You pass your

PropertyFilterSpec

to either the

RetrievePropertiesEx

method or the

CreateFilter

method. The latter establishes a persistent filter on the server side for use with the

WaitForUpdatesEx

method.

A

PropertyFilterSpec

contains:

The name of at least one managed object class from which you want to collect properties. (
PropertySpec.type
)
For each managed object class specified, at least one name of a property to return. (
PropertySpec.pathSet
).
If needed, one or more paths through the inventory hierarchy that the PropertyCollector can traverse to reach the managed objects from which you want to collect properties. (
ObjectSpec.selectSet
)
For each path, a starting managed object reference from which to traverse that path. (
ObjectSpec.obj
)

If you do not have a starting managed object reference from a prior API call, you can start with the root folder at the base of the inventory hierarchy. The

rootFolder

reference is available in the

ServiceContent

data object. For information about getting the

ServiceContent

, see Overview of a Java Sample Application for the Web Services SDK.