Vista - executing commands from an xml file

I have an xml file that I am parsing with powershell. The xml file contains
functions, variables and commands that are being parsed to perform a task. I
have an issue now where a function in the xml file executes a set of commands
(an array) using invoke-expression. When I run this in powershell it takes
the array and displays the command as text and I want it to execute the
command. For example, I have the installation files for Acrobat Reader in a
folder and one of the commands from my xml file is: msiexec
acroread.msi....transform=...., and then a second command will open a pdf in
acrobat reader. When my script runs is displays the msiexec command instead
of launching the installer. I have the same problem with executables that I
am installing. I have tried dot sourcing and I know my install commands are
correct becuase I can run them outside of my script and it works as expected.

I hope I am clear enough, and I would be willing to post the contents of my
files if it would help.

This is kind of a continuation of the post below when I was trying to find
out how to parse the xml file and run the commands:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...6562a05773&p=1


Thanks for any help that you may have for me.

Just curious, why XML? Why not scripts? With a script you can avoid the parsing
and invoking actions, which I believe is also slower, and even run parts
of code by
executing scriptblocks.

Anyway, what about a code snippet or errors description? It can help understand
your situation.

Shay
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com

I am trying to use powershell to automate some tasks that we do at our
office. Basic stuff like install acrobat reader, create user in AD, etc...
Here is the process for my powerhshell "program". Out IT staff will goto an
internal website and download a powershell script with when run creates a few
variables and downloads this xml file. The xml file contains a menu (for
stupid proofing), variables, functions, installation commands, dsadd's,
etc... I chose the xml file becase I could have everything in one place as
opposed to our current structure with a bunch of scripts. When I make a
change to the XML file it takes affect the next time the script is run.

Here is the function that I am having the problem with:

function command_execute

($command = $info.data.$choice.$sub_choice.command)
{
$command | foreach-object {invoke-expression $_}
$logging = $info.data.$choice.$sub_choice.comment
date | write-output | out-file $logs\foundation_log.txt -append
write-output "$logging" "$command" -- | out-file $logs\foundation_log.txt
-append

}

$command would be the following:

<command>download ar.zip</command>
<command>unzip ar.zip</command>
<command>msiexec /i $unzip_location\acroread8.msi
transforms=$unzip_location\acroread8.mst /lv $logs\ar.log /qn</command>

download and unzip from above are other functions pulled from the xml file
that do just that, download the file and unzip it to a directory.

When my script runs command execute it displays the contents of the command
element above. Funny thing is it runs the functions for the download and
unzip properly but when it gets to the msiexec it displays it as if it were
text. This also happens on executables that run installations.

Hope I was clearer here?





"Shay Levi" wrote:

If my code snippets were not good enough please let me know and I can send an
email or upload the complete files (foundation.ps1(3k) and data.xml
(9k))somewhere.

"Brett" wrote:

What happens if you use the & operator instead of invoke-expression?

& $_
& {$_}
& "$_"


Shay
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com

Can you integrate this and see if the cmd.exe is executing?

<command>cmd /k echo executing</command>


Shay
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com

Brett, were you able to resolve it?

Shay
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com

I will not be able to test this till the end of today. I will know soon and
post back for you.

"Shay Levi" wrote:

Good Luck

Shay
http://scriptolog.blogspot.com

I believe that your response will fix my problem. I have to change more than
I thought in my xml file to test this out. I forgot about the command versus
expression mode, the part that I will have to rework is changing some of my
command elements in the xml file to process in expression mode becase they
are powershell functions.

Thanks again.

"Shay Levi" wrote: