Writing to Command Line Not Working - vb.net

An application I need to use (USB capture utility) has a .cmd version that I can call from my Visual Basic code. I am able to launch the application and put it in "command line mode" like this:
Public Class MyClass
Dim StreamWriteUtility As System.IO.StreamWriter
Dim StreamReadUtility As System.IO.StringReader
Dim ProcessInfo As ProcessStartInfo
Dim Process As Process
Public Sub StartUSBCapture(ByVal DataStorageLocation As String)
Dim ProcessInfo As ProcessStartInfo
Dim Process As New Process
ProcessInfo = New ProcessStartInfo("C:\FW_Qualification_Suite\data-center-windows\data-center\bin\datacenter.cmd", "-c ")
ProcessInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = False 'Must be changed if redirect set to True
ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True
Process = Process.Start(ProcessInfo)
SWUtility = Process.StandardInput
While True
SWUtility.WriteLine("run") 'Looping for test to ensure this isn't a timing issue
End While
End Sub
End Class
This launches the application and opens a separate command line window that should accept further commands (i.e., capture, run, stop, etc). However, I am having trouble getting those subsequent commands to show up in the command line window. I've tried redirecting the standard input of the process, but still nothing shows up in the console window.
Can anyone tell how I'm supposed to actually get these commands from my Visual Basic program into this application?

Related

VB.Net Process.Start - Verb

I want my vb.net Program to launch notepad and elevate the credentials however there is no prompt and the program just opens.
Dim process As System.Diagnostics.Process = Nothing
Dim processStartInfo As System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
processStartInfo = New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo()
processStartInfo.FileName = "notepad.exe"
processStartInfo.Verb = "runas"
processStartInfo.Arguments = ""
processStartInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Normal
processStartInfo.UseShellExecute = True
process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(processStartInfo)
There's a lot of unnecessary code there. You're using two lines to declare and set your two variables when you only need one each time. You're setting the FileName property explicitly when you can pass an argument to the constructor and you're also setting three properties to their default values. I just stripped it down to the bare minimum:
Dim psi As New ProcessStartInfo("notepad.exe") With {.Verb = "runas"}
Dim proc = Process.Start(psi)
When I ran that code from a new WinForms app with just a Button on the form and I got a UAC prompt as expected.

Execute DOS command within console application VB

I need to be able to execute a DOS command, such as 'ipconfig', using a command line application in Visual Basic. I can simply use start.process("CMD", "ipconfig"), but that opens a new instance of CMD. I want to be able to run a command like I would with CMD, using a console application, without opening another CMD window. Thanks!
You can use this to run the ipconfig command in hidden console window and redirect the output to local variable. From here you can manipulate it as needed:
Dim cmdProcess As New Process
With cmdProcess
.StartInfo = New ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/C ipconfig")
With .StartInfo
.CreateNoWindow = True
.UseShellExecute = False
.RedirectStandardOutput = True
End With
.Start()
.WaitForExit()
End With
' Read output to a string variable.
Dim ipconfigOutput As String = cmdProcess.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd

Console App / Task Scheduler

I have a console app written in VB Net that works perfectly. Now I want to run it using task scheduler. The problem is that the app has a console.readline command at the very end that keeps the console window open until the user hits enter. Is there a way to test whether the app is running in a session or not?
If I knew that the app was not tied to a desktop console, I would not write the comments to the console and I'd bypass the final console.readline command.
You should add an argument to your task to indicate it is unattended. For example, pass /u in your scheduled task. Check for /u in your program to determine if it should skip the console.readline.
excerpt from msdn forum
Dim args() As String = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()
' args(0) = Full path of executing program with program name
' args(1) = First switch in command - /u
if args(1) = "/u" then ....
Or you can change the signature of your Main() to Public Sub Main(ByVal args() As String) and you won't need to use Dim args() As String = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()

unable to run Exchange Powershell through vb.net application

So I'm going round in circles trying to get this to work, I've been trying for two days and I just can't figure it out.
I have the following vb function that takes a created powershell script, and should run it in powershell. Everything works fine, until the point at which the command pipeline is invoked. At this point, no commands run.
As you can see, I have tried to add the Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010 snapin to the runspace, it didn't like that at all stating something along the lines of the snapin didnt exist (which it does), and also when I run the code as shown, no commands are recognised as valid. I even added the specific command "Add-PSSnapin" to try and load any Exchange snapins, but it states that "Add-PSSnapin" is not recognised as a valid command.
If I pause the program just before the commands are involked, I can see every command within the pipeline, in the correct format. If I copy and paste the command text in the pipeline directly into a powershell window, it runs fine.
My code is below, any suggestions welcome.
edit: I have also tried adding the line "Add-PSSnapin Ex" (with an asterisk each side of Ex - I cant figure the formatting out on this, sorry)
to try and load the Exchange PS Snapins as the first thing the script would run (opposed to setting this up in the runspace) but no luck
Private Function scriptRunner(ByVal scripttorun As String) As String
Dim initial As InitialSessionState = InitialSessionState.CreateDefault()
Dim result As String = ""
Dim lineFromScript As String = ""
Dim reader As New StreamReader(tempScript)
Dim rsConfig As RunspaceConfiguration = RunspaceConfiguration.Create()
Dim snapInException As New PSSnapInException
Dim strUserName As String = "DOMAIN\USER"
Dim strPassword As String = "PASSWORD"
Dim SecuredPSWD As New System.Security.SecureString()
For Each character As Char In strPassword
SecuredPSWD.AppendChar(character)
Next
Dim wsmConnectionInfo As WSManConnectionInfo
Dim strSystemURI As String = "http://SERVER.DOMAIN/powershell?serializationLevel=Full"
Dim strShellURI As String = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/powershell/Microsoft.Exchange"
Dim powerShellCredentials As PSCredential = New PSCredential(strUserName, SecuredPSWD)
wsmConnectionInfo = New WSManConnectionInfo(New Uri(strSystemURI), strShellURI, powerShellCredentials)
Dim runspace As Runspace = RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace(wsmConnectionInfo)
Runspace.Open()
' runspace.RunspaceConfiguration.AddPSSnapIn("Microsoft.Exchange.Management.PowerShell.E2010", snapInException)
Dim pipeLine As Pipeline = runspace.CreatePipeline()
Dim command As Command = New Command("")
' TEST >> pipeLine.Commands.Add("Add-PSSnapin *Ex*")
Do While reader.Peek() <> -1
lineFromScript = Nothing
lineFromScript = reader.ReadLine()
pipeLine.Commands.Add(lineFromScript)
'command.Parameters.Add(lineFromScript)
'pipeLine.Commands.Add(command)
Loop
'' Run the contents of the pipeline
Dim psObjCollection As Collection(Of PSObject) = pipeLine.Invoke()
runspace.Close()
runspace.Dispose()
Return ""
End Function
I ended up working around the problem rather than fixing it.
I moved the script code into the vb.net application, and wrote each line to a file, i.e.
writer.WriteLine("Add-PSSnapin *Ex*")
Then I loaded the script through PowerShell as an application;
Dim exeStartInfo As System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
Dim exeStart As New System.Diagnostics.Process
exeStartInfo = New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe")
exeStartInfo.Arguments = ("-command work\scriptbuilder.ps1")
exeStartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "C:\ExchangeManager\"
exeStartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
exeStart.StartInfo = exeStartInfo
exeStart.Start()
exeStart.Close()
Not ideal but it got the job done.

Run console hidden

I'm trying to run a console window hidden while using CreateProcess(I can't use the ProcessStartInfo class because I have to run it with some other special settings)
I have tried to use the CREATE_NO_WINDOWS flag, but somehow, the console still pops up. This is the code I have:
Dim ProzessInfo = New Process_Information
Dim StartInfo = New Startup_Information, PS = New Security_Flags, TS = New Security_Flags
If CreateProcess(Nothing, target, PS, TS, False, PROCESS_CREATION_FLAG.CREATE_NO_WINDOW, Nothing, Nothing, StartInfo, ProzessInfo) = 0 Then MsgBox("Couln't start application")
What have I missed to run it hidden?
You may want to try
AppwinStyle.Hide, True
MSDN AppWinStyle
Or
EDIT:
Try This for Processes
Dim psi1 As New ProcessStartInfo("file path here")
Process.CreateNoWindow = True
Depending on what your end goal is you can always change the application type to Windows Forms Application. (Assuming you are running a console app now.)