remote computer's registry using different credentials than those of the current user. This may be important for the administrative tasks.
The TWmiRegistry component can be used at design time.
The TWmiRegistry.ReadBinaryData method will raise an exception if the actual type of data in the registry is not REG_BINARY.

List of features:

WMI classes used:

Can login to the remote computer using different credentials than those of current user.
Can browse registry at design time.
Has the same ReadXXX and WriteXXX methods that TRegistry class from Delphi VCL.
Checks what kind of access rights the user has for the registry key.
Returns the list of the registry key names.
Enumerates values of the registry key.
Creates/deletes registry keys.
More info...

StdRegProv
SWbemServices

TWmiSystemEvents

Reacts to the events in the operating system. This component defines a number of event handlers that provide notifications about the changes in the configuration of operating system.

List of features:

WMI classes used:

Has 17 event handlers to notify the application about
- services starting/stopping;
- changes in the accounts;
- changes in printer configuration;
- network connects/disconnects;
- new records in the event logs;
- CDROMs inserted/ejected;
Multi threaded processing: starts a new thread to wait for the event;
Allows to define custom events using WQL notification query;
Can notify about events on a local or remote computer;
More info...

ISWbemEventSource
__InstanceModificationEvent
__InstanceCreationEvent
__InstanceDeletionEvent
SWbemServices

TWmiMethod

Executes the methods of WMI objects. This component behaves in the similar fashion to TSoredProc VCL class. To execute a method, one needs to assign input parameters, execute the method and analyze the output parameters.

List of features:

WMI classes used:

Retrieves a list of methods supported by the WMI object;
Executes static and dynamic methods of objects;
Automatically detects the input parameters of the method.
Reports both error code and error description if WMI method call fails;
Retrieves the WMI method qualifiers that report the various information about the object method: description, required privileges, possible return value etc.
More info...

SWbemQualifier
SWbemQualifierSet
SWbemMethod
SWbemMethodSet
SWbemServices
SWbemObject

TWmiPerformanceMonitor

Monitors the performance of various aspects of Windows operating systems. This component can read raw performance counters and calculate formatted values.

List of features:	WMI classes used:
List classes of performance counters installed on the destination computer; List performance counters defined for each class; Retrieve values of selected performance counters in both raw and cooked formats; Determine the state of AutoDiscovery/AutoPurge (ADAP) process, which transfers performance libraries into WMI classes; More info...	Win32_PerfRawData __ADAPStatus

_{* Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

* Borland, Delphi, C++Builder are registered trademarks of Borland Corp.}