Automating the Deployment of a Customized Project Web Site Template via PowerShell and the Managed Client Object Model

Assume, you have created a customized web site template for your enterprise project type in the development environment as described here, and now you would like to deploy it into the test farm. Of course, you can manually delete the former site template, upload the new one, re-configure it to be the associated web site template for your enterprise project type, and finally re-create your test project (that means, checking in and deleting the existing one, and create it again using the new template), but this procedure is boring, cumbersome and – as any human-based process – rather error-prone.

Why do not automate this step as well?

I’ve created a PowerShell script that performs the steps outlined above. The first steps (deleting the former version of the site template and uploading the new one) can be done by native PowerShell Cmdlets, but for the remaining, Project Server related tasks require the Managed Client Object Model, so we import the necessary assemblies into the process.

First we get a list of all projects and a list of all enterprise project types, then query for the right ones on the “client side”.

Note: Although PowerShell does not support .NET extension methods (like the Where and Include methods of the client object model) natively, we could restrict the items returned by these queries to include really only the item we need (see solution here), and include only the properties we need (as described here). As the item count of the projects and enterprise project types is not significant, and we should use the script on the server itself due to the SharePoint Cmdlets, it has no sense in this case to limit the network traffic via these tricks.

Next, we update the web site template setting (WorkspaceTemplateName  property) of the enterprise project type. We need this step as the original vale was reset to the default value as we deleted the original site template on re-upload.

If the test project is found, we delete it (after we checked it in, if it was checked out), and create it using the updated template.

Since these last steps (project check-in, deletion, and creation) are all queue-based operations, we should use the WaitForQueue method to be sure the former operation is completed before we start the next step.

$pwaUrl = "http://YourProjectServer/PWA/"
$solutionName = "YourSiteTemplate"
$wspFileName = $solutionName + ".wsp"
$timeoutSeconds = 1000
$projName = "TestProj"

# English
$projType = "Enterprise Project"
$pwaLcid = 1033
# German
#$projType = "Enterprise-Projekt"
#$pwaLcid = 1031

# path of the folder containing the .wsp
$localRootPath = "D:\SiteTemplates\"
$wspLocalPath = $localRootPath + $wspFileName

# uninstall / remove the site template if activated / found
$solution = Get-SPUserSolution -Identity $wspFileName -Site $pwaUrl -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
If ($solution -ne $Null) {
  If ($solution.Status -eq "Activated") {
    Write-Host Uninstalling web site template
    Uninstall-SPUserSolution -Identity $solutionName -Site $pwaUrl -Confirm:$False
  }
  Write-Host Removing web site template
  Remove-SPUserSolution -Identity $wspFileName -Site $pwaUrl -Confirm:$False
}

# upload and activate the new version
Write-Host Uploading new web site template
Add-SPUserSolution -LiteralPath $wspLocalPath -Site $pwaUrl
Write-Host Installing new web site template
$dummy = Install-SPUserSolution -Identity $solutionName -Site $pwaUrl
 
# set the path according the location of the assemblies
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.ProjectServer.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "c:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$projectContext = New-Object Microsoft.ProjectServer.Client.ProjectContext($pwaUrl)

# get lists of enterprise project types and projects
$projectTypes = $projectContext.LoadQuery($projectContext.EnterpriseProjectTypes)
$projects = $projectContext.Projects
$projectList = $projectContext.LoadQuery($projectContext.Projects)

$projectContext.ExecuteQuery()

$entProjType = $projectTypes | ? { $_.Name -eq $projType }
$project = $projectList | ? { $_.Name -eq $projName }

Write-Host Updating web site template for the enterprise project type
$web = Get-SPWeb $pwaUrl
$template = $web.GetAvailableWebTemplates($pwaLcid) | ? { $_.Title -eq $solutionName }

$entProjType.WorkspaceTemplateName = $template.Name
$projectContext.EnterpriseProjectTypes.Update()
$projectContext.ExecuteQuery()

If ($project -ne $Null) {
  If ($project.IsCheckedOut) {
    Write-Host Project $projName is checked out, checking it in before deletion
    $checkInJob = $project.Draft.CheckIn($True)
    $checkInJobState = $projectContext.WaitForQueue($checkInJob, $timeoutSeconds)
    Write-Host Check-in project job status: $checkInJobState
  }
  Write-Host Deleting existing project $projName
  # we can delete the project either this way
  #$removeProjResult = $projects.Remove($project)
  #$removeJob = $projects.Update()
  # or
  $removeJob = $project.DeleteObject()
  $removeJobState = $projectContext.WaitForQueue($removeJob, $timeoutSeconds)
  Write-Host Remove project job status: $removeJobState
}

I found the set of Project Server PowerShell Cmdlets is limited, and rather operation-based. You can use it, as long as your single task is to administer Project Server instances and databases. However, when it comes to the interaction with Project Server entities, you have to involve the Managed Client Object Model. Hopefully this example provides not only a reusable tool, but also helps you understand, how to extend your own PowerShell library with the methods borrowed from the client side .NET libraries.

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