Windows PowerShell

Since SharePoint 2013 introduces a Representational State Transfer (REST) service that is comparable to the existing SharePoint client object models, it opens up a huge capabilities, in particular for administering and automating SharePoint Online when used with PowerShell.

My first idea was to utilize Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet, which was introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0. Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet contains Credential parameter which could accept basic, digest, NTLM, and Kerberos authentication.

SharePoint Client Component SDK comes with a SharePointOnlineCredentials class which represents an object that provides credentials to access SharePoint Online resources. But unfortunately SharePoint Online credentials could not be passed in Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet, since claims based authentication is not supported by this cmdlet.

Below is demonstrated a simplified PowerShell script that to some extent mimics Invoke-RestMethod cmdlet. This script is intended for sending HTTPS request to a SharePoint Online REST service:

	Param(
	[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
	[String]$Url,

	[Parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
	[Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WebRequestMethod]$Method = [Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WebRequestMethod]::Get,

	[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
	[String]$UserName,

	[Parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
	[String]$Password
	)

	Add-Type –Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
	Add-Type –Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"


	if([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Password)) {
	$SecurePassword = Read-Host –Prompt "Enter the password" –AsSecureString
	}
	else {
	$SecurePassword = $Password \| ConvertTo-SecureString –AsPlainText –Force
	}


	$credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName, $SecurePassword)
	$request = [System.Net.WebRequest]::Create($Url)
	$request.Credentials = $credentials
	$request.Headers.Add("X-FORMS_BASED_AUTH_ACCEPTED", "f")
	$request.Accept = "application/json;odata=verbose"
	$request.Method=$Method
	$response = $request.GetResponse()
	$requestStream = $response.GetResponseStream()
	$readStream = New-Object System.IO.StreamReader $requestStream
	$data=$readStream.ReadToEnd()
	$results = $data \| ConvertFrom-Json
	$results.d.results

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Invoke-RestSPO.ps1

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Examples

	#Example 1. Gets a value that specifies usage information about the site, including bandwidth, storage, and the number of visits to the site collection
	$result = .\Invoke-RestSPO.ps1 –Url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/_api/site/usage" –UserName "username@tenant.onmicrosoft.com" –Password "password"
	write-host 'Total amount of disk space, currently being used by the site collection (Mb):' ([math]::round($result.Usage.Storage /1Mb))

	#Example 2. Get List Items
	.\Invoke-RestSPO.ps1 –Url "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Contacts')/title" –UserName "username@tenatnt.onmicrosoft.com" –Password "password"

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Invoke-RestSPO.Examples.ps1

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References

Overview

PowerShell is the de facto standard for SharePoint automation and scripting nowadays. But there are several competitors for the .NET platform, one of them is CS-Script.

According to the official site information:

CS-Script is a CLR (Common Language Runtime) based scripting system which uses ECMA-compliant C# as a programming language. CS-Script currently targets Microsoft implementation of CLR (.NET 2.0/3.0/3.5/4.0/4.5) with full support on Mono.

CS-Script is an open-source initiative that is distributed under the license agreement, which can be found here. However commercial support is also available.

CS-Script combines the power and richness of C# and FCL with the flexibility of a scripting system. CS-Script can be useful for system and network administrators, developers and testers. For any one who needs an automation for solving variety of programming tasks.

CS-Script could be used for solving variety of programming tasks such as:

analysing and adjusting system configuration
extending functionality of a software system with flexible scripting
configuring development or testing environment
automating software batch build
automating testing, and collecting test results

CS-Script In Action

So, lets take a look at different examples of using Script C# with SharePoint and get started with the classic example of printing the greeting.

Example 1. Hello World

	//css_host /version:v3.5 /platform:x64;
	//css_dir C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\ISAPI;
	using System;
	using Microsoft.SharePoint;

	namespace CSScript4SP
	{
	class Program
	{
	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
	using (var site = new SPSite("http://intranet.contoso.com"))
	{
	using (var web = site.OpenWeb())
	{
	Console.WriteLine("Hello SP!");
	}
	}
	}
	}
	}

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HelloSP.cs

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Running it via command-line using CS-Script engine executable (eg. csc.exe) gives us the the following results

Points to note:

Since it is running under SharePoint 2010, the following directives should be specified:

//css_host [/version:<CLR_Version>] [/platform:<CPU>]
– used to force the script to be compiled and executed against legacy CLR and alternative CPU architecture on Windows x64
//css_dir <path> – include assemblies from SharePoint directory into script and assembly probing

Example 2. Reference another C# script

In this example is demonstrated how to reference another C# script

	//css_host /version:v3.5 /platform:x64;
	//css_dir C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\ISAPI;
	//css_import WebPartManagerExtensions;
	using System;
	using Microsoft.SharePoint;
	using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages;

	namespace CSScript4SP
	{
	class Program
	{
	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
	using (var site = new SPSite("http://intranet.contoso.com"))
	{
	using (var web = site.OpenWeb())
	{
	web.ForEachWebPartOnPage<Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart>("/en/Pages/default.aspx",PrintWebPartInfo);
	}
	}
	}

	private static void PrintWebPartInfo(SPWeb web, Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart webPart, SPLimitedWebPartManager wpm)
	{
	Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2} {3}", webPart.Title, webPart.GetType().Name, webPart.ZoneIndex, webPart.ZoneID);
	}
	}
	}

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PrintWebPartInfo.cs

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Points to note:

//css_import<file> [, preserve_main][, rename_namespace(<oldName>, <newName>)] – reference the method ‘ForEachWebPartOnPage’ of a WebPartManagerExtensions.cs

Example 3. Reference library

In this example is demonstrated how to expose classes in an assembly CustomSharePointLibrary.dll

	//css_host /version:v3.5 /platform:x64;
	//css_dir C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\ISAPI;
	//css_reference CustomSharePointLibrary.dll;
	using System;
	using Microsoft.SharePoint;

	namespace CSScript4SP
	{
	class Program
	{
	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
	using (var site = new SPSite("http://intranet.contoso.com"))
	{
	using (var web = site.OpenWeb())
	{
	//access to classes from assembly CustomSharePointLibrary.dll
	}
	}
	}

	}
	}