PowerShell language support for Dispatch

Latest image on Docker Hub

You need a recent version of Dispatch installed in your Kubernetes cluster, Dispatch CLI configured to use it.

To add the base-image to Dispatch:

$ dispatch create base-image powershell-base dispatchframework/powershell-base:<tag>

Make sure the base-image status is READY (it normally goes from INITIALIZED to READY):

$ dispatch get base-image powershell-base

Library dependencies listed in requirements.psd1 (PSDepend dependency manifest) need to be wrapped into a Dispatch image. For example, suppose we need a Github API library:

$ cat ./requirements.psd1

@{
  PowerShellForGitHub = 'latest'
}

$ dispatch create image powershell-mylibs powershell-base --runtime-deps ./requirements.psd1

Make sure the image status is READY (it normally goes from INITIALIZED to READY):

$ dispatch get image powershell-mylibs

Using the Powershell base-image, you can create Dispatch functions from Powershell source files. The file can require any libraries from the image (see above).

The only requirement is: a function must be defined that accepts 2 arguments (context and payload), for example:

$ cat ./demo.ps1

Import-Module PowerShellForGitHub

function handle($context, $payload) {
    $name=Get-GitHubRepositoryNameFromUrl $payload.url
    return @{name=$name}
}

$ dispatch create function powershell-mylibs ./demo.ps1 --image=github
    --handler=demo.ps1::handle

Make sure the function status is READY (it normally goes from INITIALIZED to READY):

$ dispatch get function github

As usual:

$ dispatch exec --json --input '{"url": "https://github.com/vmware/dispatch"}' --wait github

{
    "blocking": true,
    "executedTime": 1524784255,
    "faasId": "05c7f873-fe20-44bd-b189-fec96c0fc51b",
    "finishedTime": 1524784255,
    "functionId": "e9e00b75-b0ac-4ed0-89cf-ded8ee7dda3d",
    "functionName": "github",
    "input": {
        "url": "https://github.com/vmware/dispatch"
    },
    "logs": {
        "stderr": null,
        "stdout": null
    },
    "name": "ecef16f2-9211-43b4-a6a6-480153593a36",
    "output": {
        "name": "dispatch"
    },
    "reason": null,
    "secrets": [],
    "services": null,
    "status": "READY",
    "tags": []
}

There are three types of errors that can be thrown when invoking a function:

• InputError
• FunctionError
• SystemError

SystemError represents an error in the Dispatch infrastructure. InputError represents an error in the input detected either early in the function itself or through input schema validation. FunctionError represents an error in the function logic or an output schema validation error.

Functions themselves can either throw InputError or FunctionError

For Powershell, the following exceptions thrown from the function are considered InputError:

• System.ArgumentException

All other exceptions thrown from the function are considered FunctionError.

To validate input in the function body:

function lower($context, $payload) {
    if ($payload.GetType() -ne [String]) {
        throw [System.ArgumentException]::new("payload is not of type string")
    }
    return $payload.ToLower()
}

Since System.ArgumentException is considered an InputError, functions should not throw it unless explicitly thrown due to an input validation error. Functions should catch and handle System.ArgumentException accordingly if it should not be classified as an InputError.