Parent Powershell script doesn't print messages from child script in Azure Pipeline - powershell

Question

We have a Powershell script (A), which is executing another Powershell script (B) as another user (domain user). The child script (B) executes a range of SQL queries against a database on different servers in the domain. While the child script (B) is executing, it prints several status messages using Write-Host, which then in turn are captured by the parent script (A) and printed to the console. This works perfectly, when I am executing the parent script (A) manually from the Powershell prompt on my development machine (in the same domain). And I get all the output from the child script (B) as well.
Below is the part of the code in the parent script (A) that executes the child script (B).
try{
$ProcessInfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$ProcessInfo.FileName = "powershell.exe"
$ProcessInfo.Domain = "jmres"
$ProcessInfo.UserName = $username
$ProcessInfo.Password = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardError = $true
$ProcessInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
$ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$ProcessInfo.Arguments = $file, $fileArguments
$Process = New-Object System.Diagnostics.Process
$Process.StartInfo = $ProcessInfo
$Process.Start() | Out-Null
$stdOutput = $Process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
$stdError = $Process.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
Write-Host $stdOutput
Write-Host $stdError
$Process.WaitForExit()
}
catch{
Write-Host "Could not execute script."
Write-Error $Error[0]
Exit
}
Now in our Azure Release Pipeline we are executing the parent script (A) automatically, via a Powershell task, when deploying our application. The child script (B) runs fine as the specified user and I can verify, that SQL queries are executed correctly against the given SQL server.
Okay. So the problem here is, that status messages from the parent script (A) are printed to the Powershell console in the Pipeline. But status messages from the child script (B) are not. I have been struggling for days now trying to figure out why.
Things I have tried:
Replacing Write-Host with Echo in the child script (B) to redirect output to the pipeline instead of directly to the console as described here.
Tried to only print the StandardOutput stream, and omit the StandardError stream to avoid a potential deadlock as described on this site.
Tried turning off (set $false) redirection of the StandardOutput and StandardError streams and have the output sent to the child scripts (B) own console window, and then hope for it to show up in the Azure Pipeline console.
Nothing works. The output in the Azure Pipeline console is two empty lines, where I would expect the output from the child script (B) to be shown. My findings this far is, that the problem is these two lines.
$stdOutput = $Process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd()
$stdError = $Process.StandardError.ReadToEnd()
The two variables are empty. Why doesn't ReadToEnd() get anything from the streams? And why does it work when executed manually from the Powershell prompt but not in Azure Pipeline? Does anyone have any ideas what to try next?
UPDATE 1 (important):
So this is embarrassing. This morning I discovered a huge brain fart of mine. I though I had verified, that SQL queries where fired against the database. I was wrong. The child script (B) is not executed at all. Hence no SQL queries are fired against the database, when the parent script (A) is executed from the Azure Pipeline. That answers why I get no output. Strange thing is, that it works when I execute the parent script (A) manually from the Powershell prompt.
This is clearly an issue regarding user context while executing scripts and not, as I thought, capturing output from the child script (B). I don't know whether to delete this question. An admin must decide.

Answer 1

Please check Logging commands to print to the console in pipeline. For example:
Set the variables:
- pwsh: |
Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=sauce;]crushed tomatoes"
Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=secretSauce;issecret=true]crushed tomatoes with garlic"
Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=outputSauce;isoutput=true]canned goods"
name: SetVars
Read the variables:
- pwsh: |
Write-Host "Non-secrets automatically mapped in, sauce is $env:SAUCE"
Write-Host "Secrets are not automatically mapped in, secretSauce is $env:SECRETSAUCE"
Write-Host "You can use macro replacement to get secrets, and they'll be masked in the log: $(secretSauce)"
Write-Host "Future jobs can also see $env:SETVARS_OUTPUTSAUCE"
write-Host "Future jobs can also see $(SetVars.outputSauce)"
Console output:
Non-secrets automatically mapped in, sauce is crushed tomatoes
Secrets are not automatically mapped in, secretSauce is
You can use macro replacement to get secrets, and they'll be masked in the log: ***
Future jobs can also see canned goods
Future jobs can also see canned goods