Powershells script to launch iisexpress. Allows user to specify process env variables, use a unique applicationhost.config and more

.iisexpressrc

{
  "name": "testapp",
  "path": "wwwroot",
  "variables": {
    "something": null,
    "foo": "bar"
  }
}

run-iisexpress.ps1

Param (
  [switch] $open
)

function CreateNewConfig($configPath, $name, $root, $port, $hostname) {
  #configure a default config

  if ($hostname -eq $null) {
    $hostname = "localhost"
  }

  cp "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\config\templates\PersonalWebServer\applicationhost.config" "$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" -Force

  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /-"[id='1']" /commit:apphost /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"[name='$name',id='2']" /commit:apphost /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"[name='$name',id='2'].bindings.[protocol='http',bindingInformation=':${port}:${hostname}']" /commit:apphost /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"[name='$name',id='2'].[path='/']" /commit:apphost /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"[name='$name',id='2'].[path='/'].[path='/', physicalPath='$root']" /commit:apphost /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  return "$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config"
}

function WriteExistingConfig($rcpath, $name, $root, $port, $hostname) {
  if ($hostname -eq $null) {
    $hostname = "localhost"
  }

  $ctpath = [io.path]::combine($rcpath, "applicationhost.config")
  cp "$ctpath" "$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" -force

  #configure the provided config's path and port number
  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites "/site[name='$name'].bindings.[protocol='http'].bindingInformation::${port}:${hostname}" /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  . "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\appcmd.exe" set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites "/site[name='$name'].application[path='/'].virtualDirectory[path='/'].physicalPath:$root" /AppHostConfig:"$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config" | Out-Null

  return "$configPath\${name}\applicationHost.config"
}

function CreateRcConfig($configFilePath, $rcconfigpath, $rcpath, $rcconfig) {
  $min = 10000
  $max = 40000
  $port = $min + [System.Math]::Abs("$rcconfigpath".GetHashCode()) % ($max-$min)
  $root = [io.path]::Combine($rcpath, $rcconfig.path)
  $hostname = $rcconfig.hostname

  if ($hostname -eq $null) {
    $hostname = "localhost"
  }

  $config = [pscustomobject]@{
    variables = $rcconfig.variables
    port = $port
    root = $root
    name = $rcconfig.name
    hostname = $hostname
  }

  new-item -itemtype file $configFilePath -force | Out-Null
  sc $configFilePath (ConvertTo-Json $config) | Out-Null

  return $config
}

function ResolveRcPath () {
  $rcpath = Get-Location

  while (!(Test-Path ([io.path]::combine($rcpath, ".iisexpressrc"))) -and !($rcpath -eq "")) {
    $rcpath = Split-Path -Path $rcpath -Parent
  }

  return $rcpath
}

$configPath = "$env:UserProfile\.iisexpress"

if (!(Test-Path $configPath)) {
  mkdir $configPath
}

$rcpath = ResolveRcPath

if ($rcpath -eq "") {
  Write-Host "no rc found"
  exit 1
}

$rcconfigpath = [io.path]::combine($rcpath, ".iisexpressrc")
$rcconfig = ConvertFrom-Json -InputObject (Gc $rcconfigpath -Raw)

$name = $rcconfig.name
$configFilePath = [io.path]::combine($configPath, $name, "." + $name + "rc")
$config = $null

if (Test-Path ($configFilePath)) {
  $config = ConvertFrom-Json -InputObject (Gc $configFilePath -Raw)
}
else {
  $config = CreateRcConfig $configFilePath $rcconfigpath $rcpath $rcconfig
}

$appHostPath = $null

if (Test-Path ([io.path]::combine($rcpath, "applicationhost.config"))) {
  $appHostPath = WriteExistingConfig $rcpath $config.name $config.root $config.port $config.hostname
}
else {
  $appHostPath = CreateNewConfig $configPath $config.name $config.root $config.port $config.hostname
}

$process = new-object System.Diagnostics.Process

Get-Member -inputObject $config.variables -memberType Properties | foreach {
  $value = $config.variables | select -exp $_.name
  $process.StartInfo.EnvironmentVariables.Set_Item("$($name):$($_.name)", $value)
}

$process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$process.StartInfo.FileName = "$env:ProgramFiles\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe"
$process.StartInfo.Arguments = "/config:`"$appHostPath`" /site:$name"

$started = $process.Start()
if ($started) {
  if ($open) {
    start "http://$($config.hostname):$($config.port)/"
  }
  $process.WaitForExit()
  rm $appHostPath
}

this script will look in the cwd and walk up the parents till it finds a file called .iisexpressrc. it will then read the config in that to launch iisexpress. it will also look for an applicationhost.config file in the same folder and use that otherwise it creates a new one based on the installed config template.

the config file is copied to ~/.iisexpress/{name}/.{name}rc

This is the copy that the configuration settings will be read from and can be customised for the current users needs (such as overriding the variable defaults)