$iisdata function
$iisdata(key,attribute)
The $iisdata function retrieves a metadata string from the IIS (Internet Information Server, Microsoft's Internet server) database, or an empty string if IIS is not running or does not support the requested data. If the original metadata information is not a String type, it is converted automatically to a string if possible.
Tip: To retrieve IIS folder paths, use the $iispath function instead.
Note: Because IIS only runs on Windows NT-based systems (Windows NT4, 2000, XP, and later), the function always returns an empty string on other platforms.
Many of the metadata information requires elevated privileges (usually Administrator rights). Therefore, this function may fail if the installer is running with a less privileged account. Typically only /LM/W3SVC (and below) information is available to non-Administrator users.
Parameters
All parameters may contain symbolic references; these are resolved before the function is applied. See Examples below.
- key
- Metadata key path to look up. See Microsoft's IMSAdminBase::GetData documentation and the table below for commonly used paths.
- attribute
- Metadata attribute identifier. This is a number that identifies the data that you want to retrieve from the metadata key. See Common IIS attribute IDs below for details.
Common IIS path names
The key parameter must specify the metadata path of the information that you want to retrieve. Here are some commonly used keys (refer to Microsoft's IMSAdminBase::GetData documentation for a full list):
| Key path | Result |
|---|---|
| /LM/W3SVC/n | Information for web server n. |
| /LM/W3SVC/n/ROOT | Information about the virtual root folder of web server n. |
| /LM/MSFTPSVC/n | Information for FTP server n. |
| /LM/MSFTPSVC/n/ROOT | Information about the virtual root folder of FTP server n. |
| /LM/SMTPSVC/n | Information for SMTP server n. |
Common IIS attribute IDs
The attribute parameter must be the numeric identifier of the metadata attribute that you want to retrieve from the given key. The available numeric identifiers are listed in the file iiscnfg.h that is part of the Platform SDK, plus in other Microsoft IIS documentation. Below are some commonly used attribute identifiers. You can also use the IIS Metabase Editor to inspect the IIS database and obtain the required attribute IDs.
| Value | Identifier | Data |
|---|---|---|
| 1015 | MD_SERVER_COMMENT | Comment, usually a descriptive string about a server. |
| 3001 | MD_VR_PATH | File or folder path, usually the physical path to a virtual folder. Tip: This attribute is equivalent to calling $iispath(). |
| 4001 | MD_LOGFILE_DIRECTORY | Log file folder path. |
Examples
Here are some usage examples for this function:
- <$iisdata(/LM/W3SVC/1, 1015)>
- Returns the server comment for the first web server running under IIS.
- <$iisdata(/LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT, 3001)>
- Returns the physical path to the virtual root folder of the first web server running under IIS, or an empty path if IIS is not running or is not configured as a web server. This is equivalent to <$iispath(/LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT)>.