Announcements

Writing Functions with Style!

2010-10-01T09:25:00Z

Check out our new series about writing functions with style!

In part 1, you learn how to write functions that actually emit their results as true objects, so other functions and cmdlets can pick up the results and further process them:

http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/tobias/archive/2010/09/22/creating-objects-yourself-and-a-bunch-of-cool-things-you-can-do-with-them.aspx

In part 2, you learn how to create truly pipeline-aware functions that can be used in conjunction with other functions and cmdlets and be chained together in a PowerShell pipeline:

http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/tobias/archive/2010/09/29/creating-pipeline-aware-functions.aspx

The series will be continued, so check back often :-)

Cheerio,

Tobias

PowerShell Plus 3.5 Out - Join Public Beta!

2010-06-20T17:31:00Z

Check out version 3.5 with a lot of new features like...

...extensive support for PowerShell Remoting!

For example, PowerShellPlus' advanced interactive console now supports remote sessions to other machines via Enter-PSSession, and you can create target lists of remote computers and execute Quick-Click-Library commands and scripts against all of these. The results can optionally be displayed in a grid view.

There is plenty more. Code signing now supports time-stamped signing, and a lot of features have been streamlined and further improved.

Best of all: test-driving PowerShellPlus 3.5 Beta is free...

...and of course comes with all the good stuff already found in v3.1:

- rich intellisense-like code completion
- a comprehensive learning center with 600 pages of tutorials and plenty more of reference and tips
- an advanced script editor with PowerShell debugger and more.

So join the fun, learn and leverage PowerShell fast and let us know what you like and what you'd like to comment: http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/PowerShell-Plus-Beta/

All the best,

Tobias

Use Internet Explorer as HTML parser and Download Images from WebPages

2010-03-17T18:05:00Z

From the field: Check out how to use an IE COM object to parse HTML and find all images on a webpage, then use BitsTransfer to download all web page images to your local drive: http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/tobias/archive/2010/03/17/downloading-images-from-webpages.aspx

Administrator's Guide to PowerShell Remoting

2010-03-03T19:17:00Z

I am proud to announce our free "Administrator's Guide to PowerShell Remoting! You can get it here: http://powershell.com/cs/media/p/4908.aspx

PowerShell Remoting is one of the most awesome and anticipated new features in PowerShell V2. It lets you run code on remote machines, connect your console to remote machines and lets you apply the power of PowerShell to your entire enterprise.

In our 38 page guide, we put together all you want to know about how PowerShell Remoting works, how to set it up correctly, how to use classic and advanced remoting techniques and get the most out of it. We are talking about security, configuring WSMan, changing ports and of course troubleshoot if things don't work at first.

This is really great stuff and helps you get PowerShell Remoting up and running in no time. On behalf of the authors, I'd like to especially thank a couple of people for their continued support. Shay (PowerShell MVP) for reviewing the guide. June (MSFT) for her many most useful suggestions. And last but not least Jeffrey (PowerShell Architect) for taking the time to set up a one hour phone conference to patiently go over the many questions we had.

I wish you all a great time with Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Remoting. May the PowerShell be with you,

Cheers,

Tobias
PowerShellPlus Architect

http://powershell.com/cs/media/p/4908.aspx
www.powershellplus.com

PowerShell Plus 3.1 Released!

2010-02-16T05:13:00Z

Effective immediately, PowerShell Plus 3.1 is available!

Whether you are completely new to PowerShell or a script guru, PowerShell Plus helps you discover objects, create code rapidly and share your work with others.

Tipp: Visit our Video Tour! It provides a series of videos showing you how to work with PowerShell Plus and how to get going with PowerShell fast!

We focused on supporting PowerShell V2 while maintaining backwards compatibility to V1 so PowerShell Plus 3.1 runs on both versions of PowerShell. Here are some of the new features I'd like to highlight:

Learning Center: It's now an even more powerful learning resource. It covers PowerShell V2 modules, has a new and more sophisticated keyword search and includes my complete 500+ pages eBook "Mastering PowerShell" in a fully searchable form.
QuickClick Library: Comes with hundreds of useful one-liners and scripts and is a perfect place to organize your own most needed commands. You can even add a keyboard shortcut to entries. Then, once you enter the shortcut in the console and press TAB, the code is inserted for you. This saves a lot of typing and allows you to create your own fast-coding environment.
Download community scripts: right from the editor, search for and download free community scripts from three major repositories. Simply click the main menu button (the big red button in the top left corner of the editor) and select Download Script. The same is available in your QuickClick libarries so you can easily add community scripts to your libraries.
Enhanced Editor: the editor now supports code folding for block comments and parameter declarations. The snipet library comes with tons of predefined code blocks for PowerShell V2. Simply press F11 in the editor and try yourself.
32bit and 64bit side-by-side: Install 32bit and 64bit versions side by side on 64bit systems if you need to develop PowerShell scripts in a 32bit environment
Extended Trial: since there is so much to explore, we extended the trial period from 14 to a full 30 days. So if you haven't checked out PSP yet or want to try again, grab PowerShell Plus 3.1 today! Ah, and don't worry if the web pages still mention the 14-day-trial. It has been extended, we are working on updating the web site.

Here is a complete overview of what's new: http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/PowerShell-Plus-What%27s-New/. Also, make sure you visit the screen shot gallery to get a good impression on what PowerShell Plus delivers.

Visit Idera today to get your free trial: https://www.idera.com/Action/RegisterOne.aspx?FormID=3&ProdID=12

All the best to you,

Tobias

PowerShell Plus Architect

Latest: Cancelling a Pipeline - check out how!

2010-01-16T09:30:00Z

Ever wanted to cancel a pipeline and all cmdlets in it once you got what you wanted - and not wait until the initial cmdlet finishes?

Then have a look at this: http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/tobias/archive/2010/01/13/cancelling-a-pipeline.aspx It tells you how to cancel a pipeline and explains a lot of internal knowledge about continue, break and the way they work.

Have fun!

Tobias

PowerShellPlus 3.1 Beta Available!

2009-11-18T01:41:00Z

Test drive PowerShellPlus 3.1 Beta Now!

We just released PowerShellPlus 3.1 Beta, and you can download and test drive this new version of our award-winning PowerShell environment now! All you need to do is leave your email address, and we'll provide you with the download link and a key that runs until the end of Jan 2010. Before you download, check out what the new release can do for you!

PowerShellPlus builds on top of PowerShell and offers you rich code-completion, a learning center with PowerShell V2 support, QuickClick solutions and tons of features that help you understand, leverage and discover the full potential of PowerShell. So if you want to learn PowerShell or create PowerShell solutions quickly, check out what PowerShellPlus can do for you!

Tip: Get PowerShell V2 First!

Microsoft has just released PowerShell V2 for all windows operating systems like Windows XP and up. Simply grab the correct update package here and install it! PowerShellPlus runs with both PowerShell V1 and V2 but of course PowerShell V2 has a lot more features including remoting (ability to run commands on other machines). When you upgrade to PowerShell V2, make sure you give PowerShellPlus a chance to pick up the changes by refreshing its cache. To do that, when you launch PowerShellPlus, hold SHIFT while the splash screen is visible. This brings you to the launch options. In this dialog, check Delete all cached data.

Interactive Console

PowerShellPlus is the only application with a true hybrid console. It embeds a true console inside a windows application and thus can offer you extensive code completion help. Simply enter a cmdlet name, and once you press "-", you get code completion. The same is true for parameters, so the automatic code completion generally triggers on "-". In addition, there is a lot more to discover, for example value code completion. Try this:

"Hello" | Out-File $home\test.txt -Encoding

Enter a space after the "Encoding" parameter and press TAB. This will get you a list of all values allowable for this parameter. Or, if you'd like to get a different console background color, try this:

$host.ui.rawui.BackgroundColor =

Again, press TAB to see your options.

Code completion works for .NET as well. To enter the .NET namespace, try this:

[System.

"." is another code completion trigger key and helps you find your way into .NET. Once you found an interesting class, again code completion helps:

[System.Net.DNS]::

Press TAB to see all static methods found in this class. To resolve a host, here is the complete line:

[System.Net.DNS]::GetHostByName("microsoft.com")

The same works for simple types:

"Hello".

(12.5).

There are more features:

Code completion in the middle of a line will not discard the rest of the line
CTRL+N copies the current line to the clip board
Press ALT+SPACE to hide all tools and get a basic console
Press ALT+M to enter the transparent minimode
Press CTRL+T to see the variable monitor. When you click the black console icon in the variable monitor, you turn it into a pipeline monitor, showing you the resulting objects of your last command
Press CTRL+H to see the history log. Right-click a history entry or select multiple ones to copy them right into the editor
Press CTRL+I to open the QuickClick Library Panel with one-click solutions
Press SHIFT+ENTER to run a command in the old cmd.exe. Try this: Dir SHIFT+ENTER
Support for shortcuts. For example, enter fe TAB in the console to insert a foreach-object phrase, or enter wh TAB to get a where-object phrase. These shortcuts are fully configurable, and you can add as many as you need
AutoWidth: Right-click into the console to open a context menu and choose Adjust width to make the console width match the visible width. If you have enabled QuickEdit, hold SHIFT while right-clicking
CTRL+L will clear the console content

By the way, this is what the "minimode" style looks like (CTRL+M):

Learning Center

Our new learning center is a comprehensive one-stop source for all PowerShell related questions. You find a section about PowerShellPlus, you also get the entire e-book content "Mastering PowerShell" with 20 chapters and 600 pages, giving you a quick start into PowerShell. You can browse through reference sections like "Cmdlet Reference" and "Module Reference". All examples are clickable hyperlinks, and when you click on an example, it is automatically typed into the console for you. To see the table of contents, click on the "book" icon in the learning center icon bar.

Note that the learning center is highly dynamic and adjusts to your system. It shows all cmdlets, snapins and modules installed on your system, and it adapts to the language you are running. In the screen shot, you see help information for a cmdlet defined by a new PowerShell V2 module, and the language setting is "German".

Tip: One easy way of opening the learning center from your PowerShellPlus console is to enter a cmdlet name you are after, placing the cursor inside the command and pressing F1. This also works for operators and other stuff, so place your cursor over -gt to see which operators PowerShell supports.

Download Community Scripts

There have been plenty of enhancements to the editor (which you can open by double-clicking the console or by clicking on "Code Editor" beneath the console menu bar. To get going fast, search for existing script solutions by opening the download center. To do that, click the big red button on the upper left corner and then click Download Script.

Next, enter one or more keywords and select the public repositories you want to search. Once the search starts, you get a list of all community scripts tagged with your keyword. Select the ones you are interested in and click "Download". The download takes a second or two, and the scripts are automatically inserted as new tabs into the editor. Just make sure you close the modal Download dialog to get back to the editor.

The editor can also automatically correct many syntax errors. To enable this feature, choose "Options" in the lower right corner of the main editor menu (open it by clicking the big red button again). The options dialog opens. In the left section, click "Editor", then check "Automatically correct syntax editors".

Once enabled, the editor will autoinsert missing braces and other things. Note also that the editor has a really simple-to-use debugger. To debug a script, click the "bug" button. With the option Auto-Step and the slider beneath, you can make the debugger highlight each line as it is being executed. If you'd rather want to quickly jump to a breakpoint, insert breakpoints first (for example by pressing F9 or clicking in the left margin of a line), then uncheck "Auto-Step" and run your script. Finally, the editor supports multiple scripts so when you call a script from another one, the other script is automatically opened in the editor, and stepping continues to work in the second script as well.

Oh, and while we are at it, you can embed the interactive console right into the editor. Simply click the black console button with the green dot in the editor title bar. This way, you can script and view the results in one window.

QuickClick Solutions

To get going quickly, in the console simply press CTRL+I to open the QuickClick solutions. Double-click an entry to insert and execute the code. Hover over an item to see its source. Create your own quickclick libraries and share them (they are plain XML).

There are tons of other things to discover. PowerShellPlus is awesome, give it a try! We are eager to hear your feedback to make PowerShellPlus even better. Help us, and have fun learning PowerShell!

Cheers

Tobias

New Free AD Script Pack Available!

2009-08-18T14:56:00Z

Did you know we are creating expert script packs for you? Yes, they are completely free, and since they are using plain V1 PS code, you can use them without any dependencies or additional 3rd party snap-ins to enhance your PowerShell script solutions.

After we published our SQL Script Pack we received enourmously positive feedback, thanks a lot! Now, PowerShell expert Aleksandar Nikolic and fellow PowerShell MVP Shay Levy have worked hard to create the Active Directory Script pack. They have done a wonderful job! Check it out today: Navigate to http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/PowerShell-Plus/ and click on the "Free Scripts" tab.

Cheers,

Tobias

New Miniseries: Using PowerShell with Windows 7

2009-07-18T07:16:00Z

I am currently writing a book for Microsoft Press Germany on Windows 7, and although I am covering a lot of ground that is not related to PowerShell, I do cover all the special PowerShell enhancements present in Windows 7. So I decided to start a new mini series where I share what I find. The first part is up now, and expect a lot more to follow. Join the fun!

PowerShell MVP 2009

2009-07-16T22:09:00Z

This has been an exceptional year, developing PowerShell Plus 3.0 (being among the TechEd 2009 finalists), organizing PowerShell Roadshows in Germany, evangelizing mid and large scale enterprises and establishing powershell.com as one of the best PowerShell-related source! Time to thank all of you for being part of it and sharing your enthusiasm and vision for PowerShell!

To give something back to you, we just published our *free* 500+ pages ebook to provide you with all the information you might need to get started with PowerShell. A big thanks goes to Alex who worked day and night to polish the translation and add even more content, and also to David Fargo for organizing the entire project. And we also changed the way the PowerShell Plus download page works. You now can download PowerShellPlus without registration hassle. One click, and you are in business.

To top it all, I received an email from Microsoft:

Dear Tobias,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2009 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in PowerShell technical communities during the past year.

I have received the MVP award five times before so by now I should be able to control my adrenaline. Well, I am not. Being renominated is always special and never taken for granted. I am grateful, I enjoy the company of my fellow MVPs very much and I am thrilled to see that Joel 'Jaykul' Bennett and Jonathan Noble are now also among us. Good job - and well deserved!

Cheers,

Tobias

Feeding Input into Native Commands

2009-05-25T13:43:00Z

Check out how easy it is to use native commands like DiskPart and feed input into it and show output as neat progress bar. This way, you can automate virtually anything.

http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/tobias/archive/2009/05/25/embedding-native-commands.aspx

PowerShellPlus 3.0 released!

2009-05-01T14:09:00Z

Great news! We just released PowerShellPlus 3.0! As a powershell.com member, you have early access to the bits here before we announce the release publicly next week:

http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/PowerShell-Plus/

A quick overview of some of the new features can be found here:

http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/PowerShell-Plus-What%27s-New/

Among the many enhancements and new features is support for native 64bit, a vastly improved code completion, and of course the new "QuickClick Solutions Trees". They provide an easy way for you to organize and share scripts and one-liners. PowerShellPlus 3.0 comes with samples, and you can download more online. QuickClick Solutions are fully editable so you can author your own solution sets and use them to do presentations, speed up your daily work or share solutions with colleagues and friends.

We also added VBScript support so you now can author and run VBScript with PSP's built-in editor. Of course, VBScript provides rich code completion as well. This way, we want to make it easier for you all to transition smoothly from VBScript to PowerShell.

I am very proud to announce that PowerShell Plus made in into the TechEd 2009 finalists. There were over 200 submissions, and PowerShell Plus is now one of the three finalist products. If you happen to attend TechEd 2009, take a look at PowerShell Plus 3.0, and if you like what you see, vote for "attendees pick"!

Richard (PSP PM) and I (PSP principal architect) will now take a day off or two,
we both wish you a lot of fun and a great weekend,

Tobias

PowerShell Roadshow in Germany

2009-04-23T12:46:00Z

I am proud to announce that we just set up a nationwide PowerShell Roadshow in Germany.

The Roadshow is organized by Microsoft Germany. We have five high profile speakers, and our topics cover PowerShell Intro, managing Exchange, SQL Server, Sharepoint and DPM, Migration VBScript to PowerShell and of course a comprehensive overview of the upcoming PowerShell V2.

So if you happen to be in Germany in May, make sure to sign up in time and join the fun! There is simply no better and affordable way to get this condensed wealth of PowerShell information.

http://www.event-team.com/events/Techday/TechDaysMay.aspx

Cheers
Tobias

PowerShellPlus Beta2 Available

2009-03-08T20:21:00Z

PowerShellPlus v2.1 Beta2 is out and has a loooot of new and improved functionality.
You can test drive this beta until the end of April so you get a whole eight weeks of free fun if you start right now!

These are the main things we added to Beta 2:

Faster Launch – we optimized launch and startup and considerably sped up PSP launch so you can get going even faster.
64-bit support – PowerShell Plus is now available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions giving you access to PowerShell snapins developed specially for native 64-bit Windows applications including Exchange 2007 and SQL Server 2008.
QuickClick Solutions – A solutions view that puts your most cherished scripts at your finger tips from within the PowerShell Plus console, organize the way you like, execute them in the console, save them and share with your friends and co-workers.
Improved Code Completion – PowerShell Plus code completion just got better! In addition to the already rich code completion, we also provided easy access to MSDN links for relevant and .Net Framework calls as well as Google search for examples containing the command in the list.
Improved Variable Inspector – Our variable inspector now lets you explore and deep-dive PowerShell and .NET objects.
PowerShell v2 CTP3 Support – Including Block Comments and the $Profile variable.
PowerShell Assembly Detection – Gives the Learning Center an auto-upgrade path if PowerShell v2 CTP3 is detected and then displays the most up-to-date information.

In addition, these are some of the features we introduced with Beta1:

Code Sharing – Enables you to leverage the wealth of scripts that reside in the PowerShell.com and PoshCode.org libraries. Increase your productivity by quickly and easily searching and grabbing the scripts from those libraries. You can also submit your own scripts to the PowerShell.com library directly from PowerShell Plus Editor.
Visual Basic Script (VBS) Support – The PowerShell Plus Editor can now edit and run Visual Basic scripts.
Cmdlet Parameter Position – Shows you additional information in the code completion popup window about parameters including position and type.
Console Size Overlay – Shows you the height and width of the Console when you resize it.
Additional Sample Scripts – Active Directory, IIS 7.0 and MySQL.

This is where you can get the Beta 2: Download Now
(you will see a form where Idera's marketing guys would like you to leave some pieces of personal information after which you will get directed to the download link. I know, I know...)

Please share feedback and bug reports here: Visit Beta Place

We have also provided a special key for Beta 2 in the download email notification that can be used to extend the normal 14-day trial until the end of April (and check out how easy it is to license PSP).

And now have fun with our baby,
Cheers

Tobias

/n software Inc. sponsors powershell.com community site

2009-02-04T12:33:00Z

Many of you know /n software Inc. already. They are leading provider of professional Internet dev tools and components and strong in the Powershell arena. These guys have brought to you NetCmdlets (a snapin with cmdlets covering a broad range of networking and messaging functionality) and PowerShell Server V2, a secure Windows PowerShell host entry point.

Today, I am proud to announce /n software Inc has joined Idera Inc. as a sponsor of powershell.com. Signing up /n software as a sponsor of PowerShell.com is going to greatly benefit the PowerShell.com community. New content and intriguing discussion is happening daily on the site, and I am looking forward to further intensifying this.

Here is what Eric Madariaga, Vice President of Marketing at /n software, inc. said: “We are excited to sponsor and contribute to Dr. Weltner’s premier PowerShell community site. We chose to sponsor the site because of our shared dedication to helping systems administrators and IT professionals maximize their investment in PowerShell.”

May the PowerShell be with you!

-Tobias