Manage a Batch-based server in PowerShell - powershell

Question

I downloaded the binaries of a web server app. Extracting it leaves me with the following directory tree:
./
bin/
start.bat
stop.bat
lib/
*.jar
*.*
As a PowerShell fan, I would rather call Start-MyWebServer.ps1 than start.bat.
This task would be simple if it wasn't for start.bat: it writes the logs directly in the console, and asks to Press a key to continue... before exiting (pause?). The same goes for stop.bat.
I've tried various solutions based on Start-Process -FilePath "...\start.bat" -NoNewWindow, with an without -Wait in order to start the server in the background...
I also tried using Start-Job:
Start-Job -Name "MyWebServer" -ScriptBlock {
Start-Process -FilePath "...\start.bat" -Wait -NoNewWindow
} | Out-Null
This last solution almost works, i.e. when Start-MyWebServer.ps1 returns, the server is still initializing, even though the job is marked as completed. Is there a better solution to my problem that polling the server until it's ready? Or is it the expected behavior of a Start-* commandlet?
Here is the content of start.bat (actually named startup.bat, credit: GeoServer):
#echo off
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
rem Startup Script for GeoServer
rem -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
cls
echo Welcome to GeoServer!
echo.
set error=0
rem JAVA_HOME not defined
if "%JAVA_HOME%" == "" goto trySystemJava
rem JAVA_HOME defined incorrectly
if not exist "%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe" goto badJava
rem Setup the java command and move on
set RUN_JAVA=%JAVA_HOME%\bin\java
echo JAVA_HOME: %JAVA_HOME%
echo.
:checkGeoServerHome
rem GEOSERVER_HOME not defined
if "%GEOSERVER_HOME%" == "" goto noHome
rem GEOSERVER_HOME defined incorrectly
if not exist "%GEOSERVER_HOME%\bin\startup.bat" goto badHome
goto checkDataDir
:trySystemJava
for /f %%i in ('where java') do set RUN_JAVA=%%i
rem --- we might be on amd64 having only x86 jre installed ---
if "%RUN_JAVA%"=="" if DEFINED ProgramFiles(x86) if NOT "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%"=="x86" (
rem --- restart the batch in x86 mode---
echo Warning: No java interpreter found in path.
echo Retry using Wow64 filesystem [32bit environment] redirection.
%SystemRoot%\SysWOW64\cmd.exe /c %0 %*
exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%
)
if "RUN_JAVA%"=="" goto noJava
goto checkGeoServerHome
:noJava
echo The JAVA_HOME environment variable is not defined, and no Java executable could be found.
goto JavaFail
:badJava
echo The JAVA_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly.
goto JavaFail
:JavaFail
echo Please install Java or, if present but not in the path, set this environment variable via the following command:
echo set JAVA_HOME=[path to Java]
echo Example:
echo set JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk8
echo.
set error=1
goto end
:noHome
if exist ..\start.jar goto noHomeOK
echo The GEOSERVER_HOME environment variable is not defined.
goto HomeFail
:badHome
if exist ..\start.jar goto badHomeOK
echo The GEOSERVER_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly.
goto HomeFail
:HomeFail
echo This environment variable is needed to run this program.
echo.
echo Set this environment variable via the following command:
echo set GEOSERVER_HOME=[path to GeoServer]
echo Example:
echo set GEOSERVER_HOME=C:\Program Files\GeoServer
echo.
set error=1
goto end
:noHomeOK
echo The GEOSERVER_HOME environment variable is not defined.
goto setHome
:badHomeOK
echo The GEOSERVER_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly.
goto setHome
:setHome
echo Temporarily setting GEOSERVER_HOME to the following directory:
cd ..
set GEOSERVER_HOME=%CD%
echo %GEOSERVER_HOME%
echo.
goto checkDataDir
:checkDataDir
rem GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR not defined
if "%GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR%" == "" goto noDataDir
goto setMarlinRenderer
:noDataDir
rem if GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR is not defined then use GEOSERVER_HOME/data_dir/
if exist "%GEOSERVER_HOME%\data_dir" goto setDataDir
echo No valid GeoServer data directory could be located.
echo Please set the GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR environment variable.
echo.
echo Set this environment variable via the following command:
echo set GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=[path to data_dir]
echo Example:
echo set GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=C:\Program Files\GeoServer\data_dir
echo.
set error=1
goto end
:setDataDir
set GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR=%GEOSERVER_HOME%\data_dir
echo The GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR environment variable is not defined correctly.
echo Temporarily setting GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR to the following directory:
echo %GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR%
echo.
goto setMarlinRenderer
:setMarlinRenderer
cd %GEOSERVER_HOME%
for /f "delims=" %%i in ('dir /b/s "%GEOSERVER_HOME%\webapps\geoserver\WEB-INF\lib\marlin*.jar"') do set MARLIN_JAR=%%i
if "%MARLIN_JAR%" == "" (
echo Marlin renderer jar not found
goto run
)
set MARLIN_ENABLER=-Xbootclasspath/a:"%MARLIN_JAR%" -Dsun.java2d.renderer=org.marlin.pisces.MarlinRenderingEngine
set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% %MARLIN_ENABLER%
goto run
:run
cd %GEOSERVER_HOME%
echo Please wait while loading GeoServer...
echo.
"%RUN_JAVA%" %JAVA_OPTS% -DGEOSERVER_DATA_DIR="%GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR%" -Djava.awt.headless=true -DSTOP.PORT=8079 -DSTOP.KEY=geoserver -jar start.jar
cd bin
goto end
:end
if %error% == 1 echo Startup of GeoServer was unsuccessful.
echo.
pause

Answer 1

Did you consider the capturing of the output of the start.bat?
$psi = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$psi.FileName = '...\start.bat'
$psi.RedirectStandardOutput = $true
$psi.UseShellExecute = $false
$psi.WindowStyle = 'Minimized'
$bytes = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
$s = ''
$enc = [System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII
$done = 'Press any key to continue'
$p = [System.Diagnostics.Process]::Start($psi)
for() {
$i = $bytes.add($p.StandardOutput.BaseStream.ReadByte())
if( $bytes[$i] -lt 0 ) { break }
$s = $enc.GetString($bytes)
if( $s -match "`n${done}$" ) { break }
}
if( !$p.HasExited ) {
$p.Kill()
Write-Host 'done...'
}
$p.Dispose()