Add-CMDeploymentType warning - powershell

Question

Im using poweshell to automate creating applications in SCCM 2012, distributing content and deploying them once created.
I have the following code:
New-CMApplication -name $appname -Manufacturer $manu -SoftwareVersion $ver
Which works fine.
However.
Add-CMDeploymentType -MsiInstaller -applicationName $appname -AutoIdentifyFromIntallationFile -InstallationFileLocation $content -ForceForUnknownPublisher $true
Gives me a warning " Failed to get install type's technology and it won't create the deployment type.
As far as I can tell from other sites, I shouldn't need to specifiy and more than that. I've experimented with adding more options on the end but none seem to make a difference.
There isnt very much out there about this error - has anyone got past it before?

Answer 1

I doubt that you'll get Add-CMDeploymentType to do much useful -- at least not in its current form. I once tried and gave up when I noticed that it is missing basic, essential parameters. The documentation does not even mention, for example, detection of any sort. There's not much point in using ConfigMgr Applications without detection, and there's not much point in scripting the creation of DeploymentTypes if you still have to define the detection criteria via the UI.
You might get the odd msi file configured using the Add-CMDeploymentType's AddDeploymentTypeByMsiInstallerX parameter set. In that case you'd be relying on ConfigMgr to work out the detection logic automagically. That may work, but I have had significant issues with the MSI Deployment. I'd avoid that if possible.
I'm not hopeful that the Add-CMDeploymentType will ever become usable. The object tree that underlies Applications is necessarily complex and really doesn't lend itself to interaction using simple PowerShell cmdlets. To completely configure an Application there are hundreds of properties on dozens of objects that you need to access. Many of those objects are contained in dictionary- and array-like collections that have their own special semantics for accessing them. You just can't simplify that into a handful of PowerShell cmdlets.
I'm using the types in the following .dlls to interface with ConfigMgr:
AdminUI.WqlQueryEngine.dll
Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ApplicationManagement.dll
Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ApplicationManagement.MsiInstaller.dll
As far as I can tell, that is the same API the admin console uses, so you can expect full functionality. You cannot make the same claims about the PowerShell cmdlets. So far I have found a way to access everything I've tried through that API using PowerShell. The basics of accessing that API is documented in the ConfigMgr SDK. It's fairly straightforward to figure out how those objects work using reflection and some experimentation.
When you retrieve an Application using Get-CMApplication you actually get the full object tree with it. The SDMPackageXML object contains a serialized copy of the Application, DeploymentTypes, detection, installers, etc. [Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.ApplicationManagement.Serialization.SccmSerializer]::DeserializeFromString() works to deserialize that object so you can inspect it for yourself.

Answer 2

I actually gave up on this - As you say - Add-CMDeployment type is completely useless. There was nothing online anywhere that described this error, or how to use it properly - an Application with no detection is pointless and adding it manually later defeats the point in trying to automate it.
PowerShell centre had some examples of how it could be used but neither of these worked...
This link was pretty useful and has everything I needed to create an application without powershell.
link
a bit long but the code was...
Public Sub create_SCCM_application(appname As String, version As String, content_location As String, filename As String, manu As String)
Try
Dim appID As ObjectId = New ObjectId("ScopeId_devscope", "Application_" & Guid.NewGuid().ToString())
Dim app As New Application(appID)
app.Title = appname
app.Version = "1.0"
app.Publisher = manu
app.SoftwareVersion = version
app.AutoInstall = True
Dim dinfo As New AppDisplayInfo
dinfo.Title = appname
dinfo.Version = version
dinfo.Language = Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Name
app.DisplayInfo.Add(dinfo)
Dim dtID As ObjectId = New ObjectId("ScopeId_devscope", "DeploymentType_" & Guid.NewGuid().ToString())
Dim dt As New DeploymentType(dtID, MsiInstallerTechnology.TechnologyId)
dt.Title = appname & " Deployment type"
dt.Version = "1.0"
app.DeploymentTypes.Add(dt)
Dim installer As MsiInstaller = dt.Installer
Dim fakecode As Guid = Guid.NewGuid
installer.ProductCode = "{" & fakecode.ToString & "}"
installer.InstallCommandLine = "msiexec /i " & filename
installer.UninstallCommandLine = "msiexec /x " & filename
installer.AllowUninstall = True
installer.ExecuteTime = 30
installer.MaxExecuteTime = 30
installer.ExecutionContext = ExecutionContext.System
installer.UserInteractionMode = UserInteractionMode.Hidden
installer.DetectionMethod = DetectionMethod.ProductCode
installer.ProductVersion = version
Dim appcont As Content = New Content
installer.Contents.Add(appcont)
appcont.Location = content_location
Dim msifile As New ContentFile
msifile.Name = "_temp.msi"
appcont.Files.Add(msifile)
Dim appxml As XDocument = SccmSerializer.Serialize(app, True)
Dim appinstance As ManagementObject = Nothing
Dim path As ManagementPath = New ManagementPath("SMS_Application")
Dim options As New ObjectGetOptions
Dim appClass As ManagementClass = Nothing
Dim scope As ManagementScope = New ManagementScope("\\devserver\root\Sms\Site_devsitecode")
appClass = New ManagementClass(scope, path, options)
appinstance = appClass.CreateInstance()
appinstance.Properties("SDMPackageXML").Value = appxml
appinstance.Put()
Catch x As System.Exception
Console.WriteLine(x.Message)
End Try
End Sub
Your question regarding the deployment type behaviour is also wierd - We have that same product and it works from an MSI deployment type.