$env:VSINSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8"

$env:VCINSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC"

$env:DevEnvDir="$env:VSINSTALLDIR\Common7\IDE"

$env:FrameworkSDKDir="$env:VSINSTALLDIR\SDK\v2.0"

$FrameworkPath=$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeEnvironment]::GetRuntimeDirectory())

$env:FrameworkDir=$(split-path $FrameworkPath -Parent)

$env:FrameworkVersion=$(split-path $FrameworkPath -Leaf)

$env:PATH="$env:VSINSTALLDIR\Common7\IDE;$env:VCINSTALLDIR\BIN;$env:VSINSTALLDIR\Common7\Tools;$env:VSINSTALLDIR\Common7\Tools\bin;$env:VCINSTALLDIR\PlatformSDK\bin; $env:FrameworkSDKDir\bin;$env:FrameworkDir\$env:FrameworkVersion;$env:VCINSTALLDIR\VCPackages;$env:PATH"

$env:INCLUDE="$env:VCINSTALLDIR\ATLMFC\INCLUDE; $env:VCINSTALLDIR\INCLUDE;$env:VCINSTALLDIR\PlatformSDK\include;$env:FrameworkSDKDir\include;$env:INCLUDE"

$env:LIB="$env:VCINSTALLDIR\ATLMFC\LIB; $env:VCINSTALLDIR\LIB;$env:VCINSTALLDIR\PlatformSDK\lib;$env:FrameworkSDKDir\lib;$env:LIB"

$env:LIBPATH="$FrameworkPath; $env:VCINSTALLDIR\ATLMFC\LIB"

*IMPORTANT: on a 64 bit machine you need to put the first variable ($env:VSINSTALLDIR) to be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8"

I put this in my Profile (“notepad $profile”) so that it loads every time I open PowerShell. You can load the script into your active Shell by “Dot Source” the script:

PS>. $profile

(Notice there is a space between the period and the name of the file).

Now we are ready to consume a web service. The following steps will consume the web service an create local .CS and .DLL files (in your active directory) which you can reuse later to communicate with the service. In this example, I’m getting the “Lists” web service from http://intranet, compiling the Lists.cs file, and then loading the Lists.dll into the shell:

PS>wsdl http://intranet/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx

PS>csc /t:library Lists.cs

PS>[Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFrom("Lists.dll")

The above steps do not need to be repeated (unless the web service code has changed) so you can add the following line to your $profile to always have the web service available (but you should put the full path to the “Lists.dll” file):

[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFrom("Lists.dll")

Now we have the dll loaded (you can browse the .dll file using the .NET reflector to see all the available classes) and we can consume the web service.  First we need to create a new “Lists” object:

PS> $list = New-Object Lists

We need to be authenticated to contact the web service, so type:

PS> $list.Credentials=[System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultCredentials

Now we are ready to use the web service – so call any member of the $list command to get the service data. The resulting objects can be managed just like any other PowerShell variable, so for example:

PS> $docs = $list.GetLists(“Shared Documents”)

PS> $docs.Title

Shared Documents

PS> $docs.Description

Share a document with the team by adding it to this document library.

PS> $docs.ItemCount

27

PS> $docs | Select Title,Description,ItemCount

Title                                   Description                             ItemCount

-----                                   -----------                             ---------

Shared Documents                        Share a document with the team by ad... 27

If you want to know all the methods and properties available off an individual object, use the Get-Member command:

PS> $docs | Get-Member

That’s it! Here’s a list of some of the available web services:

Administration Service             :           http://<server-url:port-number>/_vti_adm/admin.asmx

Alerts Service                           :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/alerts.asmx

Document Workspace Service :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/dws.asmx

Forms Service                          :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/forms.asmx

Imaging Service                       :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/imaging.asmx

List Data Retrieval Service        :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/dspsts.asmx

Lists Service                            :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/lists.asmx

Meetings Service                     :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/meetings.asmx

Permissions Service                 :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/permissions.asmx

Site Data Service                      :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/sitedata.asmx

Site Service                              :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/sites.asmx

Users and Groups Service        :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/usergroup.asmx

Versions Service                      :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/versions.asmx

Views Service                           :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/views.asmx

Web Part Pages Service           :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/webpartpages.asmx

Webs Service                           :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/webs.asmx

Area Service                             :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/areaservice.asmx

Query Service                          :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/search.asmx

User Profile Service                  :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/userprofileservice.asmx

SPS Crawl Service                     :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/spscrawl.asmx

Outlook Adapter Service          :           http://<server-url>/_vti_bin/outlookadapter.asmx