I am a C# .NET developer/architect and understand that it uses objects (.NET objects) and not just streams/text.
I would like to be able to use PowerShell to call methods on my .NET (C# library) assembies.
How do I reference an assembly in PowerShell and use the assembly?
With PowerShell 2.0, you can use the built in Cmdlet Add-Type.
You would just need to specify the path to the dll.
Add-Type -Path foo.dll
Also, you can use inline C# or VB.NET with Add-Type. The @" syntax is a HERE string.
C:\PS>$source = @"
public class BasicTest
{
public static int Add(int a, int b)
{
return (a + b);
}
public int Multiply(int a, int b)
{
return (a * b);
}
}
"@
C:\PS> Add-Type -TypeDefinition $source
C:\PS> [BasicTest]::Add(4, 3)
C:\PS> $basicTestObject = New-Object BasicTest
C:\PS> $basicTestObject.Multiply(5, 2)
|gm a ton. no need for an IDE.
Take a look at the blog post Load a Custom DLL from PowerShell:
Take, for example, a simple math library. It has a static Sum method, and an instance Product method:
namespace MyMathLib
{
public class Methods
{
public Methods()
{
}
public static int Sum(int a, int b)
{
return a + b;
}
public int Product(int a, int b)
{
return a * b;
}
}
}
Compile and run in PowerShell:
> [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile("c:\temp\MyMathLib.dll")
> [MyMathLib.Methods]::Sum(10, 2)
> $mathInstance = new-object MyMathLib.Methods
> $mathInstance.Product(10, 2)
add-type -path .\foo.dll. You can also use it to directly compile code.
Add-Type.