VisualStudio.DTE.Solution is null using Activator::CreateInstance

Question

I am running the following code in PowerShell ISE:

$scriptDirectory = "C:\Test"
$dteObj = [System.Activator]::CreateInstance([System.Type]::GetTypeFromProgId("VisualStudio.DTE.10.0"))
$slnName = "All"
$dteObj.Solution.Create($scriptDirectory, $slnName)

I get the error:

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At C:\DevHome\TFS\CreateMasterSolution.ps1:8 char:1
+ $dteObj.Solution.Create($scriptDirectory, $slnName)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

Why is the Solution Property on this COM Object always "null"? Is there something I am forgetting to do?

Answer 1

Seems that if you replace the above with the following it works:

$dteObj = New-Object -ComObject "VisualStudio.DTE.10.0"

Answer 2

In Addition to that do also:

$solution = $dteObj.Solution $solution.Open("<path to your solution>")