function Execute-SQL {
   param(
        [string] $ConnectionStr = "Data Source=SERVER;Initial Catalog=MYDB;Integrated Security=True;Connection Timeout=300000;",
        [string] $CommandText = $(throw "Please specify a query."),
		[string] $CommandType,   #options are "stored procedure" (or "sp") and "nonquery" (or "nq"); any other option is ignored; default is plain ol' query
		[hashtable] $CommandParams
      )

	$SqlConnection = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection($ConnectionStr)
    $SqlConnection.Open()
    $SqlCmd = new-object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand($CommandText, $SqlConnection)
    $SqlCmd.Connection = $SqlConnection
	if (($CommandType -eq "stored procedure") -or ($CommandType -eq "sp"))
	   {
       $SqlCmd.CommandType = [System.Data.CommandType]'StoredProcedure'
	   }
	if ($CommandParams)
	   {
       foreach ($p in $CommandParams.GetEnumerator())
	      {
           $SqlCmd.Parameters.Add($($p.Name), $($p.Value)) |out-null
	      }
	   }
	if (($CommandType -eq "nonquery") -or ($CommandType -eq "nq"))
	   {
       $rowsAffected = $sqlcmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
       return $rowsAffected
       }

    $adapter = new-object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter
    $adapter.SelectCommand = $SqlCmd
    $set = new-object data.dataset
	try
	{
      $adapter.fill($set) |out-null
	  $set
	}
	catch
	{
	  throw $_.Exception.Message
	}
	finally
	{
      $SqlConnection.Close()
	}
}