Using SQL Transactions in Powershell

It occurred to me that I have not seen a write up on System.Transactions.TransactionScope usage in powershell. I have tried this on Powershell v2, not sure if this works in Powershell 1. So here it goes...

The example below just shows the usage, I leave it as an exercise to the reader to add in the database query code.

?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

"Start. " + [DateTime]::Now().ToString();   try {  $transScope = New-Object System.Transactions.TransactionScope;    ## Insert Queries    "Complete";  $transScope.Complete(); } catch [Exception] {     #$_ | fl * -Force  Write-Host $_.Exception.ToString(); } finally {  if ($transScope) {   $transScope.Dispose();  } }   "Done. " + [DateTime]::Now().ToString();

A more complex example just waiting for SQL statements. It shows some nested transactions.

?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

"Start. " + [DateTime]::Now().ToString();   try {  $transScope = New-Object System.Transactions.TransactionScope;     ## Insert Queries     try {   ## Performs queries that are not included in a transaction.   $transScope2 = New-Object System.Transactions.TransactionScope([System.Transactions.TransactionScopeOption]::Suppress);       ## Insert Queries       $transScope2.Complete();  }  finally {   if ($transScope2) {    $transScope2.Dispose();   }  }     ## Insert Queries    try {   ## Perform actions that should be included in a side transaction outside of the enclosing transaction   $transScope3 = New-Object System.Transactions.TransactionScope([System.Transactions.TransactionScopeOption]::RequiresNew);       ## Insert Queries       $transScope3.Complete();  }  finally {   if ($transScope3) {    $transScope3.Dispose();   }  }     ## Insert Queries     "Complete";  $transScope.Complete(); } catch [Exception] {     #$_ | fl * -Force  Write-Host $_.Exception.ToString(); } finally {  if ($transScope) {   $transScope.Dispose();  } }   "Done. " + [DateTime]::Now().ToString();

VB.NET Debug Visualizer for Guids for Visual Studio 2010

Every once in a while I must program in VB.NET. My largest frustration is how Visual Studio handles Guids while debugging VB.NET code.

Seeing "System.Guid" as the value for a variable that contains a Guid is really not helpful. Debugging in C# correctly displays the actual value in the same situation.

Visual Studio provides an avenue to rectify this issue. You can create a new class library project and replace the contents of the default class file with the below code snippet.

?

1 2 3 4 5

<Assembly: DebuggerDisplay("{ToString()}", Target:=GetType(Guid))>   Public Class EmptyGuidVisualizerClass     ' Empty End Class

After compiling, copy the DLL to "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Visualizers" and restart Visual Studio. The Guids should resolve to their actual values.

After installing this in Visual Studio 2010, I found that it also works in Visual Studio 2008. The DLL should, likewise, be placed in the Visualizers directory in the Visual Studio 2008 folder in My Documents.

I created a batch file that can be used to install the DLL for 2010 and 2008. The batch file and the DLL must be in the same directory.

?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

@ECHO OFF SET STARTDIR=%CD%   pushd .   cd "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents"   IF EXIST ".\Visual Studio 2008" ( pushd . echo "2008 Exists!" cd ".\Visual Studio 2008"   IF NOT EXIST ".\Visualizers" (  echo "Creating Visualizers Directory."  mkdir Visualizers )   copy "%STARTDIR%\GuidVisualizer.dll" .\Visualizers   popd )   IF EXIST ".\Visual Studio 2010" ( pushd . echo "2010 Exists!" cd ".\Visual Studio 2010"   IF NOT EXIST ".\Visualizers" (  echo "Creating Visualizers Directory."  mkdir Visualizers )   copy "%STARTDIR%\GuidVisualizer.dll" .\Visualizers   popd )   popd

After creating it, I googled and found someone who came up with almost the same code, http://www.michelrenaud.com/?p=7 . This blog post contains pictures if you care to see the end result. Microsoft Connect has a similar resolved issue: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/89801/show-guid-value-in-debug.