Subscribe via RSSThe other day I received an email looking for guidance on using Invoke-Webrequest to pull data from a table on a web page. Specifically, he wanted to get the list of popular baby names from http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html. I gave him some quick tips but figured this would also be another teaching opportunity. Using Invoke-Webrequest with PowerShell…
Browse TrainSignal Courses with PowerShell
It took longer than I expected, but my latest course for TrainSignal is now available. PowerShell v3 Essentials is targeted for IT Pros with little to no PowerShell experience. This is the course that will get you up and running in short order. I developed the course so that an IT Pro could be effective…
Friday Fun: View Objects in a PowerShell GridList
One of the things that makes PowerShell easy to learn is discoverability. Want to know more about a particular type of object? Pipe it to Get-Member. Or if you want to see values pipe it to Select-Object. get-ciminstance win32_computersystem | select * That’s not too bad. Or you can pipe to Out-Gridview. Get-CimInstance win32_computersystem |…
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…
Test 64-Bit Operating System
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”…
PowerShell Version Profiles
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…
Scrub Up PowerShell Content
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…
PowerShell Scripting Games 2013 Impressions
Now that the PowerShell Scripting Games for 2013 are well underway, I thought I’d share my thoughts and impressions on what I’ve seen. I’m very impressed with the number of entries and generally the quality is pretty good. But as a judge I see repeated items that bear comment. These comments are in no particular…
Getting Top Level Folder Report in PowerShell
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…
PowerShell Messagebox
Recently I posted an article explaining how to create a popup box in PowerShell using the Wscript.Shell COM object from our VBScript days. That was something I presented at the PowerShell Summit. Another option is a MessageBox, again like we used to use in VBScript. This works very much like the popup except the user…
Why Doesn’t My Pipeline Work?
I saw a little discussion thread on Twitter this morning which I felt needed a little more room to explain. Plus since we’re in ScriptingGames season beginners might like a few pointers. I always talk about PowerShell, objects and the pipeline. But sometimes what looks like a pipelined expression in the PowerShell ISE doesn’t behave…
TechDays SF Presentations
Last week I presented a number of sessions at TechDays in beautiful San Francisco. Met some great people and had a great time. I presented 4 talks, almost all of them PowerShell-related. Actually, they all had some type of PowerShell content. I’m happy to share my session slides and PowerShell demonstrations. Most of the demonstrations…
PowerShell PopUp
At the recent PowerShell Summit I presented a session on adding graphical elements to your script without the need for WinForms or WPF. One of the items I demonstrated is a graphical popup that can either require the user to click a button or automatically dismiss after a set time period. If this sounds familiar,…
PowerShell Summit 2013 Kicks Off
I’m very excited to be in Redmond for a few days as part of the PowerShell Summit. I love catching up with old friends and making new ones all over PowerShell. If you couldn’t make it this year, and I know many of you will feel you are missing out, there’s always next year. We…
Friday Fun PowerShell Commands by Noun
One of PowerShell’s greatest strength’s is discoverability. Once you know how, it is very easy to discover what you can do with PowerShell and how. One reason this works is because PowerShell commands follow a consistent verb-noun naming convention. With this in mind, you can see all of the commands organized by noun. get-command -CommandType…