Powershell: how to export variables to an existing runspace (of a different Powershell ISE Tab) and to an existing remote PSSession in that runspace

Question

I'm trying to setup Powershell ISE to manage few VMs hosted under Hyper-V and using Powershell Direct.

What I'm trying to do is:

collect in one script all relevant "settings" under variables whose name starts with an appropriate prefix, for example "vms";
at the end of this script open a PowerShellTab for each VM to manage (if not already opened);
copy in the runspace of this new Tab all the relevant settings variables (I think this is necessary for the next step);
start a remote PSSession with the VM (if not already started) and copy or update the settings variables also in this remote PSSession;
enter interactively this PSSession to be able to launch my commands (F8) after selecting portions of sample/template scripts.

My script is this one.

$vms = 'VMName1','VMName2'
$vmsCredentials = @{
    VMName1 = [pscredential]::new('User1', (ConvertTo-SecureString 'pw1' -AsPlainText -force))
    VMName2 = [pscredential]::new('User2', (ConvertTo-SecureString 'pw2' -AsPlainText -force))
}

$vmsInfo1 = 'blah,blah,blah'
$vmsInfo2 = @{}
$vmsInfo3 = @(1,2,3)

$tabPrevious = $psISE.CurrentPowerShellTab

$vms |% {

        Write-Information $_
        $tab = $psISE.PowerShellTabs |? DisplayName -eq $_

        if ($tab -eq $null)
        {
            # opens new PS ISE Tab
            $tab = $psISE.PowerShellTabs.Add()
            $psISE.PowerShellTabs.SetSelectedPowerShellTab($tabPrevious)
            $tab.DisplayName = $_
            $tab.ExpandedScript = $true
            $tab.Files.Clear()

            # open all files in new tab 
            $tabPrevious.Files |% FullPath |? { Test-Path $_ } |% {
                [void]$tab.Files.Add($_)
            }
        }
        else
        {
            # exit remote interactive session, if any 
            if ($tab.Prompt -match "^\[$_\]: ") {
                while (!$tab.CanInvoke) { sleep -Milliseconds 100 }
                $tab.Invoke('exit')
            }
        }

        # export/update variables to tab
        while (!$tab.CanInvoke) { sleep -Milliseconds 100 }
        $rs = ($tab.InvokeSynchronous({ $ExecutionContext.Host.Runspace }, $false))[0]
        if ($null -ne $rs) {
            Get-Variable "vms*" |% { $rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable($_.Name, $_.Value) }            
        }

        # start a new remote PSSession for the tab, if not already done
        while (!$tab.CanInvoke) { sleep -Milliseconds 100 }
        $tab.Invoke("if (`$null -eq `$pchPSSession) { `$pchPSSession = New-PSSession -VMName '$_' -Credential `$vmsCredentials['$_'] }")

        # export/update variables to the remote PSSession and enter interactively
        while (!$tab.CanInvoke) { sleep -Milliseconds 100 }
        $tab.Invoke("Invoke-Command `$pchPSSession { `$args |% { Set-Variable `$_.Name `$_.Value } } -ArgumentList (Get-Variable 'vms*'); Enter-PSSession -Session `$pchPSSession")

        # uncomment this line and no error occurs
        #[void]$psISE.PowerShellTabs.Remove($tab)
    }

Unfortunately this script works well:

the very first time I run the script in a fresh ISE,
or when only one new Tab need to be opened,
or if I close immediately the just added Tab (uncomment last line),
or under Debugger

otherwise the two last PowerShellTab.Invoke fails (Null Reference).

Any idea to solve this error? Any way to do it better?

Powershell: how to export variables to an existing runspace (of a different Powershell ISE Tab) and to an existing remote PSSession in that runspace

0 Answers0