Error while running Export-UnicornConfiguration cmdlet in the Sitecore PowerShell script

Question

I am triggering an SPE script from the code. SPE script contains a few checks but finally has Export-UnicornConfiguration $configurationName.

The script runs without any errors when it is triggered through Execute Script inside CMS. The only issue is when it is triggered from the code. Am I missing anything while calling from the code?

Even from the code, all the other cmdlets like Get-Item and Get-UnicornConfiguration works fine. But below exception occurs with Export-UnicornConfiguration.

using (ScriptSession scriptSession = ScriptSessionManager.NewSession("Default", true))
{
   string script = scriptItem["Script"];
   scriptSession.SetVariable("ConfigurationName", _configurationName);
   if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(script))
        scriptSession.ExecuteScriptPart(script, true);
}

Unicorn configuration

<configuration name="xxxxxxx_Content">                  
      <dataProviderConfiguration enableTransparentSync="false" />
      <predicate>
        <include name="xxxx" database="master" path="/sitecore/content/xxxxxxx">              
        </include>
      </predicate>          
      <syncConfiguration updateLinkDatabase="false" updateSearchIndex="false" />
 </configuration>

ERROR: Current context is not a job (Sitecore.Jobs.AsyncUI.InvalidContextException)at Sitecore.Jobs.AsyncUI.JobContext.get_Job()
at Sitecore.Jobs.AsyncUI.SendMessageMe ssage..ctor(Message message, Boolean postBack)
at Spe.Core.Host.ScriptingHostUserInterface.WriteProgress(Int64 sourceId, ProgressRecord record)
at System.Management.Automation.Intern al.Host.InternalHostUserInterface.WriteProgress(Int64 sourceId, ProgressRecord record)
at Unicorn.PowerShell.PowershellProgressStatus.Report(Int32 percent)
at Unicorn.SerializationHe lper.ReserializeConfigurations(IConfiguration[] configurations, IProgressStatus progress, ILogger additionalLogger) Export-UnicornConfiguration : Reserialize failed. Review preceding logs for details. At line:1 char:1

• Export-UnicornConfiguration "xxxxxxx_Content"
  • CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Export-UnicornConfiguration], InvalidOperationException
  • FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.InvalidOperationException,Unicorn.PowerShell.ExportUnicornConfigurationCommand

Answer 1

I was able to reproduce the issue while running the Export-UnicornConfiguration command through SPE Remoting.

It appears to be caused by the fact that Unicorn does not distinguish between Interactive and Non-Interactive sessions. The SPE Console and ISE have specific code implemented to signal when code related to the UI (like Write-Progress) is running in an Interactive mode.

At the moment there does not appear to be a convenient solution. A change would need to be made to the command to address this issue.

Answer 2

There are 2 ways how I would approach this:

1. Run scripts in "non-interactive" mode

The theory is that because you are running it remotely/via code some of the UI parts of the code might fail.

The trick I suggest you is to replace Write-Progress implementation so it won't do any server callbacks during execution.

Save it as Write-ProgressWebAPI script

function Write-Progress {
    [CmdletBinding()]
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        $Activity,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        $CurrentOperation,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        $Status,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        $PercentComplete,
        [Parameter(Mandatory = $false)]
        [switch]$Completed
    )

    process {
        # do nothing
    }
} 

and import

Import-Function Write-ProgressWebAPI

at the beginning of your script with unicorn cmdlet call.

2. Rewrite ExportUnicornConfigurationCommand

Alternatively if 1 won't help, you can use source code and implement your own version or at least debug it ExportUnicornConfigurationCommand

Notice PowershellProgressStatus usage.