Signing PowerShell Scripts

As part of my series on how to automate publishing Metastorm maps we will now talk about signing the PowerShell script.

Hey, I don't know about you but security where I work keeps us on a tight leash. We can't just run anything in production. At the very least we should be digitally signing our files.

Now, I could sit here and write a book on how to digitally sign your PowerShell scripts but what do I get out of it? How about I just point you in the right direction?

'Signing PowerShell Scripts' will get you 90% of the way there. The issue I ran into was that my script was encoded incorrectly. (Damn you, Notepad!) 'UnknownError when using Powershell ISE to Set-AuthenticodeSignature' should get you the rest of the way.

RSA Tokens

It it me?

I swear I can see a pattern in the "randomly" generated numbers on my SecurId token.

Maybe it's just My Beautiful Mind?

Publishing Metastorm Procedures

As part of implementing Continuous Integration in our environment I ran into an issue of how to automate deploying a Metastorm procedure.

Now, Metastorm has a KnowledgeBase article showing how you can use VBScript to deploy a procedure but it doesn't cover all of our use cases. Specifically, when deploying a procedure that references a library, Metastorm has a nasty habit of popping up a dialog box requiring you to click a button.

Did I also mention their example uses VBScript?

Well, your intrepid blogger decided to see if he could come up with a better\different solution.

Here's a PowerShell script that should work for you:

#This PowerShellscript is to be run to publish a Metastorm procedure 
#in unattended mode.
Param( 
    [String] $dsn = "dsn",
    [String] $userId = "userid",
    [String] $password = "password",
    [String] $procedure = "C:\procedure.xep",
    [Int] $secondsToWait = 20
)

#When publishing Metastorm procedures sometimes a dialog box pops up
#giving a status message and requiring user interaction. This script 
#checks to see if the dialog box exists and closes it so that 
#publishing can finish.
$closeMetastormDialogBox =
{
    Param( [Int] $secondsToWait )

    Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.VisualBasic
    Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Windows.Forms

    Start-Sleep -s $secondsToWait

    #Is the Metastorm Designer running?
    $processExists = Get-Process | Where {$_.mainWindowTitle -eq "Metastorm Designer"} -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    If( $processExists -ne $null )
    {
        #Bring the Metastorm dialog box titled "Library Loading Status" 
        #into focus
        [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::AppActivate("Library Loading Status")
        
        #Send the close command to the "Library Loading Status" dialog
        [System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("%{F4}")
    }    
}

#Start the Metastorm designer
$eDesigner = New-Object -ComObject "eDesigner.eDesigner6"

#Publish the Metastorm procedure
$eDesigner.ConnectToEworkDB( $dsn, $userId, $password )

#When opening a procedure sometimes you'll get a pop up dialog 
#requiring user interaction. So, start a background task that 
#looks for the dialog and closes it.
Start-Job -ScriptBlock $closeMetastormDialogBox -ArgumentList $secondsToWait
$eDesigner.OpenProcedure( $procedure )
Remove-Job -State Completed

$eDesigner.PublishProcedure( "", $false )
$eDesigner.CloseProcedure()
$eDesigner.DisconnectFromEworkDB()

#Close the Metastorm designer
[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject( $eDesigner )

Start of a beautiful friendship

Hello world!

Interesting start for a new blog. If I remember correctly "Hello World!" was the start of the Kernighan and Ritchie C book.

My forte is software development and I intend to share my views, lessons learned, and coding tidbits that I have managed to pick up along the way. I'll also throw in a dash of life stories to keep you entertained.