Suppose the “Build Quality” (the field is visible on Visual Studio IDE) is properly maintained by build-test process.  We simply use “Get Build Details” to retrieve one build with the following parameters:

• Maximum builds per definition: 1.  We only need one build.
• Build Query Order: StartTimeDescending.  It is the default value of this optional property.
• Build Status: Succeeded.  We only care build that is finished successfully.
• Build Quality: fill in the value as needed.

Here is the screenshot:

Note that I just checked in the change today.  So you will need to build the assembly by yourself and put it at C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\Orchestrator\Extensions\Support\Integration Toolkit\4e5fdf96-9cad-4233-8607-400288353bb6 if you want to use it right now.  Otherwise you can wait for the OIP update.

Firstly, in order to conform to the TFS/Test Manager object model, test case results have to be associated with Test Cases (a specialized “work item”) which are grouped into Test Suite which is created under a Test Plan in a team project.  So we need to do the following:

1. Creates test cases using either Visual Studio or Test Manager 2010.
2. Creates a test plan in the team project where test cases are stored using Test Manager 2010.
3. Creates one or more test suites under the test plan using Test Manager 2010.

Test Manager 2010 is quite intuitive to use, if you are not sure, refer to MSDN documentation.

In this example, I created “Yao Test Plan” which has one test suite called “Yao Test Suites”.  There are two test cases in the test suite.  Here is how it looks like in Test Manager 2010:

I want to import one test case result “test case 320598 passed” into TFS.  In the real world scenario, you will have much more, but the basic steps are the same.

We can query all the test plans in a team project using “Get Test Plan” activity, the output is the list of Test Plan IDs:

I am only interested in my own plan, so I filter on the test plan name:

Next I use “Create Test Run” to create a “Test Run” object and set Owner to “Zhenhua Yao” (Owner should not be empty).  Test Run is the collection of all test case results that were executed together with a build, having a Test Run object is the prerequisite of importing test case results.  Note that I use the test plan ID queried from the last activity, you can also leave it empty and fill in the “Test Plan Name” if the name is unique.  Build Number usually refers to the build record in TFS (can be created by running a team build or creating a manual build), but in practice you can use any string or even leave it empty if you really don’t care the build.  In this activity, you also need to specify either “test suites” and/or “test cases” (they cannot be both empty), the test cases should have a 1:1 mapping to the test case results to be imported.  If a test case is not in the Test Run, you cannot use “Add Test Case Result” activity to add it, if a test case is in the Test Run but you have not imported the result, the test run is considered as uncompleted yet.  In most cases, you will put a comma separate test suite IDs in this activity.

After the test run is created, we can use “Add Test Case Result” activity to import the result one by one by its ID:

Note that Owner field must be set.  Again, if you don’t want to specify the test run ID, you can specify its title if it’s unique.

Once all test case results have been imported, you can use “Query Test Runs” activity to see the updated Test Run as well as the statistics.  Here is the query result in the Runbook Tester:

The test run also shows up in the Test Manager 2010 as expected:

We can use it as any other Test Runs created by Test Manager 2010 itself:

For more information about these activities, you may refer to the documentation on codeplex or just try it by yourself.  If you have questions or any feature request, please let me know.

Programmatically, this can be done by IBuildDefinition.CreateManualBuild API.  If you don’t want to write your own code, you may use TFS IP to do this.

Since a build record must be associated with a build definition, we have to create a build definition in the team project using Visual Studio:

This does not need to be a completely valid build, since it’s for tracking purpose.  For instance, you can leave the “Items to Build” in Process tab empty, it will be fine.  Suppose it is called “Manual_Build” in Sandbox team project.  Now we want to create a manual build with build number “Custom Build 1.2.3.4 20120508”, then create a runbook and drag “Create Manual Build” to the workspace:

There are also some optional properties in this activity.  You may choose whatever relevant to your project.

Note that the service account user has to have the permission to “Update build information”,

Once the runbook is executed, the new build record will be created and be visible in Visual Studio:

When you test the runbook, remember that the build number has to be unique in all build definitions.  Even a build is deleted, the record in the database will still have the build number and there is no way to change it.  So don’t use the same build number in the testing as the one you would use in the production run.  Have fun!

Attach windbg to PolicyModule.exe and capture the exception, we can see:

(174.159c): CLR exception - code e0434f4d (first chance)
Exception object: 04f274cc
Exception type: System.Management.Automation.Host.HostException
Message: Cannot invoke this function because the current host does not implement it.
InnerException: <none>
StackTrace (generated):
<none>
StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 80131501
First chance exceptions are reported before any exception handling.
This exception may be expected and handled.
eax=08abea90 ebx=e0434f4d ecx=00000001 edx=00000000 esi=08abeb18 edi=06d040c0
eip=766bb9bc esp=08abea90 ebp=08abeae0 iopl=0         nv up ei pl nz ac pe nc
cs=0023  ss=002b  ds=002b  es=002b  fs=0053  gs=002b             efl=00000216
KERNELBASE!RaiseException+0x58:
766bb9bc c9              leave
0:024> !clrstack
OS Thread Id: 0x159c (24)
ESP       EIP    
08abeb68 766bb9bc [HelperMethodFrame: 08abeb68]
08abec0c 5d460695 System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostRawUserInterface.ThrowNotInteractive()
08abec20 5d4606f1 System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostRawUserInterface.get_ForegroundColor()
08abec54 5cb29451 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ConsoleColorCmdlet.get_ForegroundColor()
08abec84 5cb47207 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteHostCommand.PrintObject(System.Object)
08abecc0 5cb475f0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteHostCommand.ProcessRecord()
08abecf0 5cfe2388 System.Management.Automation.Cmdlet.DoProcessRecord()
08abecf8 5d0311a0 System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessor.ProcessRecord()
08abed38 5d01cfe5 System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessorBase.DoExecute()
08abed68 5d0284cd System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.Inject(System.Object, Boolean)
08abed84 5d023baf System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.SynchronousExecuteEnumerate(System.Object, System.Collections.Hashtable, Boolean)
08abedcc 5d02ac03 System.Management.Automation.PipelineNode.Execute(System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Collections.ArrayList ByRef, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
08abee18 5d02a884 System.Management.Automation.StatementListNode.ExecuteStatement(System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode, System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Collections.ArrayList ByRef, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
08abee64 5d02a79e System.Management.Automation.StatementListNode.Execute(System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Collections.ArrayList ByRef, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
08abeea8 5d02a6b1 System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode.Execute(System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
08abeec4 5d02a4bf System.Management.Automation.ScriptCommandProcessor.ExecuteWithCatch(System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode, System.Array)
08abef04 5d028a79 System.Management.Automation.ScriptCommandProcessor.RunClause(System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode, System.Object, System.Object)
08abef50 5d02861c System.Management.Automation.ScriptCommandProcessor.Complete()
08abef68 5d01d1fe System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessorBase.DoComplete()
08abef9c 5d023c2f System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.SynchronousExecuteEnumerate(System.Object, System.Collections.Hashtable, Boolean)
08abefe4 5d023b12 System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.SynchronousExecute(System.Array, System.Collections.Hashtable)
08abeff8 5d01fe09 System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalPipeline.InvokeHelper()
08abf050 5d01f8c7 System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalPipeline.InvokeThreadProc()
08abf0a0 5ec57036 System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(System.Object)
08abf0ac 5ec604bf System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
08abf0c4 5ec56fb4 System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
08abf2ec 6fd11b4c [GCFrame: 08abf2ec]

In general, if we want to run a PowerShell script we will create a Runspace object, create a pipeline from the runspace and add scripts to it, and invoke it.  When we create the Runspace object, there are multiple factory methods can be used (see RunspaceFactory Members on TechNet).  The activity uses a simple one thus the default host is used which has various limitations.  If it was your own code, you would need to write a custom PSHost (see PSHost Class) and pass it to CreateRunspace method.  By the way, it is a nontrivial work.  However it is not, so you may look for two options:

• Revise the script so it contains no *-Host cmdlet anywhere.
• Use a different activity.

If the script cannot be changed for some reason (e.g. has to use a cmdlet which interacts with host), we can try the second option.  In fact, PowerShell integration pack is designed to solve this issue.  This IP has been changed a lot recently, the documentation does not reflect the latest state, I will write a few posts to explain the changes.

The most straightforward way to run 32-bit PowerShell script is to use “Quick Run Script” activity.  Suppose we want to run “Get-Process” and capture the output, the input parameters will be:

Note the output log file will not be overwritten after running the activity, new logs will be appended after the existing content.  After running the output log file looks like:

You can also set the input parameter to capture the logs that write to standard error.  The output device is set to 132 columns in width, so each line in the output/error will be padded with some spaces, remember to make the Notepad window big enough otherwise it will seem a bit strange.

From the optional properties, you may see that this activity can also run scripts remotely via WinRM (same as Invoke-Command cmdlet):

The PowerShell IP can also run 64-bit PowerShell scripts locally or remotely in a native manner without running “winrm quickconfig”, I will write another post to explain that.

1. Product source code is stored in TFS source repository.
2. Daily and gated build definitions are created in the team project.
3. When the team build is triggered, a Windows Workflow (defined in Build Process Template) will be started on the build agent.
4. After the workflow initializes workspace, gets source code, runs MSBuild successfully, the test will be started.
5. The workflow starts an Orchestrator runbook to perform the test asynchronously.
6. For gated build, the workflow will wait for the runbook to be completed in order to decide whether to commit the code changes or not.  For daily build, the runbook takes cares of test case results importing and the rest.

In order to integrate with Team Build process smoothly, two workflow activities were written and shared at https://orchestrator.codeplex.com.  Please go to the source code area to download the project:

Two activities are:

• StartRunbook: invoke a runbook via web service.
• RunbookJobStatus: check the runbook job status and return values when it’s completed.

A simple workflow as a part of build process template (modified from DefaultTemplates.xaml) looks like:

The input parameters for StartRunbook are:

• OrchestratorUrl: URL of the Orchestrator web service.
• RunbookPath: full path of the runbook to be invoked.
• BinariesDirectory: a network share where the product binaries being built can be accessed by the runbook.
• BuildConfiguration: e.g. Debug/Release/Checked/Retail, etc.
• CustomParameter: extra parameter passed to the runbook.

The output is the job ID.  The input parameters for RunbookJobStatus are:

• OrchestratorUrl: URL of the Orchestrator web service.
• JobId

The output parameters are:

• TestOutcome: e.g. Passed/Failed/Inconclusive, etc.
• RunbookReturnData: other runbook return data as a dictionary. 

The runbook to be invoked is expected to have the following parameters:

• DropLocation: where the binaries are.
• BuildNumber: build number
• TeamProject: name of the team project
• BuildDefinition: name of the build definition
• ShelveSetName: name of the shelveset for gated build, or empty string.
• BuildReason: see MSDN documentation
• BuildUri: the URI of the build detail object.
• RequestedFor: user name who requested the build, e.g. the user who runs “tf submit” for gated build.
• BuildConfiguration: e.g. Debug/Release/Checked/Retail, etc.
• CustomParameter: extra parameter passed to the runbook.

The runbook is expected to return at least “TestOutcome” as a string.  If any of those parameter is not defined, the StartRunbook activity will not invoke the runbook.  If the runbook needs any other details it can use “Get Build Details” activity in TFS IP to query.

If there is any issue, please let me know.  Have fun!

This IP is built on .NET 4 to suppose the Windows Workflow 4 with SQL persistence.  Before installing it, you have to follow this instruction to enable .NET 4 for OIT.  Currently there are following activities:

• Start Workflow: loads a workflow from XAML file or DLL and starts execution.  You can set up to 10 input parameters (if 10 is not enough, please let me know) as string and 10 workflow extensions.  Optionally you can specify a SQL database connection for persistence.  Note that the activity returns immediately after the workflow is started.
• Terminate Workflow: a running workflow with given ID can be terminated.
• Get Workflow Status: checks if a workflow is running or closed or unloaded.  If it is not completed, optionally you can wait for completion instead of pooling periodically.  If the workflow is completed successfully, this activity will publish the return data of the workflow in Name/Value pairs.
• Unload Workflow: if you have specified a valid SQL database connection in Start Workflow, the state of the workflow will be persisted into the database when the workflow is idle.  Using this activity, it will unload the workflow from memory.
• Resume Workflow: a unloaded workflow can be resumed.  Either same or different machine will work, as long as the same workflow and same database connection are used.

Note that the IP uses System.Activities.WorkflowApplication to host the workflow instance, so it is the same behavior as you read on MSDN documentation.  Before using the database persistence, you will need to create a database, and runs the following two SQL scripts against it in order:

• %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\SQL\en\SqlWorkflowInstanceStoreSchema.sql
• %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\SQL\en\SqlWorkflowInstanceStoreLogic.sql

For more information on the SQL instance store, please refer to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee395773.aspx and https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd489452(v=vs.100).aspx.

Later my colleague will provide more details and demonstrate a few scenarios with this IP.  I may also give some technical details.  If you have any questions or feature request, please let me know.  Thanks!

• Work Item Tracking
• Get Work Item
• Set Work Item
• New Work Item
• Query Work Items
• Monitor Work Items Query
• Version Control
• List Version Control Items
• Download File
• Update Workspace
• Check in
• Check out
• Get Changeset
• Get Shelveset
• Team Build
• Get Build Definitions
• Get Build Details
• Request Build
• Set Build Details
• Monitor Build
• Create Manual Build
• Test Management
• Add Test Case Result
• Create Test Run
• Get Test Configurations
• Get Test Plan
• Get Test Runs
• Get Test Suites

I will write a few posts later to explain how to use the new activities.  Note that there is no activity for Visual Studio Lab Management (VSLM), and I do not plan to add it.  This is because VSLM client SDK or API is not publically available and will not be supported (suppose you get it via reflection) in 2010 release.  The recommended approach for automating this part is to use the lab workflow activities (Windows workflow), i.e. create a workflow in Visual Studio IDE in XAML and invoke it.  One can read Customizing Lab Management Workflow to get more details on this.

Please let me know if you have any feedback on TFS IP, any bug to fix, or any new feature you want to have.  I will evaluate and add appropriate ones as soon as I am free.  Thanks!

Currently the Orchestrator Integration Toolkit (OIT) in Orchestrator 2012 RTM only supports .NET 3.5 (which is CLR2), this means only assemblies in CLR2 will be packaged into OIP file and get deployed and be runnable in the system.  If you create a Class Library project in Visual Studio using .NET 4 for developing an integration pack, it will not work.  This is because CLR2 does not support CLR4 assemblies.  However, CLR4 supports In-Process Side-by-Side, so if the policy module process loads CLR4 first then both CLR4 and CLR2 assemblies will work.

Take a deeper look at the architecture of the server extension, In fact policy module is written in native code and it only understands COM interface.  During installation, a managed class in Microsoft.SystemCenter.Orchestrator.Integration.Framework.dll is registered as a 32-bit COM server using regasm.exe.  That is the entry point from native code to managed code.  By changing the runtime version of this COM server, we can specify which .NET to load.

Before doing the following changes, make sure .NET 4 has been installed.  Otherwise nothing will work.

So the first step is to change the runtime version of aforementioned COM server in the registry.  Run regedit.exe, search “Microsoft.SystemCenter.Orchestrator.Integration.Framework” under HKCR\Wow6432Node\CLSID or go directly to HKCR\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{A2FE38AE-8F0D-4bad-AC0D-C1DC1EFD392A}\InprocServer32, change “RuntimeVersion” from “v2.0.50727” to “v4.0.30319”.  Also change the same key at HKCR\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{A2FE38AE-8F0D-4bad-AC0D-C1DC1EFD392A}\InprocServer32\7.0.0.0.

With this change, integration packs written in .NET4 will be loaded.  We also want to package OIP so IPWizard.exe has to be loaded with CLR4 otherwise it cannot load .NET 4 assemblies and cannot perform the reflection.  This can be done by creating create IPWizard.exe.config at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft System Center 2012\Orchestrator\Integration Toolkit\Bin" with the following contents:

<configuration>
  <startup>
    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0.30319" />
  </startup>
</configuration>

Now everything is done.  The system is ready to handle both existing integration packs in .NET 3.5 and new ones in .NET 4.  I will be releasing one to try it out.  Stay tuned.

The error summary does not say what “this function” is, what “the current host” means, and more importantly which part of the script triggers the unimplemented function so that we can workaround it.  As a software engineer, I want to know whether it is the script’s fault or a bug in the activity, and how to fix it if it’s a bug.

Here we will see how to use windbg to get the stack trace when the exception is raised.

Which process to debug?

Engineers in the product group know that PolicyModule.exe hosts the workflow engine, and that is the starting point.  However this may not seem obvious for outside people.  Fortunately it is easy to figure it out using Process Explorer (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx, run it from https://live.sysinternals.com/procexp.exe).

In Options menu, click “Difference Highlight Duration”, change the value from 1 second to 5 so we can see it more clearly.  Then start the Runbook Tester, procexp shows the newly created process PolicyModule.exe in green.  After the job is finished, the color of the process turns to red which means the process is terminated.

The session ID (the last column in the screenshot) is 2 which is the current desktop session.  This is good because windbg can automatically attach to it and show up on the desktop.  If the runbook is picked up by the Action Server, PolicyModule.exe will be started in session 0.  In that case, we use a slightly different way to debug, I will write it later.

Setup “Image File Execution Options”

By setting “Image File Execution Options”, the application will be automatically attached to the debugger as soon as it is launched.  This method is typically used when something else is creating the process and manually starting it is not possible.  For more information, refer to Junfeng’s blog at https://blogs.msdn.com/b/junfeng/archive/2004/04/28/121871.aspx and Inside 'Image File Execution Options' debugging.  It is really simple to use.  Assume 32bit windbg is installed at C:\Debuggers32, run C:\Debuggers32\gflags.exe, click “Image File” tab, enter “PolicyModule.exe” (do not use full path), press TAB, select “Debugger” check box, and enter “C:\Debuggers\windbg.exe” (full path of the debugger), then click “OK” button to dismiss the dialog.

Start to Debug

In Runbook Tester, click “Run” to start the runbook.  Windbg will show up immediately.  Now tell windbg to break on CLR exceptions and continue to run:

eax=00000000 ebx=00000000 ecx=60c50000 edx=0008e3b8 esi=fffffffe edi=77953b90
eip=779d0f2b esp=0018fb0c ebp=0018fb38 iopl=0         nv up ei pl zr na pe nc
cs=0023  ss=002b  ds=002b  es=002b  fs=0053  gs=002b             efl=00000246
ntdll!LdrVerifyImageMatchesChecksum+0x6ce:
779d0f2b cc              int     3
0:000> sxe clr
0:000> g

After a while, the CLR exception is caught by windbg.  Let’s see what it is:

(dfc.1250): CLR exception - code e0434f4d (first chance)
First chance exceptions are reported before any exception handling.
This exception may be expected and handled.
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found.  Defaulted to export symbols for C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll -
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found.  Defaulted to export symbols for C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorwks.dll -
eax=089ff280 ebx=e0434f4d ecx=00000001 edx=00000000 esi=089ff308 edi=003835d8
eip=7692b727 esp=089ff280 ebp=089ff2d0 iopl=0         nv up ei pl nz ac po nc
cs=0023  ss=002b  ds=002b  es=002b  fs=0053  gs=002b             efl=00000212
KERNELBASE!RaiseException+0x58:
7692b727 c9              leave
0:030> .loadby sos mscorwks
0:030> !sos.PrintException
PDB symbol for mscorwks.dll not loaded
Exception object: 04c14f5c
Exception type: System.Management.Automation.Host.HostException
Message: Cannot invoke this function because the current host does not implement it.
InnerException: <none>
StackTrace (generated):
<none>
StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 80131501
0:030> !sos.CLRStack
OS Thread Id: 0x1250 (30)
ESP       EIP    
089ff358 7692b727 [HelperMethodFrame: 089ff358]
089ff3fc 6b6e175d System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostRawUserInterface.ThrowNotInteractive()
089ff410 6b6e1665 System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostRawUserInterface.get_ForegroundColor()
089ff444 6d489451 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ConsoleColorCmdlet.get_ForegroundColor()
089ff474 6d4a7207 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteHostCommand.PrintObject(System.Object)
089ff4b0 6d4a75f0 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteHostCommand.ProcessRecord()
089ff4e0 6b262388 System.Management.Automation.Cmdlet.DoProcessRecord()
089ff4e8 6b2b11a0 System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessor.ProcessRecord()
089ff528 6b29cfe5 System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessorBase.DoExecute()
089ff558 6b2a84cd System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.Inject(System.Object, Boolean)
089ff574 6b2a3baf System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.SynchronousExecuteEnumerate(System.Object, System.Collections.Hashtable, Boolean)
089ff5bc 6b2aac03 System.Management.Automation.PipelineNode.Execute(System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Collections.ArrayList ByRef, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
089ff608 6b2aa884 System.Management.Automation.StatementListNode.ExecuteStatement(System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode, System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Collections.ArrayList ByRef, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
089ff654 6b2aa79e System.Management.Automation.StatementListNode.Execute(System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Collections.ArrayList ByRef, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
089ff698 6b2aa6b1 System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode.Execute(System.Array, System.Management.Automation.Internal.Pipe, System.Management.Automation.ExecutionContext)
089ff6b4 6b2aa4bf System.Management.Automation.ScriptCommandProcessor.ExecuteWithCatch(System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode, System.Array)
089ff6f4 6b2a8a79 System.Management.Automation.ScriptCommandProcessor.RunClause(System.Management.Automation.ParseTreeNode, System.Object, System.Object)
089ff740 6b2a861c System.Management.Automation.ScriptCommandProcessor.Complete()
089ff758 6b29d1fe System.Management.Automation.CommandProcessorBase.DoComplete()
089ff78c 6b2a3c2f System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.SynchronousExecuteEnumerate(System.Object, System.Collections.Hashtable, Boolean)
089ff7d4 6b2a3b12 System.Management.Automation.Internal.PipelineProcessor.SynchronousExecute(System.Array, System.Collections.Hashtable)
089ff7e8 6b29fe09 System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalPipeline.InvokeHelper()
089ff840 6b29f8c7 System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalPipeline.InvokeThreadProc()
089ff890 6c886df6 System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(System.Object)
089ff89c 6c89027f System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
089ff8b4 6c886d74 System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
089ffadc 6e561b4c [GCFrame: 089ffadc]

Obviously, the stack tells us that the exception is caused by WriteHost cmdlet because the InternalHostRawInterface throws an exception while encountering interactive operations. We could stop here, but we want to know what’s being written by WriteHost:

0:030> !sos.CLRStack -a
OS Thread Id: 0x1250 (30)
ESP       EIP    
089ff358 7692b727 [HelperMethodFrame: 089ff358]
089ff3fc 6b6e175d System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostRawUserInterface.ThrowNotInteractive()
    PARAMETERS:
        this = <no data>
    LOCALS:
        <no data>
        <no data>

089ff410 6b6e1665 System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostRawUserInterface.get_ForegroundColor()
    PARAMETERS:
        this = 0x049b014c
    LOCALS:
        <no data>
        0x089ff414 = 0x00000000
        0x089ff410 = 0x00000000

089ff444 6d489451 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ConsoleColorCmdlet.get_ForegroundColor()
    PARAMETERS:
        this = 0x04bdac30
    LOCALS:
        0x089ff448 = 0x00000000
        0x089ff444 = 0x00000000

089ff474 6d4a7207 Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteHostCommand.PrintObject(System.Object)
    PARAMETERS:
        this = 0x04bdac30
        o = <no data>
    LOCALS:
        <CLR reg> = 0x04bf7d68
        <no data>
        <no data>
        <no data>
        0x089ff478 = 0x00000000
        <no data>
        <no data>
…

0:030> !sos.do 0x04bf7d68
Name: System.String
MethodTable: 6c8e0ae8
EEClass: 6c69d65c
Size: 20(0x14) bytes
(C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\mscorlib\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\mscorlib.dll)
String: 3
Fields:
      MT    Field   Offset                 Type VT     Attr    Value Name
6c8e2d34  4000096        4         System.Int32  1 instance        2 m_arrayLength
6c8e2d34  4000097        8         System.Int32  1 instance        1 m_stringLength
6c8e17c8  4000098        c          System.Char  1 instance       33 m_firstChar
6c8e0ae8  4000099       10        System.String  0   shared   static Empty
    >> Domain:Value  0033b8a8:04981198 <<
6c8e1718  400009a       14        System.Char[]  0   shared   static WhitespaceChars
    >> Domain:Value  0033b8a8:0498185c <<

In this repro the script being executed is “1 + 2 | Write-Host”, so it is correct that the string passed to WriteHost is “3”.

Workaround

Because the internal host in “Run .Net Script” does not support any host interaction, the workaround is to avoid all such cmdlets, for instance Write-Host, Read-Host, etc.

How to fix it?

Modifying the script which potentially calls into other scripts to workaround this issue may not be straightforward.  How to fix it from Orchestrator’s side?

Typically the first step of executing PowerShell scripts is to create a Runspace using RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace method (in name space System.Management.Automation.Runspaces).  Creating local runspace is often done by the method CreateRunspace() with the default host and configuration.  Here the default host refers to System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHost, and the property UI is InternalHostUserInterface instance.  Implementations of PSHostInterface methods delegate to externalUI of same interface, which is null for default host.  In this case, when host interaction methods are called, HostException is thrown with the message which we see in windbg.

In order to handle host interactions properly and solve this issue, a custom host (interface PSHost) and host interface (interface PSHostUserInterface) need to be implemented.  When the runspace is created, this custom host will be passed to CreateRunspace method.  In other words, the activity should use the methods with PSHost argument in the overload list of RunspaceFactory.CreateRunspace method.

The above analysis can be verified by checking the assembly containing Run .Net Script activity.  From the list of DLL being loaded in windbg, one can see that the code is in RunScriptDomain.dll.  Since it’s managed code, we can get the IL code for RunScriptDomain.PowerShellRunner.run() using ildasm (run from Visual Studio Command Prompt):

.method public hidebysig newslot virtual final
        instance void  run() cil managed
{
  // Code size       60 (0x3c)
  .maxstack  2
  .locals init (class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Runspace V_0,
           class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Pipeline V_1)
  IL_0000:  call       class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Runspace [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.RunspaceFactory::CreateRunspace()
  IL_0005:  stloc.0
  IL_0006:  ldloc.0
  IL_0007:  callvirt   instance void [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Runspace::Open()
  IL_000c:  ldloc.0
  IL_000d:  callvirt   instance class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Pipeline [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Runspace::CreatePipeline()
  IL_0012:  stloc.1
  IL_0013:  ldloc.1
  IL_0014:  callvirt   instance class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.CommandCollection [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Pipeline::get_Commands()
  IL_0019:  ldarg.0
  IL_001a:  ldfld      class RunScriptDomain.Script RunScriptDomain.PowerShellRunner::_script
  IL_001f:  callvirt   instance string RunScriptDomain.Script::get_Contents()
  IL_0024:  callvirt   instance void [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.CommandCollection::AddScript(string)
  IL_0029:  ldarg.0
  IL_002a:  ldloc.1
  IL_002b:  callvirt   instance class [mscorlib]System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection`1<class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.PSObject> [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Pipeline::Invoke()
  IL_0030:  stfld      class [mscorlib]System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection`1<class [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.PSObject> RunScriptDomain.PowerShellRunner::resultOfRunningCmd
  IL_0035:  ldloc.0
  IL_0036:  callvirt   instance void [System.Management.Automation]System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.Runspace::Close()
  IL_003b:  ret
} // end of method PowerShellRunner::run

By the way, if IL code looks unfamiliar to you, take a look at .NET Reflector or open source ILSpy.

If you wonder whether there is a PowerShell integration pack with a richer set of features so no workaround is needed, the answer is yes – a prototype is available, 32-bit and 64-bit runspace without WinRM, persistence and pooling of runspace across process boundary, remoting using WinRM, impersonation are all working.  We are working hard to deliver the best customer experience.

Obviously the error message wasn’t helpful because it didn’t say what the exception really was, and how to resolve it.  In this case, windbg is our friend.  With SOS extension, windbg can tell us exactly what is happening and where the problem is.

Install windbg

For folks inside Microsoft, the latest internal version of windbg can be installed from the network share (contact me for more information).  For external people, you may need to install Windows SDK to get windbg at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463009.aspx.  Some time ago, there was a separate download package for windbg.  Maybe someone can try https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463016 and see if it works.

Attach QIK Wizard process to windbg

Run C:\Debuggers32\windbg.exe and press F6 to attach a process:

Select QIKWizard.exe and click OK button.  Now the process breaks into the debugger.  QIK Wizard is a managed process and that exception is a CLR exception, so we want to catch the CLR exception:

0:008> sxe clr

Then press F5 to resume the process.  Reload the same DLL, this time the exception is caught by windbg:

Note the message in the command window also shows which DLL’s have been loaded.  In order to check the CLR exception, we need to load SOS extension:

0:000> .loadby sos mscorwks

Then print the current CLR exception and managed stack:

0:000> !sos.PrintException
Exception object: 02856d1c
Exception type: System.BadImageFormatException
Message: Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Users\zhyao\Desktop\SampleIpP.dll' or one of its dependencies. This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded.
InnerException: <none>
StackTrace (generated):
<none>
StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 8013101b
0:000> !sos.CLRStack
OS Thread Id: 0x1378 (0)
ESP       EIP    
003cdb90 7492b727 [HelperMethodFrame_PROTECTOBJ: 003cdb90] System.Reflection.Assembly._nLoad(System.Reflection.AssemblyName, System.String, System.Security.Policy.Evidence, System.Reflection.Assembly, System.Threading.StackCrawlMark ByRef, Boolean, Boolean)
003cdc28 5e5e123c System.Reflection.Assembly.nLoad(System.Reflection.AssemblyName, System.String, System.Security.Policy.Evidence, System.Reflection.Assembly, System.Threading.StackCrawlMark ByRef, Boolean, Boolean)
003cdc50 5e5dfc50 System.Reflection.Assembly.InternalLoad(System.Reflection.AssemblyName, System.Security.Policy.Evidence, System.Threading.StackCrawlMark ByRef, Boolean)
003cdc78 5e55a6a4 System.Reflection.Assembly.InternalLoadFrom(System.String, System.Security.Policy.Evidence, Byte[], System.Configuration.Assemblies.AssemblyHashAlgorithm, Boolean, System.Threading.StackCrawlMark ByRef)
003cdc98 5e55a641 System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFrom(System.String)
003cdca4 0043d761 Opalis.QuickIntegrationKit.Framework.Core.DomainManager.LoadAssembly(System.String)
003cdcd4 0043d719 Opalis.QuickIntegrationKit.Framework.Core.DomainManager.FindObjectTypes(System.String)
003cdcdc 0043d65e Opalis.QuickIntegrationKit.Framework.RequestBroker.GetObjectTypesFrom(System.String)
003cdf10 5f8d6678 [GCFrame: 003cdf10]
003ce06c 5f8d6678 [ComMethodFrame: 003ce06c]
003ce198 5f8d6678 [NDirectMethodFrameStandalone: 003ce198] Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Domain.Utility.StandardLibraryExplorer.getNumServices(System.String)
003ce1a8 0043cac5 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Domain.Utility.StandardLibraryExplorer.DoGetServices(System.String)
003ce1ec 0043c9d0 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Domain.Utility.LibraryExplorer.GetServices(System.String)
003ce1f4 0043d50e Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Presentation.ObjectPresenter.GetServices(Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Views.IObjectView, System.String)
003ce22c 0043d461 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Presentation.ObjectPresenter.LibrarySelected(System.Object, Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Views.FileEventArgs)
003ce244 0043d3ed Opalis.QIK.Wizard.OpenFileView.ShowView()
003ce258 0043d238 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Presentation.ObjectPresenter.SelectLibrary(System.Object, System.EventArgs)
003ce270 0043d1b6 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.ObjectTypeForm.BrowseLibraryButton_Click(System.Object, System.EventArgs)
003ce280 5d064170 System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(System.EventArgs)
003ce298 5d05f55a System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(System.EventArgs)
003ce2a8 5d5f6f24 System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
003ce2c4 5d5c7733 System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef, System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons, Int32)
003ce350 5d8fa152 System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce354 5d8f8921 [InlinedCallFrame: 003ce354]
003ce3ec 5d0925b0 System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce3f8 5d0986a0 System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce400 5d098621 System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce414 5d0984fa System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)
003ce5b8 0014113c [NDirectMethodFrameStandalone: 003ce5b8] System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG ByRef)
003ce5c8 5d0a8cee System.Windows.Forms.Application+ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32, Int32, Int32)
003ce664 5d0a8957 System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
003ce6b8 5d0a87a1 System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
003ce6e8 5d5bde2b System.Windows.Forms.Application.RunDialog(System.Windows.Forms.Form)
003ce6fc 5d5f2608 System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog(System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window)
003ce788 5d5f281f System.Windows.Forms.Form.ShowDialog()
003ce78c 0043ce25 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.ObjectTypeForm.ShowView()
003ce790 0043b07f Opalis.QIK.Wizard.Presentation.ObjectsPresenter.AddObject(System.Object, System.EventArgs)
003ce7ac 0043afcd Opalis.QIK.Wizard.ObjectTypesStep.FireAddObject()
003ce7b8 0043af8d Opalis.QIK.Wizard.ObjectTypesStep.AddButton_Click(System.Object, System.EventArgs)
003ce7c0 5d064170 System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(System.EventArgs)
003ce7d8 5d05f55a System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(System.EventArgs)
003ce7e8 5d5f6f24 System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
003ce804 5d5c7733 System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef, System.Windows.Forms.MouseButtons, Int32)
003ce890 5d8fa152 System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce894 5d8f8921 [InlinedCallFrame: 003ce894]
003ce92c 5d0925b0 System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce938 5d0986a0 System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce940 5d098621 System.Windows.Forms.Control+ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(System.Windows.Forms.Message ByRef)
003ce954 5d0984fa System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)
003ceaf8 0014113c [NDirectMethodFrameStandalone: 003ceaf8] System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG ByRef)
003ceb08 5d0a8cee System.Windows.Forms.Application+ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32, Int32, Int32)
003ceba4 5d0a8957 System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
003cebf8 5d0a87a1 System.Windows.Forms.Application+ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32, System.Windows.Forms.ApplicationContext)
003cec28 5d065911 System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(System.Windows.Forms.Form)
003cec3c 00430093 Opalis.QIK.Wizard.QuickIntegrationWizard.Main()
003cee64 5f7b1b4c [GCFrame: 003cee64]

From the exception message, it is clear that the CLR version of the DLL being loaded is newer than the CLR version of QIKWizard.  Since QIKWizard uses .NET 3.5 which is CLR2, it means the DLL is actually built with CLR4.  After changing the .NET framework version, the problem is solved.

Note that this debugging process does not need any symbols or Opalis source code.  We do not even need to access public Microsoft symbol server.

Windbg with SOS extension can do many useful things.  For more information on SOS, read MSDN documentation at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb190764.aspx.  Later I will show you more simple tricks to troubleshoot Opalis issues.