Scheduled Task for PowerShell Script with String Array Parameter

Question

I\'ve created a PowerShell script that runs perfectly from the Management Shell. I\'m trying to get it setup to work in a scheduled task in Windows Server 2008 R2 and am uns

Answer 1

Another option, when the options get too complex and you're tired of fiddling with quotes, backticks, etc is to use the underused -EncodedCommand parameter on PowerShell.exe e.g.:

C:\PS> $cmd = "c:\temp\foo.ps1 'D:\Documents\PowerShell Scripts','D:\SomeFolder'"
C:\PS> $cmd
c:\temp\foo.ps1 'D:\Documents\PowerShell Scripts','D:\SomeFolder'
C:\PS> $bytes = [Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($cmd)
C:\PS> $encodedCmd = [Convert]::ToBase64String($bytes)
C:\PS> $encodedCmd
YwA6AFwAdABlAG0AcABcAGYAbwBvAC4AcABzADEAIAAnAEQAOgBcAEQAbwBjAHUAbQBlAG4AdABzAFwAUABvAHcAZQByAFMAaABlAGwAbAAgAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AHMAJwAsACcARAA6AFwAUwBvAG0AZQBGAG8AbABkAGUAcgAnAA==
C:\PS> powershell.exe -encodedCommand YwA6AFwAdABlAG0AcABcAGYAbwBvAC4AcABzADEAIAAnAEQAOgBcAEQAbwBjAHUAbQBlAG4AdABzAFwAUABvAHcAZQByAFMAaABlAGwAbAAgAFMAYwByAGkAcAB0AHMAJwAsACcARAA6AFwAUwBvAG0AZQBGAG8AbABkAGUAcgAnAA==
param1[0] is D:\Documents\PowerShell Scripts
param1[1] is D:\SomeFolder

Admittedly, not something that would be exactly readable/understandable by someone else. :-) You'd have to doc the command in the description of the scheduled task.

Answer 2

Try using the -Command switch instead of the -File switch, and then use the invocation operator '&'. Here is a link to an example of doing this with scheduled tasks:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2011/01/12/schedule-powershell-scripts-that-require-input-values.aspx

Something like:

-Command "& 'D:\Documents\PowerShell Scripts\FarmBackup.ps1' '\\SomeServer\Backups' 'Full' 0 'D:\Logs\Backups' 0 'D:\Documents\PowerShell Scripts','D:\SomeFolder'"

I tested this solution by creating a script with the contents:

param([string[]] $x)
Write-Host $x.Count

Then called it in the following two ways:

powershell -File ".\TestScript.ps1" "what1,what2"

with result : 1

and

powershell -Command "& .\TestScript.ps1 what1,what2"

with result: 2

Answer 3

I have been using PowerShell for SharePoint and have created several Scheduled Task to trigger them at various intervals.

This is how i do it and it worked for me all the time.

Syntax : [Path to ur script'] -Param1Name 'Value1' -Param2Name 'Value2' -Param3Name 'Value3'

Here is a real example :

D:\Scripts\Global.ps1 -DataLocation 'D:\Scripts' -DeploymentParameters 'Deploymentparameters' -Deployments 'Deployments' -GlobalParameters 'GlobalParameters' -SiteUrl 'https://my.sp.company.com'