Search code examples
multithreadingpowershellrunspacescriptblock

How to call outside defined function in runspace scriptblock


I have a complex PowerShell function which I would like to run another threads.

However, If I'm right, the function cannot be accessed in the scriptblock. I want to avoid to copy every related function next to it.

Is there any way or method to call the function in the scriptblock?

function Function1 {
    Param()
    Process {
        $param1 = "something"
        $pool = [RunspaceFactory]::CreateRunspacePool(1, [int]$env:NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS + 1)
        $pool.ApartmentState = "MTA"
        $pool.Open()
        $runspaces = @()

        $scriptblock = {
            Param (
                [Object] [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] $param1
            )
            Complex_Function -param1 $param1
        }

        1..10 | ForEach-Object {
            $runspace = [PowerShell]::Create()
            $null = $runspace.AddScript($scriptblock)
            $null = $runspace.AddArgument($param1)
            $runspace.RunspacePool = $pool
            $runspaces += [PSCustomObject]@{ Pipe = $runspace; Status = $runspace.BeginInvoke() }
        }

        while ($runspaces.Status -ne $null) {
            $completed = $runspaces | Where-Object { $_.Status.IsCompleted -eq $true }
            foreach ($runspace in $completed) {
                $runspace.Pipe.EndInvoke($runspace.Status)
                $runspace.Status = $null
            }
        }

        $pool.Close()
        $pool.Dispose()
    }
}

function Complex_Function {
    Param(
        [Object] [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] $param1
    )
    Process {
        #several function calls 
    }
}

Solution

  • I think the code found in this blog post is probably what you're looking for:

    Function ConvertTo-Hex {
        Param([int]$Number)
        '0x{0:x}' -f $Number
    }
    
    #Get body of function
    $Definition = Get-Content Function:\ConvertTo-Hex -ErrorAction Stop
    
    #Create a sessionstate function entry
    $SessionStateFunction = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.SessionStateFunctionEntry 
        -ArgumentList 'ConvertTo-Hex', $Definition
    
    #Create a SessionStateFunction
    
    $InitialSessionState.Commands.Add($SessionStateFunction)
    
     #Create the runspacepool by adding the sessionstate with the custom function
    
    $RunspacePool = [runspacefactory]::CreateRunspacePool(1,5,$InitialSessionState,$Host)
    

    Do something similar with your Complex_Function and (I guess) every other function you need and they should be usable by your runspaces.

    edit You asked in comments how to gather all functions. The path function:/ can be traversed and searched like a directory, so get-chiditem function:/ gets all currently-defined functions.

    In experimenting with this, it seems as though functions that are defined within the current script, or from dot-sourced scripts, have an empty Source property. Play around with this. It should lead to what you want.

    $InitialSessionState = [initialsessionstate]::Create()
    
    Get-ChildItem function:/ | Where-Object Source -like "" | ForEach-Object {
        $functionDefinition = Get-Content "Function:\$($_.Name)"
        $sessionStateFunction = New-Object System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.SessionStateFunctionEntry `
            -ArgumentList $_.Name, $functionDefinition 
        $InitialSessionState.Commands.Add($sessionStateFunction)
    }