Exchange PowerShell commands through C#

Question

I am using C# to send PowerShell commands interacting with Exchange. I have a method called initconnection which sets up my connection to Exchange.

I have another method that I call when I click a button that will send a command to powershell after the connection is established. However I am not able to continue the created connection. When I try to run a command it says the command is not found. More than likely because it doesn't have the exchange cmdlets.

Runspace runspace = System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace();

runspace.Open();

Pipeline pipeline = runspace.CreatePipeline();
pipeline.Commands.AddScript("Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope process -Force;$password = ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force " + password + ";$mycred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist " + username + ",$password;$LiveCred = Get-Credential -Credential $mycred; $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/ -Credential $LiveCred -Authentication Basic –AllowRedirection; Import-PSSession $Session");
// pipeline.Commands.Add("Out-String");

pipeline.Invoke();
mpeAdd.Hide();

This is the initconnection method that creates the connection.

protected void Get_Mailboxes(object sender, EventArgs e) {

    PowerShell powershell = PowerShell.Create();
    PSCommand command = new PSCommand();
    command = new PSCommand();
    command.AddCommand("Get-Mailbox");

    powershell.Commands = command;
    powershell.Runspace = runspace; //Also it says runsapce doesn't exist in this context.
    Collection<PSObject> commandResults = powershell.Invoke();

    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    ArrayList boxesarray = new ArrayList();

    foreach (PSObject ps in commandResults)
    {
        boxesarray.Add(ps.Properties["Alias"].Value.ToString());
    }

    boxes.DataSource = boxesarray;
    boxes.DataBind();
}

This is my method I call when I click a button after the connection is create however it is not working.

Answer 1

You have to add the Exchange snap-in to your runspace. Take a look at Exchange for developers.

Answer 2

If "runspace" doesn't exist, that explains why the Get-Mailbox command is failing. Rather than managing a runspace, you could create a PowerShell instance in your initConnection method and use it wherever needed. Note this is shown with native code rather than a script.

ps = PowerShell.Create(); 

Set the execution policy.

ps.ClearCommands()
 .AddCommand("Set-ExecutionPolicy")
 .AddParameter("Scope", "Process") 
 .AddParameter("ExecutionPolicy", "Unrestricted")    
 .AddParameter("Confirm", false)
 .AddParameter("Force", true)
 .Invoke();

Create the credentials. Note that you should not need to call Get-Credential.

SecureString pass;   
var creds = new PSCredential(username, pass);

Create and import a session.

var newSession = ps.ClearCommands()
 .AddCommand("New-PSSession")
 .AddParameter("ConfigurationName", "Microsoft.Exchange")
 .AddParameter("ConnectionUri", "https://ps.outlook.com/powershell/")
 .AddParameter("Credential", creds)
 .AddParameter("Authentication", "Basic")
 .AddParameter("AllowRedirection", true)
 .Invoke();

var session = newSession[0];
var import = ps.ClearCommands()
 .AddCommand("Import-PSSession")
 .AddParameter("Session", session)
 .Invoke();

ps.ClearCommands() is an extension method, added so it can be chained with AddCommand(), AddParameter(), etc:

public static PowerShell ClearCommands(this PowerShell ps)
{
    if (ps.Commands != null)
        ps.Commands.Clear();

    return ps;
}

Use it in Get_Mailboxes()

protected void Get_Mailboxes(object sender, EventArgs e) {

  var commandResults = ps.ClearCommands().AddCommand("Get-Mailbox").Invoke();
  StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
  ArrayList boxesarray = new ArrayList();

  foreach (PSObject ps in commandResults)
  {
      boxesarray.Add(ps.Properties["Alias"].Value.ToString());
  }

  boxes.DataSource = boxesarray;
  boxes.DataBind();
}

When you close the app, or somewhere appropriate:

ps.ClearCommands()
 .AddCommand("Get-PSSession")
 .AddCommand("Remove-PSSession")
 .Invoke();

ps.Dispose();