ExecuteReader() in Powershell script

Question

I'm trying to read data from a SQL table in a powershell script. I can see the data in reader object, but when reading it using While (readerobject.read()){}, it's not going inside the loop.

Powershell:

 $cmd = $sqlConn.CreateCommand()
 $cmd.CommandText ="SELECT * from user"
 $movedUserDetails = $cmd.ExecuteReader()
 while ($movedUserDetails.Read())
   {
      "[0] : " + $movedUserDetails.GetValue(0)
   }
 $movedUserDetails.Close() 

Answer 1

The syntax is correct, but you're not doing anything with the value once inside the loop. You'll want to persist it somehow. Here's an example of running some basic SQL inside of powershell, with two different types of commands (Text/SP) and two different methods of execution (DataAdapter/DataReader). Either one of each should work fine.

# config
$svr = "serverName"
$db = "databaseName"

# connection
$sqlConnection = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection
$sqlConnection.ConnectionString = "Server=$svr;Database=$db;Integrated Security=True"
$sqlConnection.Open()

# command A - text
$sqlCmd = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
$sqlCmd.Connection = $sqlConnection
$sqlCmd.CommandText = "SELECT name AS TABLE_NAME FROM sys.tables"

# command B - stored procedure
$sqlCmd = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
$sqlCmd.Connection = $sqlConnection
$sqlCmd.CommandText = "sys.sp_tables"
$sqlCmd.CommandType = [System.Data.CommandType]::StoredProcedure
$sqlCmd.Parameters.Add("@table_owner", "dbo")

# execute A - data reader
$reader = $sqlCmd.ExecuteReader()
$tables = @()
while ($reader.Read()) {
    $tables += $reader["TABLE_NAME"]
}
$reader.Close()

# execute B - data adapter
$dataTable = New-Object System.Data.DataTable
$sqlAdapter = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter
$sqlAdapter.SelectCommand = $sqlCmd
$sqlAdapter.Fill($dataTable)
$sqlConnection.Close()