Code – PowerShell in C# – Part 01 of 05 | IC# – Microsoft Intelligent Communications and CEBP

(blog article under construction)

This post is part 1 of a series of 5 on writing C# applications using PowerShell modules of Skype for Business Server 2015.

I used Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2015 running Windows 10 and targeted Windows Desktop Application to .NET Framework 4.6.1.

We assume the “Skype for Business Server 2015 – Administrative Tools” are installed on your machine. they can be installed from the Skype for Business Server 2015 ISO file. After installation there is a directory with module “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Skype for Business Server 2015\ModulesSkypeForBusiness\SkypeForBusiness.psd1”.

In the App.config nothing special, just reference to .NET Framework 4.6.1.

App.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <startup> 
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.1"/>
    </startup>
</configuration>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

</startup>

</configuration>

Also in Program.cs nothing special, just launching the Form1. The code is intended for illustrating the PowerShell module integration concepts, therefor quite old-style monolithic.

Program.cs

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace PowerShell
{
    static class Program
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            Application.Run(new Form1());
        }
    }
}

using System;

using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace PowerShell

{

static class Program

{

/// <summary>

/// The main entry point for the application.

/// </summary>

[STAThread]

static void Main()

{

Application.EnableVisualStyles();

Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);

Application.Run(new Form1());

}

I have made a reference to the System.Management.Automation assembly.

I started adding in the user interface buttons “Create workspace” and “Get commands” and a ComboBox.

Form1.cs

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Management.Automation;  
using System.Management.Automation.Runspaces;

namespace PowerShell
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        InitialSessionState initial;
        Runspace runspace;
        System.Management.Automation.PowerShell ps;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = false;
            button_GetCommand.Enabled = false;
            comboBox_Commands.Items.Clear();
            comboBox_Commands.Enabled = false;
        }

using System;

using System.IO;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Management.Automation;

using System.Management.Automation.Runspaces;

namespace PowerShell

{

public partial class Form1 : Form

{

InitialSessionState initial;

Runspace runspace;

System.Management.Automation.PowerShell ps;

public Form1()

{

InitializeComponent();

button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = false;

button_GetCommand.Enabled = false;

comboBox_Commands.Items.Clear();

comboBox_Commands.Enabled = false;

}

When the “Create Workspace” button is clicked, a runspace is initialised and the Skype for Business Server 2015 module is loaded. This process may fail depending on your “Get-ExecutionPolicy -List” settings. More information is available on http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170. On my development machine I performed a “Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser”.

Form1.cs

        private void button_Create_Workspace_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = false;
            try
            {
                initial = InitialSessionState.CreateDefault();
                initial.ImportPSModule(new string[] { "C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Skype for Business Server 2015\\Modules\\SkypeForBusiness\\SkypeForBusiness.psd1" });
                log("Creating runspace and importing module Skype for Business Server 2015....");
                runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(initial);
                runspace.Open();
                ps = System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.Create();
                ps.Runspace = runspace;
                log("Runspace created");
                button_GetCommand.Enabled = true;
                button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = false;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                log("Error. Runspace could not be created");
                MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
                button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = true;
            }
        }

private void button_Create_Workspace_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = false;

try

{

initial = InitialSessionState.CreateDefault();

initial.ImportPSModule(new string[] { "C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Skype for Business Server 2015\\Modules\\SkypeForBusiness\\SkypeForBusiness.psd1" });

log("Creating runspace and importing module Skype for Business Server 2015....");

runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(initial);

runspace.Open();

ps = System.Management.Automation.PowerShell.Create();

ps.Runspace = runspace;

log("Runspace created");

button_GetCommand.Enabled = true;

button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = false;

}

catch (Exception ex)

{

log("Error. Runspace could not be created");

MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);

button_Create_Workspace.Enabled = true;

}

When the runspace is created, we will perform our first PowerShell command. In our sample program we will perform a “Get-Command * -Module SkypeforBusiness -CommandType cmdlet” to retrieve the available cmdlets of Skype for Business module. Our pipe will consist of one command “Get-Command” and two parameters, hence the usage of methods AddCommand and AddParameter. The return object from Invoke() is a collection of PSObject instances that were written to the output stream during execution. PSObject is a wrapper class that adds PowerShell specific functionality around whatever the base object is. We will add all the retrieved cmdlets in our ComboxBox.

Form1.cs

        private void button_GetCommand_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            comboBox_Commands.Items.Clear();
            // "Get-Command * -Module SkypeforBusiness -CommandType cmdlet";
            string command = "Get-Command";
            dataGridView_Results.Rows.Clear();
            dataGridView_Results.Refresh();
            ps.AddCommand(command);
            ps.AddParameter("Module", "SkypeforBusiness");
            ps.AddParameter("CommandType", "cmdlet");
            log(String.Format("Performing {0}", command));
            string resultName = "";
            string resultModuleName = "";
            foreach (PSObject result in ps.Invoke())
            {
                try
                {
                    if (result.Members["Name"].Value == null)
                    {
                        resultName = "null";
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        resultName = result.Members["Name"].Value.ToString();
                    }
                    if (result.Members["ModuleName"].Value == null)
                    {
                        resultModuleName = "null";
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        resultModuleName = result.Members["ModuleName"].Value.ToString();
                    }
                    comboBox_Commands.Items.Add(resultName);
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
                }
            }
            if (comboBox_Commands.Items.Count != 0)
            {
                log(String.Format("Get-Command completed normally."));
                comboBox_Commands.Text = "Get-CsUser";
                comboBox_Commands.Enabled = true;
                button_Execute.Enabled = true;
            }
        }

private void button_GetCommand_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

comboBox_Commands.Items.Clear();

// "Get-Command * -Module SkypeforBusiness -CommandType cmdlet";

string command = "Get-Command";

dataGridView_Results.Rows.Clear();

dataGridView_Results.Refresh();

ps.AddCommand(command);

ps.AddParameter("Module", "SkypeforBusiness");

ps.AddParameter("CommandType", "cmdlet");

log(String.Format("Performing {0}", command));

string resultName = "";

string resultModuleName = "";

foreach (PSObject result in ps.Invoke())

{

try

{

if (result.Members["Name"].Value == null)

{

resultName = "null";

}

else

{

resultName = result.Members["Name"].Value.ToString();

}

if (result.Members["ModuleName"].Value == null)

{

resultModuleName = "null";

}

else

{

resultModuleName = result.Members["ModuleName"].Value.ToString();

}

comboBox_Commands.Items.Add(resultName);

}

catch (Exception ex)

{

MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);

}

if (comboBox_Commands.Items.Count != 0)

{

log(String.Format("Get-Command completed normally."));

comboBox_Commands.Text = "Get-CsUser";

comboBox_Commands.Enabled = true;

button_Execute.Enabled = true;

}

In upcoming articles we will implement additional functionality and access the Skype for Business Server 2015 environment.