Where do ManagementObjectSearcher query values come from? (WMI)

Question

In trying to find a set of computers on a network, I discovered the ManagementObjectSearcher class along with the ManagementObject class. The constructor for ManagementObjectSearcher takes a sql/sql-esque query as a parameter. Currently, I'm using the query I found in our legacy code:

ManagementObjectSearcher adapters = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter");

But I'm trying to figure out how to know what could possibly be in the query. What are all the tables/objects? What are all the possible constraints? What general topic would this class and related questions fall under so I could look this up and learn more about it?

Answer 1

Upon further research it appears as though this is part of WMI (Windows Management Infrastructure)

WMI Queries: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186146(v=vs.80).aspx

List of WMI search criteria: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa394554(v=vs.85).aspx

Using WMI: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa393964(v=vs.85).aspx

Books: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=WMI

Sample Code:

       ManagementObjectSearcher adapters = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter WHERE NetConnectionStatus = 2");

        foreach (ManagementObject item in adapters.Get())
        {
            foreach (ManagementObject setting in item.GetRelated("Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration"))
            {
                if ((!setting["IPAddress"].IsNull()) &&
                    (!setting["IPSubnet"].IsNull()))
                {
                    foreach (string value in (String[])setting["IPAddress"])
                    {
                        mySocket = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork, SocketType.Dgram, ProtocolType.Udp);                 
                        mySocket.Bind(new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse(value), 49984)); 
                        //etc...
                    }
                }

            }
        }

It looks like this is a rather monumental topic on the whole, but at least this has given me a place to start trying to understand it. However, I'm still completely unsure as to whether or not this is a good solution for the problem I'm trying to solve.