Problems using literals and codeblocks with c# to interact with powershell 2.0

Question

If I try to run a Powershell Command through c# I get the following error: "The term 'select' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again."

If the Command was executed directly with Powershell(.exe) all works fine!

The command I try to run looks like i.g: "Get-Mailbox -Organization 'CoolOrganizationNameGoesHere' | select ServerName"

It seems that there is a problem with the "Pipe" |, I have wasted hours on searching at major search engines with the wildest keyword combinations, but I've found nothing that works.

The last thing I have tried is setting the PSLanguageMode property of the published IIS-Application for Powershell, The result is still the same as written before.

Maybe there is WinRM wrong configured? Or my local Powershell configuration is corrupted? Is there any well written documentation on C# (or any other .Net language) using Powershell with remote access and using the Pipe | "command"?

Can anybody tell me what is wrong, that's like to find the needle in a haystack!

Thanks!

Answer 1

Trick could be in the way you create your command. If you are running script as a string, you should use:

Command myCommand = new Command(script, true);

But if you want to run it as a filename - you should use:

Command myCommand = new Command(script, false);

So:

Command myCommand = new Command("Get-Date", true);
Command myCommand = new Command("c:\test.ps1", false);

In case you need full method:

private static IEnumerable<PSObject> ExecutePowerShellScript(string script, bool isScript = false, IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, object>> parameters = null)
{
    RunspaceConfiguration runspaceConfiguration = RunspaceConfiguration.Create();
    Runspace runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(runspaceConfiguration);
    runspace.Open();

    Command myCommand = new Command(script, isScript);
    if (parameters != null)
        {
            foreach (var parameter in parameters)
            {
                myCommand.Parameters.Add(new CommandParameter(parameter.Key, parameter.Value));
            }
        }
    Pipeline pipeline = runspace.CreatePipeline();

    pipeline.Commands.Add(myCommand);
    var result = pipeline.Invoke();

    // Check for errors
     if (pipeline.Error.Count > 0)
        {
            StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
            //iterate over Error PipeLine until end
            while (!pipeline.Error.EndOfPipeline)
            {
                //read one PSObject off the pipeline
                var value = pipeline.Error.Read() as PSObject;
                if (value != null)
                {
                    //get the ErrorRecord
                    var r = value.BaseObject as ErrorRecord;
                    if (r != null)
                    {
                        //build whatever kind of message your want
                        builder.AppendLine(r.InvocationInfo.MyCommand.Name + " : " + r.Exception.Message);
                        builder.AppendLine(r.InvocationInfo.PositionMessage);
                        builder.AppendLine(string.Format("+ CategoryInfo: {0}", r.CategoryInfo));
                        builder.AppendLine(string.Format("+ FullyQualifiedErrorId: {0}", r.FullyQualifiedErrorId));
                    }
                }
            }
            throw new Exception(builder.ToString());
         }
    return result;
}