Using Start-process to kick off a LogParser process, error encountered

Question

I'm using the following code to try to use Log Parser to fire off and dump the contents of a .csv file I have into a SQL database. I'm having to try to use a custom function to strip out non-alphanumeric characters so that the columns can be created dynamically, because the end goal is to have this work with any .csv file I give it.

Here's the code:

start-process -NoNewWindow -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Log Parser 2.2\LogParser.exe" -ArgumentList @"

"Create Function [dbo].[RemoveNonAlphaNumCharacters](@Temp VarChar(1000))
Returns VarChar(1000)
AS
Begin

    Declare @KeepValues as varchar(50) = '%[^a-z0-9]%'
    While PatIndex(@KeepValues, @Temp) > 0
        Set @Temp = Stuff(@Temp, PatIndex(@KeepValues, @Temp), 1, '')

    Return @Temp
End
SELECT.RemoveNonAlphaNumCharacters * INTO SQLCounters FROM C:\Users\SeanLon\Desktop\SQL_Log_0.csv" -i:CSV -o:SQL -server:MJNHNX4 -database:PerfmonCounters -driver:"SQL Server" -createTable:ON

"@

And the error:

start-process : Process with an Id of 221104 is not running.
At C:\Users\seanlon\Desktop\Performance\Powershell examples\LogParser.ps1:1 char:1
+ start-process -NoNewWindow -FilePath "C:\Program Files (x86)\Log Parser 2.2\LogP ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Start-Process], ArgumentException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.ArgumentException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.StartProcessCommand

Can start-process or log parser simply not handle that complex of SQL within the argument list? Or is the LogParser process closing out before something else happens?

Answer 1

On PowerShell 3.0 it looks like it is passing the parameters cleanly through. However, to simplify this you could put your SQL in a file foo.sql and then call logparser like so:

$logParser = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Log Parser 2.2\LogParser.exe"
& $logParser file:c:\foo.sql -i:CSV -o:SQL -server:MJNHNX4 -database:PerfmonCounters -driver:"SQL Server" -createTable:ON

Answer 2

LogParser knows nothing about the database, it interprets and executes simple SQL queries in its internal engine, which doesn't handle stored procedures. Also see Logparser not recognizing SQL command.