launching powershell script from cmake

Usage
1

Hi,

This question is linked with #7833.

I designed a powershell script that can take a path from CLI and add it to user path. I can run the script from a powershell or a cmd terminal but not from CMake.
I tried:

execute_process(COMMAND "powershell -File <path to script>/AddUserPath.ps1 -NewPath NewPath")
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "-File <path to script>/AddUserPath.ps1 -NewPath NewPath")
execute_process(COMMAND powershell -File <path to script>/AddUserPath.ps1 -NewPath NewPath)

or without the -File

I get only errors or nothing (for the first case).
the errors can be -File or /AddUserPath.ps1 not recognised as an applet, function or whatever.

Thanks by advance
A.

2

Hi,

I’m still stuck with this. Does anyone have example of powershell usage from CMake (whatever the running shell from which CMake is launched).

Thanks
A.

3

Hi,
I found a syntax that works, at least on windows, without space in the path:

execute_process(COMMAND powershell C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1 "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)

but if the path is containing space(s) I can’t find a way to run the script:

execute_process(COMMAND powershell Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1 "-NewPath NewPathFromCMake2" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)
+ C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1  ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:/Users/Myself/my:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
execute_process(COMMAND powershell Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1 "-NewPath NewPathFromCMake2" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)
+ C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1  ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:/Users/Myself/my:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
execute_process(COMMAND powershell Myself\my path\Scripts\Test.ps1 "-NewPath NewPathFromCMake2" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)
+ C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1  ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Myself\my:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "Myself\\my path\\Scripts\\Test.ps1" "-NewPath NewPathFromCMake2" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)
+ C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1  ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\Myself\my:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"Myself\\my path\\Scripts\\Test.ps1\"" "-NewPath NewPathFromCMake2" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)
+ ... \Desktop\de v\CompilationFramework\Scripts\Test.ps1" -NewPath NewPath
+                                                          ~~~~~~~~
unexpected token "-NewPath"
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"Myself\\my path\\Scripts\\Test.ps1\" -NewPath NewPathFromCMake2" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)
+ ... \Desktop\de v\CompilationFramework\Scripts\Test.ps1" -NewPath NewPath
+                                                          ~~~~~~~~
unexpected token "-NewPath"

is it a bug of execute_process?
how can I write the call properly?

Thanks
A.

4

Use quotes around the path to your script. CMake will then ensure the shell sees it as a single argument.

execute_process(
    COMMAND powershell
        "Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1"
        "-NewPath NewPathFromCMake2"   # This looks suspicious, should it really be a single argument?
    OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO
    RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR
    ERROR_VARIABLE  FOO_ER
)

Note that the quotes you use are not passed through to the shell command. They are interpreted by CMake as part of parsing the call to execute_process(). When you quote something like -NewPath NewPathFromCMake2, you are telling CMake to keep that together as a single argument on the command line. CMake will then apply quoting for you if needed, such as when there’s an embedded space or other special shell character.

5

Dear Craig,

I’m sorry but I still does not work. I tried to be a bit more exhaustive in my tests:

execute_process(COMMAND powershell C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1 "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)		    SUCCESS
execute_process(COMMAND powershell C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPath OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)			    SUCCESS
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1" "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)		    SUCCESS
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1" -NewPath NewPath OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)		    SUCCESS
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1\"" "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)	    ERROR unexpected token -NewPath
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1\"" -NewPath NewPath OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)	    ERROR unexpected token -NewPath
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)		    SUCCESS
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"C:/Users/Myself/mypath/Scripts/Test.ps1\" -NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)	    ERROR unexpected token -NewPath

execute_process(COMMAND powershell C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1 "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)		    ERROR C:/Users/Myself/my is not recognised as a command applet
execute_process(COMMAND powershell C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPath OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)		    ERROR C:/Users/Myself/my is not recognised as a command applet
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1" "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)	    ERROR C:/Users/Myself/my is not recognised as a command applet
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1" -NewPath NewPath OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)  	    ERROR C:/Users/Myself/my is not recognised as a command applet
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1\"" "-NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)    ERROR "C:/Users/Myself/my;path/Scripts/Test.ps1" unexpected token -NewPath: note the appearance of the semi-column within the path
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1\"" -NewPath NewPath OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)      ERROR "C:/Users/Myself/my;path/Scripts/Test.ps1" unexpected token -NewPath: note the appearance of the semi-column within the path
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)          ERROR C:/Users/Myself/my is not recognised as a command applet
execute_process(COMMAND powershell "\"C:/Users/Myself/my path/Scripts/Test.ps1\" -NewPath NewPath" OUTPUT_VARIABLE FOO RESULT_VARIABLE FOOR ERROR_VARIABLE FOO_ER)      ERROR "C:/Users/Myself/my;path/Scripts/Test.ps1" unexpected token -NewPath: note the appearance of the semi-column within the path

Yet I made experiments directly within windows shell and there is multiple issues.
the right way to call a script seems to depend on the calling shell, and a ` must be used in order to escape the whitespace:
in native shell (cmd) I found these syntaxes:

powershell C:/Users/Myself/my` path/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPathValue

or

powershell - Command C:/Users/Myself/my` path/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPathValue

in powershell I found two possibilities

powershell -File C:/Users/Myself/my` path/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPathValue

or

C:/Users/Myself/my` path/Scripts/Test.ps1 -NewPath NewPathValue

The easy part will be, with string(replace…) to change all space by `space.
Nevertheless, I don’t know in what shell my command is launch from CMake. I suspect that both situation may arise but I don’t know how to determine in what shell the command will be launched.
How can I do?
Or is there another syntax that will works whatever the shell?

By the way, I have another question. My script returns with EXIT and a value.
Nethertheless the returned value retrieve by execute process is always 0 when return is 0 but 1 whatever the returned value if its not 0. Is it a normal behavior?

Thanks.
A.

6

It seems like there’s probably some cmd /c getting in the way here (of quoting and return codes)? I don’t see it in the source though. I wonder if VERBATIM might help here too?

7

I have a file - PowerShell.cmake - that implements:

        execute_powershell(
            <script>
            [OUTPUT_VARIABLE <variable name>]
            [RESULT_VARIABLE <variable name>]
        )

Which allows you to run ‘inline’ scripts which would allow you to also run .ps1 files, too. I use it - for example - for xml parsing files on Windows, like this (taken from here):

# Read the PLATFORM_REFERENCES from the WINDOWS_KITS_PLATFORM_PATH file.
execute_powershell("
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
[xml]$Platform = Get-Content \"${WINDOWS_KITS_PLATFORM_PATH}\"
$Platform.ApplicationPlatform.ContainedApiContracts.ApiContract |
    ForEach-Object { $_.name, $_.version }
"
    OUTPUT_VARIABLE PLATFORM_REFERENCES
    RESULT_VARIABLE POWERSHELL_RESULT
)