Vista - Cmdlet DLLs and PowerShell API without DLL registration

Greetings --

Does the PowerShell API allow for cmdlet DLLs to be specified
programmatically at run time? I'd like to be able to script my .NET
application with PowerShell but allow my cmdlet DLLs to be loaded at
runtime by the .NET application instead of installing them system wide
with InstallUtil and Add-PsSnapIn.

The root of the problem is that I don't want the management overhead of
needing administrative access just to deploy a cmdlet DLL across a farm
of systems. So if there was a method to register the DLL with
PowerShell, without requiring administrative access, that would work
too.

Thanks,
-- Jason

Hi Jason,

Unfortunately PS Snapins cannot be loaded the way you want. To consume an
assembly into a PowerShell instance we need more information other than the
assembly name. Currently we depend on registry to gather this information.
Can you log in a feature request for this? We certainly do want to improve
this in our future releases.

--
Thanks
Krishna[MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Team
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Jason Mobarak" <jason.mobarak@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1165901154.982694.251170@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Greetings --
>
> Does the PowerShell API allow for cmdlet DLLs to be specified
> programmatically at run time? I'd like to be able to script my .NET
> application with PowerShell but allow my cmdlet DLLs to be loaded at
> runtime by the .NET application instead of installing them system wide
> with InstallUtil and Add-PsSnapIn.
>
> The root of the problem is that I don't want the management overhead of
> needing administrative access just to deploy a cmdlet DLL across a farm
> of systems. So if there was a method to register the DLL with
> PowerShell, without requiring administrative access, that would work
> too.
>
> Thanks,
> -- Jason
>

On Dec 12, 5:34 pm, "Krishna Vutukuri[MSFT]"
<kri...@online.microsoft.com> wrote:
> Unfortunately PS Snapins cannot be loaded the way you want. To consume an
> assembly into a PowerShell instance we need more information other than the
> assembly name. Currently we depend on registry to gather this information.

So, there's no way to give PowerShell this information other than
through installutil? I would use make-shell but I can't actually find
it in my PowerShell installation even though this page:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms714644.aspx - "Registering
Cmdlets, Providers, and Host Applications"

....claims that:

"Now it is necessary to rebuild the shell. You can do this using a
utility called Make-Shell included with Windows PowerShell."

....but Make-Shell is nowhere to be found in my PowerShell 1.0 RTW
installation. The Make-Shell command has an option that enables it to
look for snap-in DLLs in a custom location -- so one would assume that
the ability to do this exists -somewhere- because Make-Shell claims
that it can (even though I've yet to perceive Make-Shell's existence).

> Can you log in a feature request for this? We certainly do want to improve
> this in our future releases.

How do I do this? The connect website that has been referenced on this
newsgroup no longer seems to work it claims that the site I'm trying to
access does not exist or I do not have proper permissions.

Thanks again,
-- Jason

> --
> Thanks
> Krishna[MSFT]
> Windows PowerShell Team
> Microsoft Corporation
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
>
> "Jason Mobarak" <jason.moba...@gmail.com> wrote in messagenews:1165901154.982694.251170@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Greetings --
>
> > Does the PowerShell API allow for cmdlet DLLs to be specified
> > programmatically at run time? I'd like to be able to script my .NET
> > application with PowerShell but allow my cmdlet DLLs to be loaded at
> > runtime by the .NET application instead of installing them system wide
> > with InstallUtil and Add-PsSnapIn.
>
> > The root of the problem is that I don't want the management overhead of
> > needing administrative access just to deploy a cmdlet DLL across a farm
> > of systems. So if there was a method to register the DLL with
> > PowerShell, without requiring administrative access, that would work
> > too.
>
> > Thanks,
> > -- Jason

Jason Mobarak wrote:
> On Dec 12, 5:34 pm, "Krishna Vutukuri[MSFT]"
> <kri...@online.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>> Can you log in a feature request for this? We certainly do want to improve
>> this in our future releases.
>
> How do I do this?

I'm still unsure regarding how to report a feature request. If you
(Krishna Vutukuri), or anyone, knows what steps I need to take let me know.

Thanks,
Jason

"Jason Mobarak" <jam-list@vandyke.com> wrote in message
news:OIF1%23N8IHHA.816@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Jason Mobarak wrote:
>> On Dec 12, 5:34 pm, "Krishna Vutukuri[MSFT]"
>> <kri...@online.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Can you log in a feature request for this? We certainly do want to
>>> improve
>>> this in our future releases.
>>
>> How do I do this?
>
> I'm still unsure regarding how to report a feature request. If you
> (Krishna Vutukuri), or anyone, knows what steps I need to take let me
> know.

The link to the PowerShell feedback submission page is:

https://connect.microsoft.com/feedba...aspx?SiteID=99

You will need a .NET Passport/Windows Live ID account to access this page.

--
Keith

Keith Hill [MVP] wrote:
> "Jason Mobarak" <jam-list@vandyke.com> wrote in message
> news:OIF1%23N8IHHA.816@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Jason Mobarak wrote:
>>> On Dec 12, 5:34 pm, "Krishna Vutukuri[MSFT]"
>>> <kri...@online.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Can you log in a feature request for this? We certainly do want to
>>>> improve
>>>> this in our future releases.
>>> How do I do this?
>> I'm still unsure regarding how to report a feature request. If you
>> (Krishna Vutukuri), or anyone, knows what steps I need to take let me
>> know.
>
> The link to the PowerShell feedback submission page is:
>
> https://connect.microsoft.com/feedba...aspx?SiteID=99
>
> You will need a .NET Passport/Windows Live ID account to access this page.

Unless I'm missing something. Clicking that link and signing in with my
..NET passport still leaves me with:

@"
Page Not Found

The content that you requested cannot be found or you do not have
permission to view it.

If you believe you have reached this page in error, click the Contact Us
link at the bottom of the page to report the issue and include this ID
in your e-mail: <some sort of unique id>
"@

I'm attempting to go through the connect site's support stuff to see
were that leaves me.

It sucks that I was asked to log a feature request and it's turned in to
a crusade to find out how to do it.

Thanks,
-- Jason

"Jason Mobarak" <jam-list@vandyke.com> wrote in message
news:%235plBw8IHHA.420@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Unless I'm missing something. Clicking that link and signing in with my
> .NET passport still leaves me with:
>
> @"
> Page Not Found
>
> The content that you requested cannot be found or you do not have
> permission to view it.
>
> If you believe you have reached this page in error, click the Contact Us
> link at the bottom of the page to report the issue and include this ID in
> your e-mail: <some sort of unique id>
> "@
>
> I'm attempting to go through the connect site's support stuff to see were
> that leaves me.
>
> It sucks that I was asked to log a feature request and it's turned in to a
> crusade to find out how to do it.

Yeah that does bite. I'm asking my MVP contact at Microsoft for some info
on this so sit tight. Depending on when folks are taking off for the
holidays it might take a couple of weeks to get a response but hopefully
not.

--
Keith

Keith Hill [MVP] wrote:
> "Jason Mobarak" <jam-list@vandyke.com> wrote in message
> news:%235plBw8IHHA.420@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Unless I'm missing something. Clicking that link and signing in with my
>> .NET passport still leaves me with:
>>
>> @"
>> Page Not Found
>>
>> The content that you requested cannot be found or you do not have
>> permission to view it.
>>
>> If you believe you have reached this page in error, click the Contact Us
>> link at the bottom of the page to report the issue and include this ID in
>> your e-mail: <some sort of unique id>
>> "@
>>
>> I'm attempting to go through the connect site's support stuff to see were
>> that leaves me.
>>
>> It sucks that I was asked to log a feature request and it's turned in to a
>> crusade to find out how to do it.
>
> Yeah that does bite. I'm asking my MVP contact at Microsoft for some info
> on this so sit tight. Depending on when folks are taking off for the
> holidays it might take a couple of weeks to get a response but hopefully
> not.

Thanks for the help Keith. The Microsoft Connect help team said the
PowerShell section of the connect website was not accepting new members
(though they said they would forward my "support request" to the
PowerShell team). Haven't heard anything past that.

-- Jason