There are some special properties of the VMware Server plug-in (the plug-in that starts with VC: ) We will have a quick look at them now.
This setting lets you define a certain start point for your searches. For example, if you choose an ESXi cluster as the root element, then a user can only select objects under this cluster. To use the root element, you need to link an action or a variable to this property. The following is an example:
The select value as
property has three choices—Tree, List, and Dropdown. This property makes it easier to manage what the input of an object looks like. The Select value as behaves differently, depending on the object type and client implementation. In the following screenshot, the dropdown for the VC:VirtualMachine selection is shown as a list:
The show in inventory
property is a powerful property. When you start a workflow from vSphere Web Client, the object you started the workflow on will be passed to the workflow as an IN-parameter. If this property is assigned to more than one IN-parameter, only one parameter is used at a time. For example, if you have an IN-parameter for a VM and a cluster, both have the Show in Inventory property assigned to them. When starting the workflow from a VM, the VM ID will be used, and the cluster ID will not be transferred to the workflow. When starting the workflow from a cluster, the cluster ID will be used, and the VM ID will be ignored.
In order to get this showcased, we will use the InstallFreshVM deploy workflow. We will alter it a bit and then use it in the Web Client, as follows: