Tag Archives: Windows PowerShell

Working with the SharePoint Online REST service via 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:

Examples

References

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CS-Script: An alternative approach to automating and scripting in SharePoint

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

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

HelloSP

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

Points to note:

Example 3. Reference library

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

Points to note:

//css_reference <file> –  load the assembly at execution time

References

CS-Script Project Home