System.Diagnostics.Process for STDOUT/STDERR

[spl]

This is a quickie follow-up from Tony's code on the recent thread for slack.exe. The .NET System.Diagnostics.Process has a lot to offer. I wanted to see how it might help with capturing STDOUT/STDERR from  command... I realize here are earlier udfs (I think Detlev published one of the first)... so the code below may or may not be a better mousetrap, but it worked and was cool to write as investigating .NET is a useful keep-yer-skills-sharp

Code Select Expand

;simple demo to obtain STDOUT/STDERR via CLR
;Stan Littlefield 4/7/2024
;==========================================================
cmd = "ping.exe"
args = "-n 1 localhost"
ObjectClrOption("useany","System")
objInfo = ObjectClrNew("System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo")
Output=""
objInfo.FileName = cmd
objInfo.RedirectStandardError = ObjectType("BOOL",@TRUE)
objInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = ObjectType("BOOL",@TRUE)
objInfo.UseShellExecute = ObjectType("BOOL",@FALSE)
objInfo.Arguments = args
oProcess = ObjectClrNew("System.Diagnostics.Process")
oProcess.StartInfo = objInfo
oProcess.Start()
oProcess.WaitForExit()
STDOUT = oProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
STDERR = oProcess.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
Output = Output:"Command ":cmd:" ":args:@CRLF
Output = Output:"STDOUT: ":STDOUT:@CRLF
Output = Output:"STDERR: ":STDERR:@CRLF
Message("CLR Process",Output)
Exit


[spl]

Placed the CLR stuff into a udf. The examples are related Python but should be applicable to PHP command line or .js files.

Code (WINBATCH) Select Expand

;simple demo to obtain STDOUT/STDERR via CLR
;Stan Littlefield 4/7/2024
;==========================================================
Gosub udfs
;2 examples / comment,uncommnet to test
cmd="py" ;will run Python if it is installed
args='-m pip show pywin32'
msg="Is Pywin32 Installed"

;args='-c "import sys; print(sys.exec_prefix)"'
;msg="Python Path"

Display(2,"Running...",cmd:" ":args)
vals = Get_stdout()
Message(msg,vals)
Exit
;==========================================================
:udfs
#DefineSubroutine Get_stdout()
ObjectClrOption("useany","System")
objInfo = ObjectClrNew("System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo")
Output=""
objInfo.FileName = cmd
objInfo.RedirectStandardError = ObjectType("BOOL",@TRUE)
objInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = ObjectType("BOOL",@TRUE)
objInfo.UseShellExecute = ObjectType("BOOL",@FALSE)
objInfo.Arguments = args
oProcess = ObjectClrNew("System.Diagnostics.Process")
oProcess.StartInfo = objInfo
oProcess.Start()
oProcess.WaitForExit()
STDOUT = oProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
STDERR = oProcess.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
Output = Output:STDOUT:@CRLF
If STDERR<>""
   Output = Output:"STDERR:":STDERR:@CRLF
Endif
oProcess = 0
objInfo = 0
Return (Output)
#EndSubroutine
Return
;==========================================================



[spl]

The udf for STDOUT may also be useful searching for text. Below calls a PS one-liner to quickly return results. I wanted to query my script repository for files that contained the SaveAs() method and it was fun to see the PS code could quickly return results via WB.

Code Select Expand

;simple demo to obtain STDOUT/STDERR via CLR
;Stan Littlefield 4/14/2024
;==========================================================
Gosub udfs
;Powershell Example
path = "c:\scripts\*.wbt"
pattern = "SaveAS"
cmd="Powershell"
args= 'Get-ChildItem -Path ':path:' -recurse |  Select-String -Pattern "':pattern:'" ;Exit'
msg="Search SaveAS() in WB code"

Display(2,"Running...",cmd:" ":args)
vals = Get_stdout()
Message(msg,vals)
Exit
;==========================================================
:udfs
#DefineSubroutine Get_stdout()
ObjectClrOption("useany","System")
objInfo = ObjectClrNew("System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo")
Output=""
objInfo.FileName = cmd
objInfo.RedirectStandardError = ObjectType("BOOL",@TRUE)
objInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = ObjectType("BOOL",@TRUE)
objInfo.UseShellExecute = ObjectType("BOOL",@FALSE)
objInfo.Arguments = args
oProcess = ObjectClrNew("System.Diagnostics.Process")
oProcess.StartInfo = objInfo
oProcess.Start()
oProcess.WaitForExit()
STDOUT = oProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
STDERR = oProcess.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
Output = Output:STDOUT:@CRLF
If STDERR<>""
   Output = Output:"STDERR:":STDERR:@CRLF
Endif
oProcess = 0
objInfo = 0
Return (Output)
#EndSubroutine
Return
;==========================================================


[spl]

and while on the PS STDOut, employing the pipeline can make for interesting one-liners. For example running Get_stdout() with this

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cmd="Powershell"
args= "Get-ScheduledTask | where state -eq 'Disabled' | Select-Object TaskPath,Taskname,State | ConvertTo-Csv -NoTypeInformation"
msg="Disabled Scheduled Tasks"

I got this

[cssyphus]

This is great stuff. Thanks Stan.

[spl]

This is great stuff. Thanks Stan.

Appreciate that. Little irony with last Taskbar Operation. Most PC's win10-11 and possibly Win7 come preset with PS version 5.1. But Powershell 7 is available and the command is PWSH, not Powershell. In 5.1 the Converto-Csv cmdlet will enclose all columns with quotes regardless. PS 7 added a new parameter -UseQuotes AsNeeded which is really cool. However, PS 7 does not respect a command-line argument with a pipeline. But it does respect generating a .ps1 file with the command line... so if one were to use PS 7 and include the new parameter something like this will succeed.

Code Select Expand

pscode = "Get-ScheduledTask | where state -eq 'Disabled' | Select-Object TaskPath,Taskname,State | ConvertTo-Csv -UseQuotes AsNeeded -NoTypeInformation"
file="c:\temp\pstest.ps1"
If FileExist(file) Then FileDelete(file)
Fileput(file,pscode)
cmd="PWSH"
args=file
msg="Disabled Scheduled Tasks"

NOTE: very difficult to upload even a small jpeg without several edits.