October 2024 PowerShell Potluck
Here we are once again at the end of another month. I hope the content this month has been helpful and informative. If you are not a premium subscriber, I...
New Tools - File and Folder Archiver
Let's continue with recent additions to my PowerShell toolbox. Another recurring task is that I often want to create a ZIP file of selected files from a...
Tool Time - Clipboard History
A reminder that all previous articles can be found in the online archive. Premium subscribers have full access. As I've worked with PowerShell over the...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool - Part 4
I've come a long way with the project and the end is in sight. Hopefully, we can wrap up building my GitHub repository tool today. At this point, I have a...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool - Part 3
We've come pretty far in building a PowerShell tool around a command-line utility. The fact that gh.exe can output JSON makes all the difference in the...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool - Part 2
I've been sharing my experiences and work process in building a PowerShell tool to manage my GitHub repositories. Instead of fussing with the GitHub API,...
Creating a GitHub Repository Tool
Not that long ago, I saw something on social media that got me thinking, and as usually happens, one thing leads to another and before I knew it I was heads...
Automatic Traditional Modules
In the last email, I demonstrated how to use the New-Module command to create a dynamic module. The result was a temporary module that existed only in...
Automatic PowerShell Modules
In a previous email I demonstrated PowerShell code that generated custom PowerShell functions. This is a clever way to create commands with a very specific...
PowerShell Potluck - September 2024
Welcome back to another PowerShell Potluck, and you didn't have to bring a thing, other than a little curiosity and a willingness to try new things. Here's a...
Creating a PowerShell Code Factory
I am always on the look out for ways to get more done faster and with less effort. Especially when it comes to writing PowerShell code. I have lots of VSCode...
What Is That Thing Called?
Recently, I was looking at a friend's new module on GitHub. He is by no means a beginner, but hasn't written many modules. He was creating a module based on...
Master Your Environment Part 3
Note: I am aware that code samples are not respecting HTML tags and rendering some characters with their HTML codes. Buttondown is working on this issue. I...
Master Your Environment Variables
In the previous email, we started looking at ways to use the [System.Environment] .NET class. Even though the ENV: PSDrive exposes some of the class's...
Master Your Environment
PowerShell, as its name implies, is a shell. It is an interactive command-line interface to the underlying operating system. PowerShell is designed so that...
Creating Pandoc PowerShell Tools Part 2
I've been sharing my experiences in building Pandoc-based PowerShell tools. My ultimate goal is to create a tool that will convert a Markdown README file...
Creating Pandoc PowerShell Tools
One of the things I enjoy about creating a PowerShell-based tool is discovery. When writing code, I will realize that it would be helpful if I could use a...
August 2024 PowerShell Potluck
Here we are again at the end of another month. I hope you found this month's content helpful. I am always open to suggestions on topics that you'd like to...
Pandoc, PDFs, and PowerShell
I hope that you've been intrigued by the possibilities of Pandoc. It's a powerful tool that can help you convert documents between a wide variety of formats....
More Pandoc and PowerShell Possibilities
Let's pick up where we left off, exploring how to use the pandoc utility to convert markdown files to HTML. In the previous post, we looked at the basics of...
Document Tricks with Pandoc and PowerShell
Today's content is a little different. I'm not going to focus on a specific PowerShell topic, but rather something I think of as "PowerShell adjacent." You...
Accelerating Your PowerShell Help Documentation
If you are creating PowerShell modules, I hope you are creating external help documentation. The easiest way to do this is with the platyPS module which you...
Creating PowerShell Custom Formatting
We all know the importance of objects in PowerShell. PowerShell works with objects and lets you manipulate them in the pipeline. At the end of the process,...
Location Tricks with PowerShell
I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that I spend a lot of time at a PowerShell prompt. I am always looking for ways to minimize the amount of typing I...
Creating ANSI Progress Bars in PowerShell
Let's wrap up our exploration of ANSI alternatives and look at one last item. In the previous article in this series, I shared some code you could use to...
PowerShell Potluck: July 2024 Round Up
Once again, the end of another month has snuck up on me. For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you're enjoying the summer weather and finding...
More PowerShell Scripting Candy
I hope the recent articles on embellishing your PowerShell code have been interesting and inspiring. Running code in the console doesn't have to be boring...
More ANSI Alternatives
I've been demonstrating how to use ANSI to display messages in the console while your PowerShell code is executing. What I've shown you should be considered...
Verbose Message ANSI Alternatives
If you've been following my work for a while, you know I am a big fan of using Write-Verbose. I find the verbose output very helpful when I am writing a...
Pester Testing with InModuleScope
In a recent article, we looked at writing a Pester test that required mocking private functions. These are functions intended to be used within your code,...
Pester Testing .NET with Copilot Part 3
I've been sharing my experiences writing Pester tests for a PowerShell function that uses the .NET Framework instead of invoking native cmdlets. The process...
More Pester Testing .NET with Copilot
Last time, I started exploring how to build a set of Pester tests for code written around the .NET Framework. I am using the Get-OSDetail function that uses...
Pester Testing .NET with Copilot
Pester Testing .NET with Copilot Over the last few weeks, I've been showing how to build PowerShell tools that rely on the .NET Framework instead of calling...
PowerShell Potluck: June 2024
Time to wrap up another month of PowerShell fun. In North America, we're heading into the the middle of summer. My part of the country promises to be an oven...
Creating PSSession-Based PowerShell Tools
Let's continue our exploration of creating and working with PSSession objects built from scratch. While I would normally use New-PSSession, using the .NET...
Scheduled Goof
It looks like I goofed with this week's posts and you got everything I had planned for this week today. Sorry about that. I double-checked and next week...
Native PSSession PowerShell Scripting
The exploration of CIM and using the CimSession .NET class in PowerShell scripting got me thinking about another remoting option, PSSession. This could be...
Native Win32_Directory Scripting
I hope you've had an opportunity to try the code examples from the last few articles. I'm not implying that using CIM classes is necessarily the the best way...
Win32_Directory Scripting
In the last article, I introduced you to the CIM_DataFile CIM class. I demonstrated how you might use it as an alternative to the file system. You can use a...
PowerShell Scripting with CIM_DataFile
I've been exploring the world of CIM scripting a lot these days. I thought we'd continue that journey today. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the Win32...
More CimSession Toolmaking
In the last article, I started demonstrating how you can build your own PowerShell tooling using the CIM .NET classes. While I still recommend using cmdlets...
CimSession PowerShell Scripting
Last week, I was working on updates to the PSScriptTools module. I am adding new functions based on Get-CimClass. As I was working, I ended up diving deeper...
PowerShell Pot Luck May 2024
Here we are again at the end of another month. I hope you learned a few things from the newsletter this month. Don't forget that premium subscribers have...
PowerShell Filters and Functions
The other day I saw social media post from Adam Bertram about PowerShell filters. Talk about a blast from the past. Back in the early days of PowerShell,...
What Are We Talking About?
Most of the time PowerShell is pretty clear about what it is doing. The language attempts to be concise but not cryptic. For example, PowerShell commands...
Exposing PowerShell Module Scope
In the previous article, I demonstrated how to take advantage of the module scope. This is what allows you to have functions and variables available to...
Using Module Scope
One of the most perplexing topics in PowerShell, especially for beginner scripters is scope. Referencing items like variables and functions that may or may...
More PSReadLine Power
Last time, I showed you how to customize PSReadLine in your module by taking advantage of examples in the sample PSReadLine profile script. But since this...
PSReadLine Profile Power
The PSReadLine module is one of the most useful tools we have in PowerShell. You utilize it every day without realizing it. An early version of the module...
Using Synchronized HashTables
Last month, I introduced you to the topic of creating and using PowerShell runspaces. This is definitely and advanced topic and for those special use cases...