Introduction

• PowerShell® is a frequently used scripting language available for Linux, MacOS, Windows and other platforms.
• JS7 offers the JS7 - PowerShell Module for simplified access to the JS7 - REST Web Service API
• This article explains how to syntactically include PowerShell® scripts with JS7 job scripts

Unix

• Find the below examples for download (.json upload): pdRunPowerShell4Unix.workflow.json

• In order to directly run PowerShell® script code from a JS7 shell job script the recommended approach is to use a shebang like this:

  Example how run PowerShell® script code with a shebang

  #!/usr/bin/env pwsh
   
  Write-Output "Hello"
  Write-Output "world"

• As a bad alternative the PowerShell® executable can be invoked directly and can be parameterized like this

  Example how to run PowerShell® script code from a single line

  pwsh -NoLogo -NonInteractive -Command '& { echo "Hello"; echo "World"; }'

  Explanation:

  • Consider the quoting: when using the -Command parameter then the PowerShell® script has to be specified from a string. This includes:
    
    • quoting the script by single quotes.
    • quoting code inside the script with double quotes or using escape characters for single quotes.
  • Note that each PowerShell® command has to be terminated with a semicolon.
    
    

• An even more weird way of running PowerShell® code from JS7 job scripts includes:

  Example how to run PowerShell® script code from a number of lines

  pwsh -NoLogo -NonInteractive -Command '& { `
    Echo "Hello"; `
    Echo "World"; `
  }'

  Explanation:

  • Note the use of single quotes, double quotes and semicolons as in the previous example. 
  • In addition each line of script code has to be terminated with a backtick for line continuation.

• In addition, a PowerShell® script can be executed from a file that is in reach of the JS7 Agent:

  Example how to run PowerShell® script code from a file

  pwsh -NoLogo -NonInteractive -File some_powershell_script.ps1

• For any above ways how to call PowerShell® consider to activate the setting Fail on output to stderr that is available from the Job Options tab of a job's properties in the Configuration view.: PowerShell is far from perfect in reporting exit codes, for example when exceptions are raised then this will not return a non-zero exit code to the Windows shell calling PowerShell®. Instead a job's output to the stderr channel has to be checked to make an order fail in case of PowerShell® exceptions.

Windows

• Find the below examples for download (.json upload): pdRunPowerShell4Windows.workflow.json

• In order to directly run PowerShell® script code from a JS7 shell job script the recommended approach is to use a shebang replacement like this:

  Example how run PowerShell® script code with a shebang replacement

  @@setlocal enabledelayedexpansion & set f=%RANDOM%.ps1 & @@findstr/v "^@@[fs].*&" "%~f0" > !f! & powershell.exe -NonInteractive -File !f! & set e=!errorlevel! & del /q !f! & exit !e!/b&
  
  Write-Output "Hello" 
  Write-Output "world" 

  Explanation:

  • If you consider this shebang replacement somewhat cryptic then add it to JS7 - Script Includes which are easily referenced from shell jobs, e.g. by using ##!include pwsh
  • The PowerShell® pwsh.exe executable is available starting with PowerShell 6.0. PowerShell releases 5.x use the executable powershell.exe that can be used with the shebang accordingly. 

    Therefore when using a version > 5.1 please change powershell.exe to pwsh.exe:

    @@setlocal enabledelayedexpansion & set f=%RANDOM%.ps1 & @@findstr/v "^@@[fs].*&" "%~f0" > !f! & pwsh.exe -NonInteractive -File !f! & set e=!errorlevel! & del /q !f! & exit !e!/b&

• As a bad alternative the PowerShell® executable can be invoked directly and can be parameterized like this:

  Example how to run PowerShell® script code from a single line

  pwsh.exe -NoLogo -NonInteractive -Command "& { Echo ""Flight Destination: $env:FLIGHT_DESTINATION""; Echo ""Booking Code: $env:BOOKING_CODE""; }"

  Explanation:

  • Consider the quoting: when using the -Command parameter then the PowerShell® script has to be specified from a string. This includes:
    
    • quoting the script by double quotes.
    • quoting code inside the script with two double quotes or using single quotes.
  • Note that each PowerShell® command has to be terminated with a semicolon.

    
    

• In addition, a PowerShell® script can be executed from a file that is located in reach of the JS7 Agent:

  Example how to run PowerShell® script code from a file

  pwsh.exe -NoLogo -NonInteractive -File some_powershell_script.ps1

• For any above ways how to call PowerShell® consider to activate the setting Fail on output to stderr that is available from the Job Options tab of a job's properties in the Configuration view.: PowerShell is far from perfect in reporting exit codes, for example when exceptions are raised then this will not return a non-zero exit code to the Windows shell calling PowerShell®. Instead a job's output to the stderr channel has to be checked to make an order fail in case of PowerShell® exceptions.