Reading Powershell varaibles with Workflow

Hello Ben,

Here's how I would do it (I tested this approach and it works just fine)

* First of all (prerequisites):
- You *of course* need to have Powershell installed on your box
- You also need to have the Powershell SDK installed on your box (as far as I know the SDK is no longer available as a separate download, so you'll need to install the "Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5" (don't worry you won't need all of it - installing 'Developer tools - Windows Development Tools - .NET Development Tools' should do the trick).
- And ... if you want to use any of the VI Toolkit cmdlets (the VmWare stuff) you need to have the VI Toolkit installed (make sure you add the Snapin in the beginning of your Powershell script (add-pssnapin VMWare.VimAutomation.Core).

* Now once all this stuff is taken care of go to your Workflow Project

In your project tab under the tab "Libraries" add the following dll:

C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\System.Management.Automation.dll

Now go to your model and add a Code (Script) Component and set the following properties for this component:

1. Input parameters:

Name: PSInput (or whatever variable containing the contents of your Powershell script)
Type: Text

2. Result Variable:

Result Variable Name: PSOutput (make sure this one exists)
Result Variable Type: Text

3. Source Code:
Language: C Sharp

Using namespaces (one per line (you might want to reconsider this ...)): System.Collections.ObjectModel
System.Management.Automation
System.Management.Automation.Runspaces

Source Code:

// Source: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/HowToRunPowerShel...

// create Powershell runspace

Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();

// open it

runspace.Open();

// create a pipeline and feed it the script text

Pipeline pipeline = runspace.CreatePipeline();
pipeline.Commands.AddScript(PSInput);

// add an extra command to transform the script
// output objects into nicely formatted strings

// remove this line to get the actual objects
// that the script returns. For example, the script

// "Get-Process" returns a collection
// of System.Diagnostics.Process instances.

pipeline.Commands.Add("Out-String");

// execute the script

Collection<psobject /> results = pipeline.Invoke();

// close the runspace

runspace.Close();

// convert the script result into a single string

StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
foreach (PSObject obj in results)
{
stringBuilder.AppendLine(obj.ToString());
}

return stringBuilder.ToString();

* Now Connect this component to whatever other components you are using in this model

* Make sure you feed this component your powershell script

* The variable psoutput will contain whatever output your script generated (in your case the $AvailableSpace variable).

I hope this helps (if not, send me a message).

Best regards,
John

Hi John,

Thanks for your detailed reply. I'll give this a go and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again,

Ben

Hello Ben,

If you're planning to use Workflow 7 in the near future, check out the ExecutePowerShellScriptSampleComponent.
I've compiled a pdf with some details about the Workflow 7 components. You can find it here: http://www.symantec.com/connect/downloads/workflow-solution-70-component-documentation

Best regards,
John

Should be able to search "executepower" and find it. It's in the Symantec > SMP 7 > Tasks folder in the component toolbox . If you don't see it in there check the libraries tab in the process data to see if Symantec.Components.Generated.Altiris.ASDKTask.dll is in your project. If not, import it.

There is no component by that name. do I have to load a specific library?

rob

The ASDK 7 task DLL should be loaded by default in your project. However, you do have to have a NS7 registered in the NS credentials tool to see the NS7 components.