Tag Archives: PowerShell

Friday Fun: A PowerShell Tickler

I spend a lot of my day in the PowerShell console. As you might imagine, I often have a lot going on and sometimes it is a challenge to keep on top of everything. So I thought I could use PowerShell to help out. I created a PowerShell tickler system. Way back in the day a tickler system was something that would give you a reminder about an impending event or activity. What I decided I wanted was a tickler that would display whenever I started PowerShell.

This doesn’t replace my calendar and task list, but it let’s me see events I don’t want to miss right from PowerShell. As I worked through this idea I ended up with a PowerShell module, MyTickle.psm1, that has a number of functions to managing the tickle events, as I call them. From PowerShell I can get events, add, set and remove. I thought the module would make a good Friday Fun post because it certainly isn’t a high impact project but it offers some ideas on building a module and functions that I hope you’ll find useful.

The module for right now is a single file. Here’s the file and below I’ll talk about.

#requires -version 3.0

#  ****************************************************************
#  * DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *
#  * THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IF   *
#  * YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *
#  * DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING.             *
#  ****************************************************************

#MYTICKLE.PSM1
#Last updated 5/17/2013

#region Define module variables
#This should be the WindowsPowerShell folder under your Documents folder
$profileDir = Split-Path $profile

#the path to the tickle csv file
$TicklePath = Join-Path -Path $profileDir -ChildPath "mytickler.csv"

#the default number of days to display
$TickleDefaultDays = 7 
#endregion

#region Define module functions
Function Get-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis
Get Tickle Events
.Description
Get tickle events by id or name. The default behavior is to get all events in
date order. You can specify a range of ID numbers and use wildcards with the 
event names. Use the Expired switch to get all tickle events that have already 
occurred. 

The command will not throw an exception if no matching tickle events are found.

[cmdletbinding(DefaultParameterSetname="ALL")]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0,ParameterSetName="ID")]
[int[]]$Id,
[Parameter(Position=0,ParameterSetName="Name")]
[string]$Name,
[Parameter(Position=0,ParameterSetName="Expired")]
[switch]$Expired,
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]
[string]$Path=$TicklePath
)

Write-Verbose "Importing events from $Path"

Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {
 "ID"      {
            Write-Verbose "by ID" 
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.id -in `$id")  }
 "Name"    { 
            Write-Verbose "by Name"
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Event -like `$Name") }
 "Expired" { 
            Write-Verbose "by Expiration"
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Date -lt (Get-Date)") }
 "All"     { 
            Write-Verbose "All"
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_ -match '\w+'") }

} 

#import CSV and cast properties to correct type
Import-CSV -Path $Path | 
Select @{Name="ID";Expression={[int]$_.ID}},
@{Name="Date";Expression={[datetime]$_.Date}},
Event,Comment | where $Filter | Sort date

} #Get-TickleEvent

Function Set-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis
Set a tickle event
.Description
This command will update the settings for a tickle event. You can update the
event name, date or comment. The easiest way to use this is to pipe an tickle
event to this command.

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess,DefaultParameterSetName="Inputobject")]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the tickle event id",ParameterSetName="ID")]
[int]$Id,
[Parameter(Position=1,ValueFromPipeline,ParameterSetname="Inputobject")]
[object]$Inputobject,
[datetime]$Date,
[string]$Event,
[string]$Comment,
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]
[string]$Path=$TicklePath,
[switch]$Passthru
)
Begin {
    write-verbose "Using $($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName) parameter set"
}
Process {

#if ID only then get event from CSV
Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {
 "ID" {
    Write-Verbose "Getting tickle event id $ID"
    $myevent = Get-TickleEvent -id $id
   }
 "Inputobject" {
    Write-Verbose "Modifying inputobject"
    $myevent = $Inputobject
 }
} #switch

#verify we have an event to work with
if ($myevent) {
    #modify the tickle event object
    write-verbose ($myevent | out-string)

    if ($Date) {
      Write-Verbose "Setting date to $date"
      $myevent.date = $Date
    }
    if ($Event) {
      Write-Verbose "Setting event to $event"
      $myevent.event = $Event
    }
    if ($comment) {
      Write-verbose "Setting comment to $comment"
      $myevent.comment = $comment
    }
    write-verbose "Revised: $($myevent | out-string)"

    #find all lines in the CSV except the matching event
    $otherevents = get-content -path $Path | where {$_ -notmatch "^""$($myevent.id)"} 
    #remove it
    $otherevents | Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii 

    #append the revised event to the csv file
    $myevent | Export-Csv -Path $Path -Encoding ASCII -Append -NoTypeInformation

    if ($passthru) {
        $myevent
    }
}
else {
    Write-Warning "Failed to find a valid tickle event"
}

} #process

} #Set-TickleEvent

Function Add-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis
Add a tickle event
.Description
This command will create a new tickle event. If the CSV file referenced by the
TicklePath variable does not exist, it will be created. You must enter an event 
name and date.

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]

Param (
[Parameter(Position=0,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the name of the event")]
[string]$Event,
[Parameter(Position=1,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the datetime for the event")]
[datetime]$Date,
[Parameter(Position=2,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName)]
[string]$Comment,
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
[string]$Path=$TicklePath,
[switch]$Passthru
)

Begin {
    #verify the path and create the file if not found
    if (! (Test-Path $Path)) {
        Write-Verbose "Creating a new file: $Path"
        Try {
         '"id","Date","Event","Comment"' | 
         Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii -ErrorAction Stop
        }
        Catch {
            Write-Warning "Failed to create $Path"
            Write-Warning $_.Exception.Message
            $NoFile = $True
        }
    }
}

Process {
if ($NoFile) {
    Write-Verbose "No CSV file found."
    #bail out of the command
    Return
}

#get last id and add 1 to it
[int]$last = Import-Csv -Path $Path | 
Sort {$_.id -AS [int]} | Select -last 1 -expand id
[int]$id = $last+1

$hash=[ordered]@{
  ID = $id
  Date = $date
  Event = $event
  Comment = $comment
}
Write-Verbose "Adding new event"
Write-Verbose ($hash | out-string)

$myevent = [pscustomobject]$hash
$myevent | Export-Csv -Path $Path -Append -Encoding ASCII -NoTypeInformation
if ($passthru) {
    $myevent
}
} #process

} #Add-TickleEvent

Function Remove-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis
Remove a tickle event
.Description
Remove one or more events from the tickle file. This will overwrite the current
file so you might want to back it up first with Backup-TickleFile.
.Example
PS C:\> get-ticklevent -expired | remove-tickleevent

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess,DefaultParameterSetName="Inputobject")]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the tickle event id",ParameterSetName="ID")]
[int]$Id,
[Parameter(Position=1,ValueFromPipeline,ParameterSetname="Inputobject")]
[object]$Inputobject,
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]
[string]$Path=$TicklePath
)

Process {

    #if ID only then get event from CSV
    Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {
     "ID" {
        Write-Verbose "Getting tickle event id $ID"
        $myevent = Get-TickleEvent -id $id
       }
     "Inputobject" {
        Write-Verbose "Identifying inputobject"
        $myevent = $Inputobject
     }
    } #switch

    #verify we have an event to work with
    if ($myevent) {
        Write-Verbose "Removing event"
        Write-Verbose ($myEvent | Out-String)
        if ($pscmdlet.ShouldProcess(($myEvent | Out-String))) {
        #find all lines in the CSV except the matching event
        $otherevents = Get-Content -path $Path | where {$_ -notmatch "^""$($myevent.id)"} 
        #remove it
        $otherevents | Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii 
        }
    } #if myevent

} #process

} #Remove-TickleEvent

Function Show-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis
Display Tickle events in the console
.Description
This command gets upcoming tickle events and writes them to the console using
Write-Host. Use this command in your PowerShell profile script.

[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0)]
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_})]
[string]$Path=$TicklePath,
[Parameter(Position=1)]
[ValidateScript({$_ -ge 1})]
[int]$Days = $TickleDefaultDays
)

#import events from CSV file
$events = Import-Csv -Path $Path

#get upcoming events within 7 days sorted by date
$upcoming = $events | 
where {
 #get the timespan between today and the event date
 $ts = (New-TimeSpan -Start (Get-Date) -end $_.Date).TotalHours 
 #find events less than the default days value and greater than 0
 Write-Verbose $ts
 $ts -le ($Days*24) -AND $ts -gt 0
 } |
Add-Member -MemberType ScriptProperty -Name Countdown -value {New-TimeSpan -start (Get-Date) -end $this.date} -PassThru -force|
sort CountDown

if ($upcoming) {
#how wide should the box be?
#get the length of the longest line
$l = 0
foreach ($item in $upcoming) {
 #turn countdown into a string without the milliseconds
  $count = $item.countdown.ToString()
  $time = $count.Substring(0,$count.lastindexof("."))
  #add the time as a new property
  $item | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty -name Time -Value $time
  $a = "$($item.event) $($item.Date) [$time]".length
  if ($a -gt $l) {$l = $a}
  $b = $item.comment.Length
  if ($b -gt $l) {$l = $b}
}

[int]$width = $l+5

$header="* Reminders $((Get-Date).ToShortDateString())"

#display events
Write-Host "`r"
Write-host "$($header.padright($width,"*"))" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "*$(' '*($width-2))*" -ForegroundColor Cyan

foreach ($event in $upcoming) {

  if ($event.countdown.totalhours -le 24) {
    $color = "Red"
  }
  elseif ($event.countdown.totalhours -le 48) {
    $color = "Yellow"
  }
  else {
    $color = "Green"
  }

  #define the message string
  $line1 = "* $($event.event) $($event.Date) [$($event.time)]"
  if ($event.comment -match "\w+") {
   $line2 = "* $($event.Comment)"
   $line3 = "*"
  }
  else {
   $line2 = "*"
   $line3 = $null
  }

$msg = @"
$($line1.padRight($width-1))*
$($line2.padright($width-1))*
"@

if ($line3) {
    #if there was a comment add a third line that is blank
    $msg+="`n$($line3.padright($width-1))*"
}

  Write-Host $msg -ForegroundColor $color

} #foreach

Write-host ("*"*$width) -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "`r"
} #if upcoming events found
else {
  $msg = @"

**********************
* No event reminders *
**********************

"@
  Write-host $msg -foregroundcolor Green
}

} #Show-TickleEvent

Function Backup-TickleFile {

.Synopsis
Create a backup of the tickle file
.Description
This command will create a backup copy of the tickle CSV file. The default path
is the same directory as the tickle file. You might want to backup the tickle
file before removing any events.

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]
Param(
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]
[string]$Path=$TicklePath,
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]
[string]$Destination = (Split-Path $TicklePath),
[switch]$Passthru
)

Try {
    $ticklefile = Get-Item -Path $path
    $backup = Join-Path -path $Destination -ChildPath "$($ticklefile.basename).bak"
    Write-Verbose "Copying $path to $backup"
    $ticklefile | Copy-Item  -Destination $backup -ErrorAction Stop -PassThru:$Passthru
}
Catch {
    Write-Warning "Failed to backup file"
    Write-Warning $_.exception.message
}
} #Backup-TickleFile
#endregion

#region Define module aliases
Set-Alias -Name gte -value Get-TickleEvent
Set-Alias -name ate -Value Add-TickleEvent
Set-Alias -name rte -Value Remove-TickleEvent
Set-Alias -name ste -Value Set-TickleEvent
Set-Alias -name shte -Value Show-TickleEvent
Set-Alias -name btf -Value Backup-Ticklefile
#endregion

Export-ModuleMember -Function * -Variable TicklePath,TickleDefaultDays -Alias *

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#requires -version 3.0

# ****************************************************************

# * DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *

# * THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF *

# * YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *

# * DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING. *

# ****************************************************************

#MYTICKLE.PSM1

#Last updated 5/17/2013

#region Define module variables

#This should be the WindowsPowerShell folder under your Documents folder

$profileDir = Split-Path $profile

#the path to the tickle csv file

$TicklePath = Join-Path -Path $profileDir -ChildPath "mytickler.csv"

#the default number of days to display

$TickleDefaultDays = 7

#endregion

#region Define module functions

Function Get-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis

Get Tickle Events

.Description

Get tickle events by id or name. The default behavior is to get all events in

date order. You can specify a range of ID numbers and use wildcards with the

event names. Use the Expired switch to get all tickle events that have already

occurred.

The command will not throw an exception if no matching tickle events are found.

[cmdletbinding(DefaultParameterSetname="ALL")]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0,ParameterSetName="ID")]

[int[]]$Id,

[Parameter(Position=0,ParameterSetName="Name")]

[string]$Name,

[Parameter(Position=0,ParameterSetName="Expired")]

[switch]$Expired,

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]

[string]$Path=$TicklePath

)

Write-Verbose "Importing events from $Path"

Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {

"ID" {

Write-Verbose "by ID"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.id -in `$id") }

"Name" {

Write-Verbose "by Name"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Event -like `$Name") }

"Expired" {

Write-Verbose "by Expiration"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Date -lt (Get-Date)") }

"All" {

Write-Verbose "All"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_ -match '\w+'") }

}

#import CSV and cast properties to correct type

Import-CSV -Path $Path |

Select @{Name="ID";Expression={[int]$_.ID}},

@{Name="Date";Expression={[datetime]$_.Date}},

Event,Comment | where $Filter | Sort date

} #Get-TickleEvent

Function Set-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis

Set a tickle event

.Description

This command will update the settings for a tickle event. You can update the

event name, date or comment. The easiest way to use this is to pipe an tickle

event to this command.

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess,DefaultParameterSetName="Inputobject")]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the tickle event id",ParameterSetName="ID")]

[int]$Id,

[Parameter(Position=1,ValueFromPipeline,ParameterSetname="Inputobject")]

[object]$Inputobject,

[datetime]$Date,

[string]$Event,

[string]$Comment,

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]

[string]$Path=$TicklePath,

[switch]$Passthru

)

Begin {

write-verbose "Using $($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName) parameter set"

}

Process {

#if ID only then get event from CSV

Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {

"ID" {

Write-Verbose "Getting tickle event id $ID"

$myevent = Get-TickleEvent -id $id

}

"Inputobject" {

Write-Verbose "Modifying inputobject"

$myevent = $Inputobject

}

} #switch

#verify we have an event to work with

if ($myevent) {

#modify the tickle event object

write-verbose ($myevent | out-string)

if ($Date) {

Write-Verbose "Setting date to $date"

$myevent.date = $Date

}

if ($Event) {

Write-Verbose "Setting event to $event"

$myevent.event = $Event

}

if ($comment) {

Write-verbose "Setting comment to $comment"

$myevent.comment = $comment

}

write-verbose "Revised: $($myevent | out-string)"

#find all lines in the CSV except the matching event

$otherevents = get-content -path $Path | where {$_ -notmatch "^""$($myevent.id)"}

#remove it

$otherevents | Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii

#append the revised event to the csv file

$myevent | Export-Csv -Path $Path -Encoding ASCII -Append -NoTypeInformation

if ($passthru) {

$myevent

}

else {

Write-Warning "Failed to find a valid tickle event"

}

} #process

} #Set-TickleEvent

Function Add-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis

Add a tickle event

.Description

This command will create a new tickle event. If the CSV file referenced by the

TicklePath variable does not exist, it will be created. You must enter an event

name and date.

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]

Param (

[Parameter(Position=0,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the name of the event")]

[string]$Event,

[Parameter(Position=1,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the datetime for the event")]

[datetime]$Date,

[Parameter(Position=2,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName)]

[string]$Comment,

[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]

[string]$Path=$TicklePath,

[switch]$Passthru

)

Begin {

#verify the path and create the file if not found

if (! (Test-Path $Path)) {

Write-Verbose "Creating a new file: $Path"

Try {

'"id","Date","Event","Comment"' |

Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii -ErrorAction Stop

}

Catch {

Write-Warning "Failed to create $Path"

Write-Warning $_.Exception.Message

$NoFile = $True

}

Process {

if ($NoFile) {

Write-Verbose "No CSV file found."

#bail out of the command

Return

}

#get last id and add 1 to it

[int]$last = Import-Csv -Path $Path |

Sort {$_.id -AS [int]} | Select -last 1 -expand id

[int]$id = $last+1

$hash=[ordered]@{

ID = $id

Date = $date

Event = $event

Comment = $comment

}

Write-Verbose "Adding new event"

Write-Verbose ($hash | out-string)

$myevent = [pscustomobject]$hash

$myevent | Export-Csv -Path $Path -Append -Encoding ASCII -NoTypeInformation

if ($passthru) {

$myevent

}

} #process

} #Add-TickleEvent

Function Remove-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis

Remove a tickle event

.Description

Remove one or more events from the tickle file. This will overwrite the current

file so you might want to back it up first with Backup-TickleFile.

.Example

PS C:\> get-ticklevent -expired | remove-tickleevent

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess,DefaultParameterSetName="Inputobject")]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the tickle event id",ParameterSetName="ID")]

[int]$Id,

[Parameter(Position=1,ValueFromPipeline,ParameterSetname="Inputobject")]

[object]$Inputobject,

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]

[string]$Path=$TicklePath

)

Process {

#if ID only then get event from CSV

Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {

"ID" {

Write-Verbose "Getting tickle event id $ID"

$myevent = Get-TickleEvent -id $id

}

"Inputobject" {

Write-Verbose "Identifying inputobject"

$myevent = $Inputobject

}

} #switch

#verify we have an event to work with

if ($myevent) {

Write-Verbose "Removing event"

Write-Verbose ($myEvent | Out-String)

if ($pscmdlet.ShouldProcess(($myEvent | Out-String))) {

#find all lines in the CSV except the matching event

$otherevents = Get-Content -path $Path | where {$_ -notmatch "^""$($myevent.id)"}

#remove it

$otherevents | Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii

}

} #if myevent

} #process

} #Remove-TickleEvent

Function Show-TickleEvent {

.Synopsis

Display Tickle events in the console

.Description

This command gets upcoming tickle events and writes them to the console using

Write-Host. Use this command in your PowerShell profile script.

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0)]

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_})]

[string]$Path=$TicklePath,

[Parameter(Position=1)]

[ValidateScript({$_ -ge 1})]

[int]$Days = $TickleDefaultDays

)

#import events from CSV file

$events = Import-Csv -Path $Path

#get upcoming events within 7 days sorted by date

$upcoming = $events |

where {

#get the timespan between today and the event date

$ts = (New-TimeSpan -Start (Get-Date) -end $_.Date).TotalHours

#find events less than the default days value and greater than 0

Write-Verbose $ts

$ts -le ($Days*24) -AND $ts -gt 0

} |

Add-Member -MemberType ScriptProperty -Name Countdown -value {New-TimeSpan -start (Get-Date) -end $this.date} -PassThru -force|

sort CountDown

if ($upcoming) {

#how wide should the box be?

#get the length of the longest line

$l = 0

foreach ($item in $upcoming) {

#turn countdown into a string without the milliseconds

$count = $item.countdown.ToString()

$time = $count.Substring(0,$count.lastindexof("."))

#add the time as a new property

$item | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty -name Time -Value $time

$a = "$($item.event) $($item.Date) [$time]".length

if ($a -gt $l) {$l = $a}

$b = $item.comment.Length

if ($b -gt $l) {$l = $b}

}

[int]$width = $l+5

$header="* Reminders $((Get-Date).ToShortDateString())"

#display events

Write-Host "`r"

Write-host "$($header.padright($width,"*"))" -ForegroundColor Cyan

Write-Host "*$(' '*($width-2))*" -ForegroundColor Cyan

foreach ($event in $upcoming) {

if ($event.countdown.totalhours -le 24) {

$color = "Red"

}

elseif ($event.countdown.totalhours -le 48) {

$color = "Yellow"

}

else {

$color = "Green"

}

#define the message string

$line1 = "* $($event.event) $($event.Date) [$($event.time)]"

if ($event.comment -match "\w+") {

$line2 = "* $($event.Comment)"

$line3 = "*"

}

else {

$line2 = "*"

$line3 = $null

}

$msg = @"

$($line1.padRight($width-1))*

$($line2.padright($width-1))*

if ($line3) {

#if there was a comment add a third line that is blank

$msg+="`n$($line3.padright($width-1))*"

}

Write-Host $msg -ForegroundColor $color

} #foreach

Write-host ("*"*$width) -ForegroundColor Cyan

Write-Host "`r"

} #if upcoming events found

else {

$msg = @"

**********************

* No event reminders *

**********************

Write-host $msg -foregroundcolor Green

}

} #Show-TickleEvent

Function Backup-TickleFile {

.Synopsis

Create a backup of the tickle file

.Description

This command will create a backup copy of the tickle CSV file. The default path

is the same directory as the tickle file. You might want to backup the tickle

file before removing any events.

[cmdletbinding(SupportsShouldProcess)]

Param(

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]

[string]$Path=$TicklePath,

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_} )]

[string]$Destination = (Split-Path $TicklePath),

[switch]$Passthru

)

Try {

$ticklefile = Get-Item -Path $path

$backup = Join-Path -path $Destination -ChildPath "$($ticklefile.basename).bak"

Write-Verbose "Copying $path to $backup"

$ticklefile | Copy-Item -Destination $backup -ErrorAction Stop -PassThru:$Passthru

}

Catch {

Write-Warning "Failed to backup file"

Write-Warning $_.exception.message

}

} #Backup-TickleFile

#endregion

#region Define module aliases

Set-Alias -Name gte -value Get-TickleEvent

Set-Alias -name ate -Value Add-TickleEvent

Set-Alias -name rte -Value Remove-TickleEvent

Set-Alias -name ste -Value Set-TickleEvent

Set-Alias -name shte -Value Show-TickleEvent

Set-Alias -name btf -Value Backup-Ticklefile

#endregion

Export-ModuleMember -Function * -Variable TicklePath,TickleDefaultDays -Alias *

You should be able to copy the code from the WordPress plugin and paste it into a script file locally. You can call it whatever you want just remember to use a .psm1 file extension. The module uses some PowerShell 3.0 features like ordered hashtables but you could revise to have it run in PowerShell 2.0. Fundamentally it should work in both versions.

The events are stored in a CSV file that I reference with a module variable, $TicklePath. The default is a file called mytickler.csv which will be in your WindowsPowerShell folder under Documents. The module also defines a variable called $TickleDefaultDays, with a default value of 7. This displayed events to those that fall within that range. To use, I added these lines to my PowerShell profile.

import-module c:\scripts\mytickle.psm1
show-tickleevent

1 2	import-module c:\scripts\mytickle.psm1 show-tickleevent

The result, is that when I launch a new PowerShell session I see something like this (the message about help updates is from something else so disregard):

Here’s how it works.

The Show-TickleEvent function imports events from the CSV file that will happen within the next 7 days. Each object also gets an additional property that is a timespan object for how much time remains. The function then parses event information and constructs a “box” around the events.

#how wide should the box be?
#get the length of the longest line
$l = 0
foreach ($item in $upcoming) {
 #turn countdown into a string without the milliseconds
  $count = $item.countdown.ToString()
  $time = $count.Substring(0,$count.lastindexof("."))
  #add the time as a new property
  $item | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty -name Time -Value $time
  $a = "$($item.event) $($item.Date) [$time]".length
  if ($a -gt $l) {$l = $a}
  $b = $item.comment.Length
  if ($b -gt $l) {$l = $b}
}

[int]$width = $l+5

$header="* Reminders $((Get-Date).ToShortDateString())"

#display events
Write-Host "`r"
Write-Host "$($header.padright($width,"*"))" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host "*$(' '*($width-2))*" -ForegroundColor Cyan

#get upcoming events within 7 days sorted by date
$upcoming = $events |
where {
#get the timespan between today and the event date
$ts = (New-TimeSpan -Start (Get-Date) -end $_.Date).TotalHours
#find events less than the default days value and greater than 0
Write-Verbose $ts
$ts -le ($Days*24) -AND $ts -gt 0
} |
Add-Member -MemberType ScriptProperty -Name Countdown -value {New-TimeSpan -start (Get-Date) -end $this.date} -PassThru -force |
sort CountDown

#how wide should the box be?

#get the length of the longest line

$l = 0

foreach ($item in $upcoming) {

#turn countdown into a string without the milliseconds

$count = $item.countdown.ToString()

$time = $count.Substring(0,$count.lastindexof("."))

#add the time as a new property

$item | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty -name Time -Value $time

$a = "$($item.event) $($item.Date) [$time]".length

if ($a -gt $l) {$l = $a}

$b = $item.comment.Length

if ($b -gt $l) {$l = $b}

}

[int]$width = $l+5

$header="* Reminders $((Get-Date).ToShortDateString())"

#display events

Write-Host "`r"

Write-Host "$($header.padright($width,"*"))" -ForegroundColor Cyan

Write-Host "*$(' '*($width-2))*" -ForegroundColor Cyan

#get upcoming events within 7 days sorted by date

$upcoming = $events |

where {

#get the timespan between today and the event date

$ts = (New-TimeSpan -Start (Get-Date) -end $_.Date).TotalHours

#find events less than the default days value and greater than 0

Write-Verbose $ts

$ts -le ($Days*24) -AND $ts -gt 0

} |

Add-Member -MemberType ScriptProperty -Name Countdown -value {New-TimeSpan -start (Get-Date) -end $this.date} -PassThru -force |

sort CountDown

I set a foreground color depending on how imminent the event is and then write each event to the console, wrapped in my border.

#define the message string
  $line1 = "* $($event.event) $($event.Date) [$($event.time)]"
  if ($event.comment -match "\w+") {
   $line2 = "* $($event.Comment)"
   $line3 = "*"
  }
  else {
   $line2 = "*"
   $line3 = $null
  }

$msg = @"
$($line1.padRight($width-1))*
$($line2.padright($width-1))*
"@

if ($line3) {
    #if there was a comment add a third line that is blank
    $msg+="`n$($line3.padright($width-1))*"
}

  Write-Host $msg -ForegroundColor $color

#define the message string

$line1 = "* $($event.event) $($event.Date) [$($event.time)]"

if ($event.comment -match "\w+") {

$line2 = "* $($event.Comment)"

$line3 = "*"

}

else {

$line2 = "*"

$line3 = $null

}

$msg = @"

$($line1.padRight($width-1))*

$($line2.padright($width-1))*

if ($line3) {

#if there was a comment add a third line that is blank

$msg+="`n$($line3.padright($width-1))*"

}

Write-Host $msg -ForegroundColor $color

I purposely used Write-Host so that I could color code events and because I didn’t want the profile to write anything to the pipeline. Because the module is loaded at the start of my PowerShell session, I can always run Show-TickleEvent and event specify a different number of days. If I want objects, then I can use the Get-TickleEvent function which will import the csv events based on a criteria like ID or name. The function uses parameter sets and I create a filter scriptblock depending on the parameter set.

Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {
 "ID"      {
            Write-Verbose "by ID" 
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.id -in `$id")  }
 "Name"    { 
            Write-Verbose "by Name"
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Event -like `$Name") }
 "Expired" { 
            Write-Verbose "by Expiration"
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Date -lt (Get-Date)") }
 "All"     { 
            Write-Verbose "All"
            $filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_ -match '\w+'") }

}

Switch ($pscmdlet.ParameterSetName) {

"ID" {

Write-Verbose "by ID"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.id -in `$id") }

"Name" {

Write-Verbose "by Name"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Event -like `$Name") }

"Expired" {

Write-Verbose "by Expiration"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_.Date -lt (Get-Date)") }

"All" {

Write-Verbose "All"

$filter = [scriptblock]::Create("`$_ -match '\w+'") }

}

When I import the CSV file, I add types to the properties because otherwise everything would be a string, and then pipe each object to my filter.

#import CSV and cast properties to correct type
Import-CSV -Path $Path | 
Select @{Name="ID";Expression={[int]$_.ID}},
@{Name="Date";Expression={[datetime]$_.Date}},
Event,Comment | where $Filter | Sort Date

#import CSV and cast properties to correct type

Import-CSV -Path $Path |

Select @{Name="ID";Expression={[int]$_.ID}},

@{Name="Date";Expression={[datetime]$_.Date}},

Event,Comment | where $Filter | Sort Date

These objects come in handy because they can be piped to Set-TickleEvent to modify values like event name, date or comment. Or I can pipe to Remove-TickleEvent to delete entries. The deletion process in essence finds all lines in the CSV file that don’t start with the correct id and creates a new file using the same name.

if ($pscmdlet.ShouldProcess(($myEvent | Out-String))) {
  #find all lines in the CSV except the matching event
  $otherevents = Get-Content -path $Path | where {$_ -notmatch "^""$($myevent.id)"} 
  #remove it
  $otherevents | Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii 
 }

if ($pscmdlet.ShouldProcess(($myEvent | Out-String))) {

#find all lines in the CSV except the matching event

$otherevents = Get-Content -path $Path | where {$_ -notmatch "^""$($myevent.id)"}

#remove it

$otherevents | Out-File -FilePath $Path -Encoding ascii

}

Finally, after accidentally wiping out event files, I added a simple backup function copies the CSV file to the same directory but with a .BAK file extension. You could specify an alternate path, but it defaults to the WindowsPowerShell folder.

Hopefully I won’t miss important events again, of course assuming I add them to my tickler file. I’ll let you play with Add-TickleEvent to see how that works or you could always modify the CSV file with Notepad.

If you actually use this, I hope you’ll let me know.

[Note: due to a limitation in the syntax plugin I use, I removed the comment characters around the help in each function. You will need to add them back.]

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Test 64-Bit Operating System

3 Replies

One of the great features of PowerShell is how much you can get from a relatively simple one line command. For example. you might want to test if a computer is running a 64-bit operating system. You can find out with a command as simple as this.

PS C:\> (get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem -comp chi-dc01).OsArchitecture -match "64"
True
PS C:\> (get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem -comp novo8).OsArchitecture -match "64"
False

PS C:\> (get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem -comp chi-dc01).OsArchitecture -match "64"

True

PS C:\> (get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem -comp novo8).OsArchitecture -match "64"

False

If you are running PowerShell 3 you could substitute Get-CimInstance. One thing to be aware of with this particular class is that the OSArchitecture property isn’t valid on older operating systems like Windows Server 2003. You’ll get an exception.

In this case I modified the WMI query to only return the OSArchitecture property, which doesn’t exist. Otherwise I would just get false which might not be entirely true. Of course, I always get carried away so before I knew it I had turned this one line command into a function.

#requires -version 2.0

Function Test-Is64Bit {
[cmdletbinding()]

Param(
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
[string]$Computername=$env:computername,
[Alias("RunAs")]
[System.Management.Automation.Credential()]$Credential = [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]::Empty
)

Try {
  #hash table of parameters to splat
  $wmiParams = @{
    Class = 'win32_operatingsystem'
    Property = 'osarchitecture'
    ComputerName = $computername
    ErrorAction = 'Stop'
  }
  if ($credential) {
    Write-Verbose "Adding credential"
    $wmiParams.Add("Credential",$Credential)
  }
  Write-Verbose "Testing $computername"
  $data = Get-WmiObject @wmiParams
  Write-Verbose $data.OSArchitecture
  $data.OsArchitecture -match "64"

} #try

Catch {
  Switch -wildcard ($error[0].Exception.Message) {
   "The RPC Server*" { 
      Write-Warning "Can't connect to server. Verify name and availability." 
      }
   "Access is denied*" {
      Write-Warning "Access denied. Check your permissions."
      }
   "Invalid query*" {
      Write-Warning "WMI information not available. OS version may Windows 2003 or earlier."
      }
  Default { 
    Write-Error $error[0]
    }
  } #switch
} #catch

Finally {
    Write-Verbose "Finished testing"
} #finally

} #close function

#requires -version 2.0

Function Test-Is64Bit {

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(

[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]

[string]$Computername=$env:computername,

[Alias("RunAs")]

[System.Management.Automation.Credential()]$Credential = [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]::Empty

)

Try {

#hash table of parameters to splat

$wmiParams = @{

Class = 'win32_operatingsystem'

Property = 'osarchitecture'

ComputerName = $computername

ErrorAction = 'Stop'

}

if ($credential) {

Write-Verbose "Adding credential"

$wmiParams.Add("Credential",$Credential)

}

Write-Verbose "Testing $computername"

$data = Get-WmiObject @wmiParams

Write-Verbose $data.OSArchitecture

$data.OsArchitecture -match "64"

} #try

Catch {

Switch -wildcard ($error[0].Exception.Message) {

"The RPC Server*" {

Write-Warning "Can't connect to server. Verify name and availability."

}

"Access is denied*" {

Write-Warning "Access denied. Check your permissions."

}

"Invalid query*" {

Write-Warning "WMI information not available. OS version may Windows 2003 or earlier."

}

Default {

Write-Error $error[0]

}

} #switch

} #catch

Finally {

Write-Verbose "Finished testing"

} #finally

} #close function

The function takes a computername and optionally a PSCredential. You can use a saved PSCredential object or specify the name and you will be prompted.

The other design element is that if there is an exception caught I have a Switch statement to checks the message and writes a custom warning.

There’s no reason you can’t use the one-liner. But if you want to add a bit more robustness and create a re-usable tool, it doesn’t take much to turn it into a simple function.

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PowerShell Version Profiles

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One of the best things about PowerShell 3.0, for me anyway, is the ability to run PowerShell 2.0 side by side. I often need to test commands and scripts in both versions not only for my writing projects but also when helping people out. Like many of you I have a PowerShell profile script that configures my console. And because I primarily use PowerShell 3.0 I tend to have a number of version specific commands in my profile. The problem is that when I launch a PowerShell 2.0 session it uses the same profile, resulting in error messages for things it can’t do. So this is how I handle having a single profile that can be used by two different versions of PowerShell.

Basically, my profile script checks the version first, before doing anything. You can use the $psversiontable variable.

PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      3.0
WSManStackVersion              3.0
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.18033
BuildVersion                   6.2.9200.16434
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0}
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.2

PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name Value

---- -----

PSVersion 3.0

WSManStackVersion 3.0

SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1

CLRVersion 4.0.30319.18033

BuildVersion 6.2.9200.16434

PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0, 3.0}

PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.2

The PSVersion property is what I’m looking for. With this information, I can wrap my PowerShell profile script in simple IF statement.

#requires -version 2.0

<#
Use code like this in your PowerShell profile if it will
be shared between PowerShell 2 and PowerShell 3 sessions
on the same computer
#>

if ($psversiontable.psversion -eq '3.0') {
 Write-Host "You are running PowerShell 3.0" -ForegroundColor Green
 #insert 3.0 specific commands
 $PSDefaultParameterValues.Add("Format-Table:Autosize",$True)
}
else {
  Write-Host "You are running PowerShell 2.0" -ForegroundColor Yellow
  #insert 2.0 specific commands
}

#insert commands that apply to both versions

#requires -version 2.0

Use code like this in your PowerShell profile if it will

be shared between PowerShell 2 and PowerShell 3 sessions

on the same computer

if ($psversiontable.psversion -eq '3.0') {

Write-Host "You are running PowerShell 3.0" -ForegroundColor Green

#insert 3.0 specific commands

$PSDefaultParameterValues.Add("Format-Table:Autosize",$True)

}

else {

Write-Host "You are running PowerShell 2.0" -ForegroundColor Yellow

#insert 2.0 specific commands

}

#insert commands that apply to both versions

I think the comments in the code sample are pretty clear and there’s really not much else to add. The Write-Host lines are merely for testing. You don’t really need them.

Now I can get properly configured PowerShell sessions regardless of version and without errors.

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Scrub Up PowerShell Content

4 Replies

It is probably a safe bet to say that IT Pros store a lot of information in simple text files. There’s nothing with this. Notepad is ubiquitous and text files obviously easy to use. I bet you have text files of computer names, user names, service names, directories and probably a few that are unique to your company. Getting data out of these text files is very easy in PowerShell using Get-Content.

get-content c:\work\computers.txt

1	get-content c:\work\computers.txt

The potential problem is that the text file may not be perfectly formatted. Your text file might have blank lines. Or your computername may have a trailing white space. These things can complicate using the text file in a PowerShell pipelined expression. One approach is to filter the content using Where-Object and simply look for the existing of something.

get-content c:\work\computers.txt | where {$_} | <something else>

1	get-content c:\work\computers.txt \| where {$_} \| <something else>

This works fine in filtering out blank lines. But won’t fail if you have a line where someone inserted a tab or hit the space bar a few times. So let’s take this a bit further and use a regular expression to filter out anything that doesn’t have a non-whitespace character.

get-content c:\work\computers.txt | where {$_ -match "\w+"} | <something else>

1	get-content c:\work\computers.txt \| where {$_ -match "\w+"} \| <something else>

This should get rid of any lines that are nothing but tabs or spaces. Of course, there is still the issue of leading or trailing spaces. But we can handle that by using the string object’s Trim() method.

This is starting to get complicated. So I wrote a filtering function to scrub up content presumably from text files.

#requires -version 2.0

Filter Scrub {
<#
.Synopsis
Clean input strings
.Description
This command is designed to take string input and scrub the data, filtering
out blank lines and removing leading and trailing spaces. The default behavior
is to write the object to the pipeline, however you can use -PropertyName to
add a property name value. If you use this parameter, the assumption is that
contents of the text file are a single item like a computer name.
.Example
PS C:\> get-content c:\work\computers.txt | scrub | foreach { get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem -comp $_}
.Example
PS C:\> get-content c:\work\computers.txt | scrub -PropertyName computername | test-connection 
#>

[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0,ValueFromPipeline=$True)]
[string[]]$InputObject,
[string]$PropertyName
)

  #filter out blank lines
  $InputObject | where {$_ -match "\w+"} | 
  ForEach-Object { 
    #trim off trailing and leading spaces
    $clean = $_.Trim()
    if ($PropertyName) {
        #create a customobject property
        New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{$PropertyName=$clean}
    }
    else {
        #write the clean object to the pipeline
        $clean
    }
    } #foreach 

} #close Scrub

#requires -version 2.0

Filter Scrub {

.Synopsis

Clean input strings

.Description

This command is designed to take string input and scrub the data, filtering

out blank lines and removing leading and trailing spaces. The default behavior

is to write the object to the pipeline, however you can use -PropertyName to

add a property name value. If you use this parameter, the assumption is that

contents of the text file are a single item like a computer name.

.Example

PS C:\> get-content c:\work\computers.txt | scrub | foreach { get-wmiobject win32_operatingsystem -comp $_}

.Example

PS C:\> get-content c:\work\computers.txt | scrub -PropertyName computername | test-connection

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0,ValueFromPipeline=$True)]

[string[]]$InputObject,

[string]$PropertyName

)

#filter out blank lines

$InputObject | where {$_ -match "\w+"} |

ForEach-Object {

#trim off trailing and leading spaces

$clean = $_.Trim()

if ($PropertyName) {

#create a customobject property

New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{$PropertyName=$clean}

}

else {

#write the clean object to the pipeline

$clean

}

} #foreach

} #close Scrub

We don’t use the Filter keyword much anymore but it seemed appropriate because that is the only thing Scrub is doing. In fact, I intentionally did not use a traditional verb-noun name. Technically this an advanced function this is just a Process script block. I wrote it with the assumption that you would pipe strings from Get-Content.

Each processed string is filtered to get rid of blanks and spaces. Then each string is trimmed of leading and trailing spaces and finally written to the pipeline. Now I can run a command line this:

get-content c:\scripts\computers.txt | scrub

1	get-content c:\scripts\computers.txt \| scrub

In my initial versions this solved all of my potential problems with text files. But then I realize I had an opportunity to add one more scrubbing feature. Many cmdlets have parameters that take pipeline input by property name. But strings from text files lack a property name. So I added a parameter to my Scrub filter to add a property name.

get-content c:\scripts\computers.txt | scrub -PropertyName Computername

1	get-content c:\scripts\computers.txt \| scrub -PropertyName Computername

Now I’m writing an object to the pipeline and can take advantage of pipeline binding.

get-content c:\scripts\computers.txt | scrub -PropertyName Computername | test-connection -Count 1

1	get-content c:\scripts\computers.txt \| scrub -PropertyName Computername \| test-connection -Count 1

I don’t know about you, but this will come in very handy. I hope you’ll let me know what you think.

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PowerShell Scripting Games 2013 Impressions

Getting Top Level Folder Report in PowerShell

5 Replies

One of the sessions I presented recently at TechDays San Francisco was on file share management with PowerShell. One of the scripts I demonstrated was for a function to get information for top level folders. This is the type of thing that could be handy to run say against the root of your shared users folder. Or the root of a group share where each subfolder is a share that belongs to a different group. My function takes advantage of a new feature for Get-ChildItem that makes it much easier to retrieve only file or directories. Here’s my Get-FolderSize function.

#requires -version 3.0

Function Get-FolderSize {

<#
.Synopsis
Get a top level folder size report
.Description
This command will analyze the top level folders in a given root. It will write
a custom object to the pipeline that shows the number of files in each folder,
the total size in bytes and folder attributes. The output will also include 
files in the root of the specified path.

Sample output:
Name       : DesktopTileResources
Fullname   : C:\windows\DesktopTileResources
Size       : 21094
Count      : 17
Attributes : ReadOnly, Directory

Use the -Force parameter to include hidden directories.
.Example
PS C:\> get-foldersize c:\work | format-table -auto

Path               Name             Size Count Attributes
----               ----             ---- ----- ----------
C:\work            work        252083656   223  Directory
C:\work\atomic     atomic         622445     6  Directory
C:\work\fooby      fooby              18     1  Directory
C:\work\images     images        1470091   118  Directory
C:\work\resources  resources     8542561   143  Directory
C:\work\shell      shell          225161     4  Directory
C:\work\test       test         17198758     4  Directory
C:\work\Test Rig 2 Test Rig 2    4194304     1  Directory
C:\work\test2      test2              40     2  Directory
C:\work\Ubuntu12   Ubuntu12   7656701952     2  Directory
C:\work\widgets    widgets        162703    49  Directory

.Example
PS C:\> get-foldersize c:\users\jeff\ -force | out-gridview -title Jeff
.Notes
Last Updated: May 8, 2013
Version     : 0.9

  ****************************************************************
  * DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *
  * THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IF   *
  * YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *
  * DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING.             *
  ****************************************************************
.Link
http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog/2013/05/getting-top-level-folder-report-in-powershell
.Inputs
None
.Outputs
Custom object
#>

[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0)]
[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_})]
[string]$Path=".",
[switch]$Force
)

Write-Verbose "Starting $($myinvocation.MyCommand)"
Write-Verbose "Analyzing $path"

#define a hashtable of parameters to splat to Get-ChildItem
$dirParams = @{
Path = $Path
ErrorAction = "Stop"
ErrorVariable = "myErr"
Directory = $True
}

if ($hidden) {
    $dirParams.Add("Force",$True)
}
$activity = $myinvocation.MyCommand

Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status "Getting top level folders" -CurrentOperation $Path

$folders = Get-ChildItem @dirParams

#process each folder
$folders | 
foreach -begin {
     Write-Verbose $Path
     #initialize some total counters
     $totalFiles = 0
     $totalSize = 0
     #initialize a counter for progress bar
     $i=0

     Try {     
        #measure files in $Path root
        Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status $Path -CurrentOperation "Measuring root folder" -PercentComplete 0
        #modify dirParams hashtable
        $dirParams.Remove("Directory")
        $dirParams.Add("File",$True)
        $stats = Get-ChildItem @dirParams | Measure-Object -Property length -sum
     }
     Catch {
        $msg = "Error: $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.Category) $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.TargetName)"
        Write-Warning $msg
     }
     #increment the grand totals
     $totalFiles+= $stats.Count
     $totalSize+= $stats.sum

     if ($stats.count -eq 0) {
        #set size to 0 if the top level folder is empty
        $size = 0
     }
     else {
        $size=$stats.sum
     }

     $root = Get-Item -Path $path
     #define properties for the custom object
     $hash = [ordered]@{
         Path = $root.FullName
         Name = $root.Name
         Size = $size
         Count = $stats.count
         Attributes = (Get-Item $path).Attributes
         }
     #write the object for the folder root
     New-Object -TypeName PSobject -Property $hash

    } -process { 
     Try {
        Write-Verbose $_.fullname
        $i++
        [int]$percomplete = ($i/$folders.count)*100
        Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status $_.fullname -CurrentOperation "Measuring folder" -PercentComplete $percomplete

        #get directory information for top level folders
        $dirParams.Path = $_.Fullname
        $stats = Get-ChildItem @dirParams -Recurse | Measure-Object -Property length -sum
     }
     Catch {
        $msg = "Error: $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.Category) $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.TargetName)"
        Write-Warning $msg
     }
     #increment the grand totals
     $totalFiles+= $stats.Count
     $totalSize+= $stats.sum

     if ($stats.count -eq 0) {
        #set size to 0 if the top level folder is empty
       $size = 0
     }
     else {
        $size=$stats.sum
     }
     #define properties for the custom object
     $hash = [ordered]@{
         Path = $_.FullName
         Name = $_.Name
         Size = $size
         Count = $stats.count
         Attributes = $_.Attributes
        }
     #write the object for each top level folder
     New-Object -TypeName PSobject -Property $hash
 } -end {
    Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status "Finished" -Completed
    Write-Verbose "Total number of files for $path = $totalfiles"
    Write-Verbose "Total file size in bytes for $path = $totalsize"
 }

 Write-Verbose "Ending $($myinvocation.MyCommand)"
 } #end Get-FolderSize

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#requires -version 3.0

Function Get-FolderSize {

.Synopsis

Get a top level folder size report

.Description

This command will analyze the top level folders in a given root. It will write

a custom object to the pipeline that shows the number of files in each folder,

the total size in bytes and folder attributes. The output will also include

files in the root of the specified path.

Sample output:

Name : DesktopTileResources

Fullname : C:\windows\DesktopTileResources

Size : 21094

Count : 17

Attributes : ReadOnly, Directory

Use the -Force parameter to include hidden directories.

.Example

PS C:\> get-foldersize c:\work | format-table -auto

Path Name Size Count Attributes

---- ---- ---- ----- ----------

C:\work work 252083656 223 Directory

C:\work\atomic atomic 622445 6 Directory

C:\work\fooby fooby 18 1 Directory

C:\work\images images 1470091 118 Directory

C:\work\resources resources 8542561 143 Directory

C:\work\shell shell 225161 4 Directory

C:\work\test test 17198758 4 Directory

C:\work\Test Rig 2 Test Rig 2 4194304 1 Directory

C:\work\test2 test2 40 2 Directory

C:\work\Ubuntu12 Ubuntu12 7656701952 2 Directory

C:\work\widgets widgets 162703 49 Directory

.Example

PS C:\> get-foldersize c:\users\jeff\ -force | out-gridview -title Jeff

.Notes

Last Updated: May 8, 2013

Version : 0.9

****************************************************************

* DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *

* THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF *

* YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *

* DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING. *

****************************************************************

.Link

http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog/2013/05/getting-top-level-folder-report-in-powershell

.Inputs

None

.Outputs

Custom object

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(

[Parameter(Position=0)]

[ValidateScript({Test-Path $_})]

[string]$Path=".",

[switch]$Force

)

Write-Verbose "Starting $($myinvocation.MyCommand)"

Write-Verbose "Analyzing $path"

#define a hashtable of parameters to splat to Get-ChildItem

$dirParams = @{

Path = $Path

ErrorAction = "Stop"

ErrorVariable = "myErr"

Directory = $True

}

if ($hidden) {

$dirParams.Add("Force",$True)

}

$activity = $myinvocation.MyCommand

Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status "Getting top level folders" -CurrentOperation $Path

$folders = Get-ChildItem @dirParams

#process each folder

$folders |

foreach -begin {

Write-Verbose $Path

#initialize some total counters

$totalFiles = 0

$totalSize = 0

#initialize a counter for progress bar

$i=0

Try {

#measure files in $Path root

Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status $Path -CurrentOperation "Measuring root folder" -PercentComplete 0

#modify dirParams hashtable

$dirParams.Remove("Directory")

$dirParams.Add("File",$True)

$stats = Get-ChildItem @dirParams | Measure-Object -Property length -sum

}

Catch {

$msg = "Error: $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.Category) $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.TargetName)"

Write-Warning $msg

}

#increment the grand totals

$totalFiles+= $stats.Count

$totalSize+= $stats.sum

if ($stats.count -eq 0) {

#set size to 0 if the top level folder is empty

$size = 0

}

else {

$size=$stats.sum

}

$root = Get-Item -Path $path

#define properties for the custom object

$hash = [ordered]@{

Path = $root.FullName

Name = $root.Name

Size = $size

Count = $stats.count

Attributes = (Get-Item $path).Attributes

}

#write the object for the folder root

New-Object -TypeName PSobject -Property $hash

} -process {

Try {

Write-Verbose $_.fullname

$i++

[int]$percomplete = ($i/$folders.count)*100

Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status $_.fullname -CurrentOperation "Measuring folder" -PercentComplete $percomplete

#get directory information for top level folders

$dirParams.Path = $_.Fullname

$stats = Get-ChildItem @dirParams -Recurse | Measure-Object -Property length -sum

}

Catch {

$msg = "Error: $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.Category) $($myErr[0].ErrorRecord.CategoryInfo.TargetName)"

Write-Warning $msg

}

#increment the grand totals

$totalFiles+= $stats.Count

$totalSize+= $stats.sum

if ($stats.count -eq 0) {

#set size to 0 if the top level folder is empty

$size = 0

}

else {

$size=$stats.sum

}

#define properties for the custom object

$hash = [ordered]@{

Path = $_.FullName

Name = $_.Name

Size = $size

Count = $stats.count

Attributes = $_.Attributes

}

#write the object for each top level folder

New-Object -TypeName PSobject -Property $hash

} -end {

Write-Progress -Activity $activity -Status "Finished" -Completed

Write-Verbose "Total number of files for $path = $totalfiles"

Write-Verbose "Total file size in bytes for $path = $totalsize"

}

Write-Verbose "Ending $($myinvocation.MyCommand)"

} #end Get-FolderSize

The function defaults to the local path and gets a collection of all of the top level folders, that is, those found directly in the root. The function then takes the collection of folders and pipes them to ForEach-Object. Most of the time we only use the Process scriptblock with ForEach-Object, but I want to take advantage of the Begin and End blocks as well. In the Begin scriptblock I measure all of the files in the root of the parent path and create a custom object that shows the number of files and total size in bytes. I’m going to get this same information for each child folder as well.

The process scriptblock does just that for each top level folder. This version of my function uses Write-Progress to display progress and in the End script block I have code to complete the progress bar, although It works just fine without it.

Other techniques I’d like to point out are the use of splatting and error handling. You’ll notice that I’m using the common -ErrorVariable parameter. After exploring the different types of exceptions I decided I could easily display any errors and the paths In the Catch block. I’m using Write-Warning, but this could just as easily be written to a text file.

The function writes an object like this for every folder.

Path       : C:\windows\Inf
Name       : Inf
Size       : 81926300
Count      : 1265
Attributes : Directory

Path : C:\windows\Inf

Name : Inf

Size : 81926300

Count : 1265

Attributes : Directory

Here’s an example of complete output:

Because I’ve written objects to the pipeline, I could pipe this to Out-Gridview, export to a CSV file or create an HTML report.

This is just a taste of what you can accomplish with some basic PowerShell commands.

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The Lonely Administrator

Advice, solutions, tips and more for the lonely Windows administrator with too much to do and not enough time.

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