powershell multi-runspace event passing

Question

I've been searching for a way to pass events between different runspaces and yet have not found any. The following snipped creates a background runspace, which shows a small window with only one button. OnClick it shall post an event that the main runspace should receive:

$Global:x = [Hashtable]::Synchronized(@{})
$x.Host = $Host
$Global:rs = [RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState,$rs.ThreadOptions = "STA","ReUseThread"
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable("x",$x)
$Global:cmd = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript(@'
Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework,PresentationCore,WindowsBase
$x.w = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Parse(@"
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
MaxWidth="800" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen" WindowStyle="None" SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight">
<Button Name="test" Content="Starte Installation"/>
</Window>
"@)
$x.test = $x.w.Content.FindName('test')
$x.test.Add_Click( {New-Event -SourceIdentifier "TestClicked" -MessageData "test event"} )
$x.w.ShowDialog()
'@)
$cmd.Runspace = $rs
$null = $cmd.BeginInvoke()
while(!($x.ContainsKey("test"))) {Sleep -Milliseconds 500}
Register-EngineEvent -SourceIdentifier "TestClicked" -Action {$event}

But that doesn't work. I changed the last lines to this:

$x.test.Add_Click( {$x.Host.Runspace.Events.GenerateEvent( "TestClicked", $x.test, $null, "test event") } )
$x.w.ShowDialog()
'@)
$cmd.Runspace = $rs
$null = $cmd.BeginInvoke()
Wait-Event -SourceIdentifier "TestClicked"

... which also didn't work. I guess as I cannot call functions from the parent-RS inside the Child-RS. Weirdly enough I had some situations where Get-Event returned some "TestClicked"-Events, but I cannot recall nor reproduce...

EDIT: obviously the above works some way - I just ran into my problem again, which is in conjunction with a few functions. Most people know the Show-Control function published by Scripting Guy on the Powershell-BLog. As I rather show a whole GUI instead of single Controls, I modified it like this:

Add-Type –assemblyName PresentationFramework,PresentationCore,WindowsBase,"System.Windows.Forms"

<#  Die folgende Funktion zeigt eine GUI an.  Die Informationen über die GUI
    müssen in XAML formuliert sein.  Sie können als String oder als Dateiname
    übergeben werden.
    Die Funktion erlaubt die Übergabe von WindowProperties als Hashtable
    (-> siehe [System.Windows.Window]), von gemeinsamen Objekten in einer syn-
    chronized HashTable und von Ereignissen, die mit den entsprechenden im xaml
    definierten Objekten verbunden werden.
    Der Switch "backgroundrunspace" macht, was sein Name sagt: er öffnet die GUI
    im Hintergrund, sodass das Hauptprogramm weiterlaufen kann.
#>
function Show-Control {
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ParameterSetName="XamlString",ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        [string] $xaml,

        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ParameterSetName="XamlFile",ValueFromPipeline=$false,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        [string] $xamlFile,

        [Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        [Hashtable] $event,

        [Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        [Hashtable] $windowProperties,

        # If this switch is set, Show-Control will run the control in the background runspace
        [switch] $backgroundRunspace,

        # To share Variables with the background runspace
        [Parameter(ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
        [Hashtable] $sharedVariables
    )
    Begin
    {   # If it's in a background runspace, create a runspace and populate the runspace with Show-Control.
        if ($backgroundRunspace) {
            $newRunspace =[RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspace()
            $newRunspace.ApartmentState,$newRunspace.ThreadOptions = "STA","ReuseThread"
            $newRunspace.Open()
            $newRunspace.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable("ParentHost",$Host)
            if ($sharedVariables) {
                $newRunspace.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable("sharedVariables",$sharedVariables)
            }
            $selfDefinition = "function Show-Control { $((Get-Command Show-Control).Definition) }"
            $psCmd = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript($selfDefinition, $false)
            $psCmd.Runspace = $newRunspace
            $null = $psCmd.Invoke()
        } else {
            $window = New-Object Windows.Window
            $window.SizeToContent = "WidthAndHeight"
            # das Fenster in die sharedVariables aufnehmen
            if ($sharedVariables) {
                $sharedVariables.window=$window
            }
            if ($windowProperties) {
                foreach ($kv in $windowProperties.GetEnumerator()) {
                    $window."$($kv.Key)" = $kv.Value
                }
            }
            $visibleElements = @()
            $windowEvents = @()
        }
    }
    Process
    {   
        if ($backgroundRunspace) { # Invoke the command, using each parameter from commandlineparameters 
            $psCmd  = [Powershell]::Create().AddCommand("Show-Control",$false)
            $null = $psBoundParameters.Remove("BackgroundRunspace")
            $null = $psCmd.AddParameters($psBoundParameters)
<#            foreach ($namedArg in $psBoundParameters.GetEnumerator()) {
                $null = $psCmd.AddParameter($namedArg.Key, $namedArg.Value)                                                    
            }#>
            $psCmd.Runspace = $newRunspace
            $null = $psCmd.BeginInvoke()
        } else {
            # falls eine xaml-datei, dann diese in den xaml-string laden
            if($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq "xamlFile") {
                $xaml = [string](Get-Content -Encoding UTF8 -ReadCount 0 -Path $xamlFile)
            }
            # XAML parsen und so zu Objekten machen
            $window.Content=([system.windows.markup.xamlreader]::parse($xaml))
            # wir merken uns, ob wir ein Loaded-Event verknüpft haben
            $guiloaded_notadded = $true
            # event-hashtable parsen
            if($event) {
                foreach ($singleEvent in $event.GetEnumerator()) {
                    if ($singleEvent.Key.Contains(".")) {
                        # auseinander nehmen von Objektname und Eventname
                        $targetName = $singleEvent.Key.Split(".")[0].Trim()
                        $eventName = $singleEvent.Key.Split(".")[1].Trim()
                        if ($singleEvent.Key -like "Window.*") {
                            $target = $window
                        } else {
                            $target = $window.Content.FindName($targetName)                   
                        }                       
                    } else {    # kein Objektname -> das Fenster selbst ist das Objekt...
                        $target = $window
                        $eventName = $singleEvent.Key
                    }
                    # Prüfe, ob dieses Objekt auch dieses Event unterstützt, wenn ja: Skriptblock mit dem Event verheiraten
                    if( Get-Member -InputObject $target -MemberType Event -Name $eventName ) {
                        $eventMethod = $target."add_$eventName"
                        if( ($targetName -eq "Window") -and ($eventName -eq "Loaded") -and ($ParentHost)) {
                            $eventScript = [ScriptBlock]::Create( $singleEvent.Value.ToString() + "`n`$null = `$ParentHost.Runspace.Events.GenerateEvent('GUIloaded',$null,$null,$null)" )
                            $eventMethod.Invoke( $ExecutionContext.InvokeCommand.NewScriptBlock($eventScript) )
                            $guiloaded_notadded = $false
                        } else {
                            $eventMethod.Invoke( $ExecutionContext.InvokeCommand.NewScriptBlock($singleEvent.Value) )
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            # wenn background (können wir hier nur durch Abfragen von "ParentHost" prüfen) und kein "Loaded" event,
            # dann das GUIloaded-event mit dem window.loaded event senden.
            if(($guiloaded_notadded) -and ($ParentHost)) {
                $window.add_Loaded( { 
                    $null = $ParentHost.Runspace.Events.GenerateEvent('GUIloaded',$null,$null,$null)
                } )
            }
            # benannte xaml-Objekte in die sharedVariables bringen...
            if($sharedVariables) {
                $match = [regex]::Matches($xaml,' [x]?[:]?Name="(\w+)"')
                foreach ($m in $match)
                {
                    $name = [string]($m.Groups[1].Value)
                    $sharedVariables.Add($name,$window.Content.FindName($name))
                }
            }
        }
    }
    End
    {
        if ($backgroundRunspace) {
            $newRunspace
        } else {
            $null = $window.ShowDialog()
            $window.Tag
            if($ParentHost) {
                $null = $ParentHost.Runspace.Events.GenerateEvent('WindowClosed',$null,$null,$window.Tag)
            }
        }
    }
}

I'm sorry for commenting in German.

Now using this function (which also uses the techniques to send "GUIloaded" and "WindowClosed" events) with "GuI-events" in the function call, it seems to not be possible to send events from within the gui-events. Like this:

Show-Control -xamlfile ($PSScriptRoot+"\WimMounter.xaml") -backgroundRunspace -sharedVariables $ui -event @{
    "Loaded" = {
        $Global:fdlg = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
        $fdlg.CheckFileExists = $true
        $fdlg.Filter = "WIM-Image Files|*.wim"
        $fdlg.Title = "Bitte WIM-Datei auswählen"

        $Global:ddlg = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FolderBrowserDialog
        $ddlg.Description = "Bitte Verzeichnis zum Mounten des Images auswählen"
        $ui.fn = ""
        $ui.in = ""
        $ui.md = ""
    }
    "selectFile.Click" = {
        if($Global:fdlg.ShowDialog() -eq "OK") {
            $sharedVariables.ImageFile.Text = $fdlg.FileName.Trim()
            $sharedVariables.pl.Content = ("Ausgewählt: `""+$fdlg.FileName.Trim()+"`" - wird untersucht...")
            $sharedVariables.pb.IsIndeterminate = $true
            $sharedVariables.ImageName.Items.Clear()
            $ParentHost.UI.WriteLine("gleich gibbs 'ImageSelected'")
            $ParentHost.Runspace.Events.GenerateEvent("ImageSelected",$null,$null,($fdlg.FileName.Trim()))
        }
    }
}

It should be noted that $ui is a global SyncHasTable. Weirdly enough those "$ParentHost.UI.WriteLine()" calls work and produce output on the parent console. The "GenerateEvent"-calls seem to not work at all. Neither Get-Event shows any events, nor do actions get triggered that were set-up via Register-EngineEvent.

Any ideas on this?

Answer 1

I was able to receive events on the parent runspace using the following code:

$Global:x = [Hashtable]::Synchronized(@{})
$x.Host = $Host
$rs = [RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspace()
$rs.ApartmentState,$rs.ThreadOptions = "STA","ReUseThread"
$rs.Open()
$rs.SessionStateProxy.SetVariable("x",$x)
$cmd = [PowerShell]::Create().AddScript({
Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationFramework,PresentationCore,WindowsBase
$x.w = [Windows.Markup.XamlReader]::Parse(@"
<Window xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
MaxWidth="800" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen" WindowStyle="None" SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight">
<Button Name="test" Content="Starte Installation"/>
</Window>
"@)
$x.test = $x.w.FindName('test')

$x.test.Add_Click({
    $x.Host.Runspace.Events.GenerateEvent( "TestClicked", $x.test, $null, "test event") 
} )  

$x.w.ShowDialog()
})
$cmd.Runspace = $rs
$handle = $cmd.BeginInvoke()
Register-EngineEvent -SourceIdentifier "TestClicked" -Action {$Global:x.host.UI.Write("Event Happened!")}