Call powershell script in post-built with parameters

Question

I'm trying to get Powershell to run my PS script in post built - but somehow it doesn't work like it's supposed to:

Following command in Post-Build:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\windowspowershell\1.0\powershell.exe
  -Command "& $(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\CreateSite.ps1 'auto'"

(inserted line break for better reading)

The command executes the powershell script sucessfully, but what it can't do is run the commands within (Output from Build): Rund Post-Build Command:

Add-PSSnapin : No snap-ins have been registered for Windows PowerShell version 2
At C:\path\CreateSite.ps1:4 char:
38
+ Add-PsSnapin <<<< Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell}
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell:String) [Add-PSSnapin], PSArgumentException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : AddPSSnapInRead,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddPSSnapinCommand

And following that are many errors because all subsequent commands need the Sharepoint Snap-In.

• When running powershell C:\path\CreateSite.ps1 auto from cmd - everything works.
• When opening powershell.exe and running C:\path\CreateSite.ps1 auto - everything works.
• When right clicking CreateSite.ps1 --> run with powershell - everything works.

The relevant line in the script is simply Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.

How can I just run the darn script (and get it to include the PSSnapIn) passing it a parameter in Visual Studio post-build?

Answer 1

Because of file system virtualization, you can't really specify the path to the 64-bit version of PowerShell from a 32-bit process (ie Visual Studio - which hosts the msbuild engine). One hack-ish way to work around this is to create a 64-bit launcher that runs as 64-bit and will launch the 64-bit version of PowerShell. Here's a simple C# program that will do this:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

class App
{
  static int Main(string[] args)
  {
    Process process = Process.Start("PowerShell.exe", String.Join(" ", args));
    process.WaitForExit();
    return process.ExitCode;
  }
}

Be sure to compile this as 64-bit like so:

csc .\PowerShell64.cs /platform:x64

Then, from your post-build event execute this launcher exe passing it the parameters you want to invoke 64-bit PowerShell with. Also, with PowerShell 2.0 I would recommend using the File parameter to execute a script e.g.:

c:\path\PowerShell64.exe -File "$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\CreateSite.ps1" auto

That said, surely there has to be some other way (utility) that launches exes from a 64-bit process.

Answer 2

(This thread is not new, but I got here from Google, so I thought sharing the solution I found would be interesting to others)

I tried changing the path to powershell.exe to "%WINDIR%\SysNative\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" and it worked perfect. The 64 bits version is called from the Post Build event and it successfully adds the SharePoint snapin.

Credits to this article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff798298.aspx, "Using Windows PowerShell Scripts to Automate Tasks in Visual Studio".

Answer 3

When you run you script directly, you probably use 32bit PowerShell and in your msbuild script 64bit or vice versa. Also have a look at Error msg: “No snap-ins have been registered for Windows PowerShell version 2.”.

Answer 4

A slightly better variant of the output redirection:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class App
    {
        static int Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("sh64 args: " + string.Join(", ", args));
            var start = new ProcessStartInfo
                {
                    FileName = args.First(),
                    Arguments = string.Join(" ", args.Skip(1).ToArray()),
                    UseShellExecute = false,
                    RedirectStandardOutput = true,
                    RedirectStandardError = true,
                    RedirectStandardInput = false,
                    CreateNoWindow = true
                };

            using (var process = Process.Start(start))
            {
                while (!process.HasExited)
                {
                    using (var reader = process.StandardOutput)
                        Drain(reader, false);
                    using (var reader = process.StandardError)
                        Drain(reader, true);
                }
                process.WaitForExit();
                return process.ExitCode;
            }
        }

        static void Drain(TextReader reader, bool error)
        {
            ColourizeError(error, () =>
                {
                    var buf = new char[256];
                    int read;
                    while ((read = reader.Read(buf, 0, buf.Length)) != 0)
                        Console.Write(new string(buf, 0, read));
                });
        }

        static void ColourizeError(bool error, Action a)
        {
            var prev = Console.ForegroundColor;
            Console.ForegroundColor = error ? ConsoleColor.Red : ConsoleColor.White;
            var mre = new ManualResetEventSlim(false);
            try
            {
                a();
            }
            finally
            {
                Console.ForegroundColor = prev;
                mre.Set(); // runs on GC thread on servers and is reentrant/interleaved concurrency in workstations!
            }
            mre.Wait();
        }
    }
}

Call with sh64 powershell -File ./buildscripts/deploy.ps1 -Ex RemoteSigned

Answer 5

add cmd-file (e.g. run-script.cmd) with this content:

    @echo off
    set pspath=%windir%\Sysnative\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
    if not exist %pspath%\powershell.exe set pspath=%windir%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0
    %pspath%\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned %*

and call it from build event in a such manner:

    $(SolutionDir)scripts\run-script.cmd $(SolutionDir)scripts\restore-default-file.ps1 -source $(ProjectDir)App_Data\Configs\Mip.Security.Sample.config -destination $(ProjectDir)App_Data\Configs\Mip.Security.config