C# PerformanceCounter list of possible Parameters?

Question

I am using the System.Data PerfomanceCounter class, and I have found some very specific examples of how to retrieve disk space or CPU usage.

However I am unable to find the documentation on the possible values for:

PerfomanceCounter.CategoryName
PerformanceCounter.CounterName
PerformanceCounter.InstanceName

I can see from the class the different parameters I can pass to the constructor, but even going to the page for say CategoryName does not give me a list of available values.

Can anyone offer and advice on how to find available values for these?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Those can be obtained from the PerformanceCounterCategory class:

PerformanceCounterCategory[] categories = PerformanceCounterCategory.GetCategories();
foreach(var category in categories)
{
    string[] instanceNames = category.GetInstanceNames();
    foreach(string instanceName in instanceNames)
        PerformanceCounter[] counters = category.GetCounters(instanceName);
}