RSS checker for SQL Release Services Blog (aka SQL Server patch release notifications) (powershell portion, 1/2)

rss_feed_SqlServer_Releases.ps1

<#
.SYNOPSIS
   Script downloads an rss feed of data about SQL Server service packs and cummulative updates.
.DESCRIPTION
   Script downloads data into a staging table and is called by a job.
.PARAMETER <paramName>
   There are no parameters.
.EXAMPLE
   Call from a job:  powershell "& 'C:\Powershell_Scripts\rss_feed_SqlServer_Releases.ps1'"
#>

# CREATE TABLE SQL_Server_Releases_from_RSS_stg
#(
# title varchar(200),
# link varchar(500),
# pubdate smalldatetime,
# descr varchar(MAX) --short for "description" but avoids using the key word
#)

. C:\Powershell_Scripts\out-datatable.ps1  #Chad Miller rocks!
. C:\Powershell_Scripts\write-datatable.ps1
. C:\Powershell_Scripts\add-sqltable.ps1

try
{
#Get the rss feed and save in the staging table
[xml]$rss = Invoke-WebRequest http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/rss.xml
$datatable = $rss.rss.channel.item | select title, link, @{Name="pubdate";Expression={get-date ($_.pubdate) -format "yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm"}}, @{Name="descr";Expression={$_."Description"}} |out-datatable
write-datatable -ServerInstance "sql_repository" -Database dba_rep -TableName SQL_Server_Releases_from_RSS_stg -data $datatable 

#Run the stored procedure that updates the permanent table from the staging table and sends an email if anything is updated
$svr = "yourservernamehere"
$cnn = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection("Server=yourservernamehere; Initial Catalog=yourrepositorynamehere; Integrated Security=SSPI")
$cmd = New-Object system.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
$cmd.CommandType = [System.Data.CommandType]::StoredProcedure
$cmd.CommandText = "SqlServer_Releases_Update"
$cmd.Connection = $cnn
$cnn.Open()
$cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
$cnn.Close()
}
catch
{
	write-host "Caught an exception:" -ForegroundColor Red
	write-host "Exception Type: $($_.Exception.GetType().FullName)" -ForegroundColor Red
	write-host "Exception Message: $($_.Exception.Message)" -ForegroundColor Red

	throw $_.Exception.Message
	exit 1
}