Powershell – How to call msdeploy from powershell when the parameters have spaces

iismsdeploypowershell

I'm running into a problem with spaces in my parameters that I try to send into msdeploy from a powershell script.

There are a number of other related articles but none of them solve the problem.

Problems Using Power Shell And MSDeploy.

Similar SO issue that doesn't work: How to run exe in powershell with parameters with spaces and quotes

PowerShell BUG: Executing commands which require quotes and variables is practically impossible

Another SO issue that doesn't work:Passing parameters in PowerShell 2.0

The simplest example that succeeds and then fails when I make it more complicated is just dumping the default web site.

$msdeploy = "C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy\msdeploy.exe"

&$msdeploy -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig=`'default web site`' -verbose

==SUCCESS

This one?

$sitename="default web site"

&$msdeploy -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig=$sitename -verbose

==FAIL with the following error

msdeploy.exe : Error: Unrecognized argument '"-source:"appHostConfig=default'. All arguments must begin with "-".

At C:\xxx\test.ps1:122 char:6

+ &

+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (Error: Unrecogn…begin with "-".:String) [], RemoteException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError

Error count: 1.

The following variations have also failed

#FAIL

$sitename=`'default web site`'

$sitename=`'"default web site"`'

$sitename="`'default web site`'"

$sitename="default web site"

$sitename="'default web site'"

&$msdeploy -verb:dump "-source:appHostConfig=$sitename" -verbose

&$msdeploy -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig="$sitename" -verbose

&$msdeploy -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig='$sitename' -verbose

&$msdeploy -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig=`'$sitename`' -verbose

&$msdeploy -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig=`"$sitename`" -verbose

I'm at a loss. Everyone I work with is at a loss. Seriously this sucks. I loved Powershell. I loved msdeploy. I can't say that I love putting them together. It looks like it may have been easier to focus on the API instead of the cli.

EDIT:

The parameters in the string array suggested by Emperor XLII works well. An alternative solution is presented in the following article: The trials and tribulations of using MSDeploy with PowerShell

function PushToTarget([string]$server, [string]$remotePath, [string]$localPath) {
    cmd.exe /C $("msdeploy.exe -verb:sync -source:contentPath=`"{0}`" -dest:computerName=`"{1}`",contentPath=`"{2}`" -whatif" -f $localPath, $server, $remotePath )
}

Best Answer

Using the technique from Keith's answer to How to run exe in powershell with parameters with spaces and quotes question you linked to, running echoargs -verb:dump -source:appHostConfig=$sitename -verbose gave me this output:

Arg 0 is <-verb:dump>
Arg 1 is <-source:appHostConfig=default>
Arg 2 is <web>
Arg 3 is <site>
Arg 4 is <-verbose>

This would explain the invalid argument of appHostConfig=default that msdeploy was seeing.

Running echoargs -verb:dump "-source:appHostConfig=$sitename" -verbose, with $sitename = "default web site", appears to result in the desired arguments:

Arg 0 is <-verb:dump>
Arg 1 is <-source:appHostConfig=default web site>
Arg 2 is <-verbose>

Though from your list, it appears that this did not work for you.

Another method you might try is building up the list of arguments in an array, which powershell can automatically escape. For example, this gives the same output as above:

[string[]]$msdeployArgs = @(
  "-verb:dump",
  "-source:appHostConfig=$sitename",
  "-verbose"
)
echoargs $msdeployArgs

Related Solutions

Powershell – How to run an EXE file in PowerShell with parameters with spaces and quotes

When PowerShell sees a command starting with a string it just evaluates the string, that is, it typically echos it to the screen, for example:

PS> "Hello World"
Hello World

If you want PowerShell to interpret the string as a command name then use the call operator (&) like so:

PS> & 'C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy\msdeploy.exe'

After that you probably only need to quote parameter/argument pairs that contain spaces and/or quotation chars. When you invoke an EXE file like this with complex command line arguments it is usually very helpful to have a tool that will show you how PowerShell sends the arguments to the EXE file. The PowerShell Community Extensions has such a tool. It is called echoargs. You just replace the EXE file with echoargs - leaving all the arguments in place, and it will show you how the EXE file will receive the arguments, for example:

PS> echoargs -verb:sync -source:dbfullsql="Data Source=mysource;Integrated Security=false;User ID=sa;Pwd=sapass!;Database=mydb;" -dest:dbfullsql="Data Source=.\mydestsource;Integrated Security=false;User ID=sa;Pwd=sapass!;Database=mydb;",computername=10.10.10.10,username=administrator,password=adminpass

Arg 0 is <-verb:sync>
Arg 1 is <-source:dbfullsql=Data>
Arg 2 is <Source=mysource;Integrated>
Arg 3 is <Security=false;User>
Arg 4 is <ID=sa;Pwd=sapass!;Database=mydb;>
Arg 5 is <-dest:dbfullsql=Data>
Arg 6 is <Source=.\mydestsource;Integrated>
Arg 7 is <Security=false;User>
Arg 8 is <ID=sa;Pwd=sapass!;Database=mydb; computername=10.10.10.10 username=administrator password=adminpass>

Using echoargs you can experiment until you get it right, for example:

PS> echoargs -verb:sync "-source:dbfullsql=Data Source=mysource;Integrated Security=false;User ID=sa;Pwd=sapass!;Database=mydb;"
Arg 0 is <-verb:sync>
Arg 1 is <-source:dbfullsql=Data Source=mysource;Integrated Security=false;User ID=sa;Pwd=sapass!;Database=mydb;>

It turns out I was trying too hard before to maintain the double quotes around the connection string. Apparently that isn't necessary because even cmd.exe will strip those out.

BTW, hats off to the PowerShell team. They were quite helpful in showing me the specific incantation of single & double quotes to get the desired result - if you needed to keep the internal double quotes in place. :-) They also realize this is an area of pain, but they are driven by the number of folks are affected by a particular issue. If this is an area of pain for you, then please vote up this PowerShell bug submission.

For more information on how PowerShell parses, check out my Effective PowerShell blog series - specifically item 10 - "Understanding PowerShell Parsing Modes"

UPDATE 4/4/2012: This situation gets much easier to handle in PowerShell V3. See this blog post for details.

Powershell – How to pass multiple parameters into a function in PowerShell

Parameters in calls to functions in PowerShell (all versions) are space-separated, not comma separated. Also, the parentheses are entirely unneccessary and will cause a parse error in PowerShell 2.0 (or later) if Set-StrictMode -Version 2 or higher is active. Parenthesised arguments are used in .NET methods only.

function foo($a, $b, $c) {
   "a: $a; b: $b; c: $c"
}

ps> foo 1 2 3
a: 1; b: 2; c: 3

EDIT:

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Powershell – How to run an EXE file in PowerShell with parameters with spaces and quotes

Powershell – How to pass multiple parameters into a function in PowerShell

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