How to Define a Manifest

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Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1

The Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) console uses the manifest file to determine what your add-in can do. It contains several pieces of basic information that identify the add-in, and then it defines all the components the add-in will supply to the console. For more information about manifest files, see Manifests.

To create the initial manifest file

  1. Create a new XML document named manifest.xml.

  2. Create the root XML node named ConsoleAddIn

  3. Add an attribute named xmlns to the root XML node, and set the value to VMM-AddIns-v1.

  4. Add an attribute named Name to the root XML node, and set the value to the name of your add-in.

  5. Add an attribute named Version to the root XML node, and set the value to the version of your add-in. For example, set the value of 1.0.0.0.

  6. Add an attribute named Author to the root XML node, and set the value to the name of the add-in author.

  7. Add an attribute named Description to the root XML node, and set the value to a short description of the add-in.

  8. Add an attribute named FolderName to the root XML node, and set the value of this attribute to a folder name that your add-in will be installed to. This must be a unique folder name across all add-ins that are installed in the console.

Example

The following XML snippet shows what the manifest file should look like before any add-ins have been added to it:

  
<ConsoleAddIn   
  xmlns="urn:VMM-AddIns-v1"   
  Name="VM Checkpoint Add-in"   
  Version="1.0.0.0"   
  Author="Microsoft Corp"   
  Description="An example add-in that can checkpoint selected virtual machines."   
  FolderName="VMCheckpointAddIn">  
  
</ConsoleAddIn>

See Also

Scenario: Define an Add-in
How to Define a Custom Action Add-in in the Manifest
Manifests