topic RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command in Product Forum

Start Process Action - PowerShell command

Neel1 — Fri, 20 May 2022 06:58:00 GMT

hello, I am trying to run below stuff in start process but it is not executing.

data item d contain folder path to zip
data item c contain zip folder path

what I am missing here? i want to run specifically using below action/VBO.

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Neeraj Kumar
Technical Architect
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

John__Carter — Fri, 20 May 2022 07:59:00 GMT

What's the error message? Probably you've already tried, but does the command work via the command line - is the syntax correct?

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John Carter
Professional Services
Blue Prism
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

devneetmohanty07 — Fri, 20 May 2022 08:07:00 GMT

Hi Neeraj,

Probably the issues lies with file names having spaces. The first folder parameter does not seem to work if you have spaces in it. I would suggest once trying to remove the space from the name of the source folder which is [d] and then try to execute the command and see if it works. The destination zip file can have spaces which is [c] and it seems to work.

The only limitation I am seeing is if you have a nested directory with a lot of spaces in between then renaming all such folders can be a hassle. If possible I would suggest copy it to a root directory or some path without spaces and then rename the file in case it has spaces within it. Once you are able to remove all the spaces you can pass that file path into this command as a part of the data item [d]

NOTE: Did multiple rounds of test around this and it seems even after using double quotes, single quotes and -f flag as well in this command, if the source file path has spaces around it then the command does not seem to work both manually and via automation as well.
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Hope it helps you out and if my solution resolves your query, then please mark it as the 'Best Answer' so that the others members in the community having similar problem statement can track the answer easily in future

Regards,
Devneet Mohanty
Intelligent Process Automation Consultant | Sr. Consultant - Automation Developer,
Wonderbotz India Pvt. Ltd.
Blue Prism Community MVP | Blue Prism 7x Certified Professional
Website: https://devneet.github.io/
Email: devneetmohanty07@gmail.com

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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

Neel1 — Fri, 20 May 2022 08:07:00 GMT

Hello @John Carter - Yes i already tried. it is not working. I am not getting error message .
although command is working fine manually .
i am doubting the syntax but at the same time i am not sure what to change in syntax.

this is what i am using
"Compress-Archive " &""""&[d]&""""&" "&""""&[c]&""""

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Neeraj Kumar
Technical Architect
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

Neel1 — Fri, 20 May 2022 11:09:00 GMT

hello - Yes. It is working if Source is not having space. it is working via different ways,

but not working if the folder to zip is having space.

Manually - it is working fine for both the cases for me.

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Neeraj Kumar
Technical Architect
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

PabloSarabia — Fri, 20 May 2022 12:32:00 GMT

Hi,

Just a question... your files have special characters? (e.i: á, ï, ô, ç.....)?

I faced similar problems in the past when the names of the files or paths inside the folder have this kind of characters. (I solved it by using a different compression library, I don't know if you consider to use a little bit of code to fix this)

See you in the community! Bye 🙂

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Pablo Sarabia
Solution Manager & Architect
Altamira Assets Management
Madrid
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

Neel1 — Fri, 20 May 2022 12:49:00 GMT

Hello @PabloSarabia - there is no special character in the folder path on which i am doing test..

failing for folder name having space .

what other library you have used.

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Neeraj Kumar
Technical Architect
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

PabloSarabia — Fri, 20 May 2022 13:52:00 GMT

Hi @Neeraj Kumar

We use "Ionic", but if you don't have special characters in the names I do not recommend you (is hard to use in my opinion 🙂 )

Better use the System.IO.Compression one. (also you need add this if you want to use by yourself System.IO.Compression.FileSystem.dll)

I attach you a VBO complete, try with this. (Only have one Action, Compress).

The code is simple:

ZipFile.CreateFromDirectory(Folder, zipFile);

Hope this helps you!

See you in the Community, bye 🙂

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Pablo Sarabia
Solution Manager & Architect
Altamira Assets Management
Madrid
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

devneetmohanty07 — Fri, 20 May 2022 14:16:00 GMT

Hi Neeraj,

If going via System.IO.Compression.FileSystem.dll approach is applicable, you can download the Blue Prism asset from DX Exchange and use it as well since it has compress actions and other actions as well: Windows Compressed File

------------------------------
----------------------------------
Hope it helps you out and if my solution resolves your query, then please mark it as the 'Best Answer' so that the others members in the community having similar problem statement can track the answer easily in future

Regards,
Devneet Mohanty
Intelligent Process Automation Consultant | Sr. Consultant - Automation Developer,
Wonderbotz India Pvt. Ltd.
Blue Prism Community MVP | Blue Prism 7x Certified Professional
Website: https://devneet.github.io/
Email: devneetmohanty07@gmail.com

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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

Neel1 — Mon, 23 May 2022 11:33:00 GMT

Thanks @devneetmohanty07 @PabloSarabia for your valuable input.

The problem in using above VBO/method is that it is taking more then 1 minute to zip the folder (Folder is bit on heavier side).
Powershell command when tested manually is taking 10 seconds.

@EricWilson1 @shashank.kumar280 - Can you help here.

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Neeraj Kumar
Technical Architect
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

ewilson — Mon, 23 May 2022 12:51:00 GMT

Hi @Neeraj Kumar,

First question would be do you know if you have multiple versions of PowerShell installed on the machine? In my case, there's the legacy PowerShell that's included with Windows. I also have PowerShell v7 (aka PowerShell Core) installed. What I've found is that PowerShell v7 seems to execute faster than legacy PowerShell.

From the process folder shown in your screenshot it looks like you're invoking legacy PowerShell. I've tested with that, using a ps1 script file that zips multiple folders into separate archives. These are relatively small, although they do include some NodeJS modules (ex. MySQL) in them. The final archives are about 352KB in size. Legacy PowerShell takes about 15-30 seconds to complete. Running the same ps1 script through PowerShell v7 takes maybe 2-5 seconds to complete.

If you have PowerShell v7 installed you should be able to find it under C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7. The executable is pwsh.exe.

Cheers,

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Eric Wilson
Director, Integrations and Enablement
Blue Prism Digital Exchange
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

Neel1 — Mon, 23 May 2022 14:21:00 GMT

Hello @ewilson Thanks for your reply. i am having below version of power shell.

Name Value
---- -----
PSVersion 5.1.19041.1682

Are you pointing that Powershell v7 will make the command share by me run well( Folder have space in name as well )? or there are other thing i need to do.

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Neeraj Kumar
Technical Architect
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RE: Start Process Action - PowerShell command

ewilson — Mon, 23 May 2022 15:29:00 GMT

@Neeraj Kumar,

What I can say is that in my environment, PowerShell v7 has shown to be faster than legacy PowerShell (i.e. v5). Here's an example of the PowerShell script that I'm using for a project:

# The following two lines capture the path where the PowerShell script resides. This is necessary in order to 
# run this script within the PowerShell ISE w/o having to hardcode my specific folder layout.
$scriptpath = $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
$dir = Split-Path $scriptpath

#'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
# DEPLOYMENT PACKAGE DEFINITIONS
#
# You must add a new entry for any new Lambda function you define.
#'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
$lambda_DeleteUser = @{
    Path = "$dir\TestServices DeleteUser\node_modules", "$dir\TestServices DeleteUser\*.js", "$dir\TestServices DeleteUser\*.json"
    CompressionLevel = "Fastest"
    DestinationPath = "$dir\Deployment Packages\TestServices_DeleteUser.zip"
}

$lambda_GetUser = @{
    Path = "$dir\TestServices GetUser\node_modules", "$dir\TestServices GetUser\*.js", "$dir\TestServices GetUser\*.json"
    CompressionLevel = "Fastest"
    DestinationPath = "$dir\Deployment Packages\TestServices_GetUser.zip"
}

#'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
# BUILD DEPLOYMENT PACKAGES
#
# Use the Compress-Archive cmdlet to build the deployment package 
# (aka zip archive) for each Lambda function.
#'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
Compress-Archive @lambda_DeleteUser -Force
Compress-Archive @lambda_GetUser -Force

As you can see, I have spaces in my folder paths (there are actually more spaces included in the $dir variable. This works fine for me.

Cheers,

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Eric Wilson
Director, Integrations and Enablement
Blue Prism Digital Exchange
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