Friday Fun with PSQuizzes

Time to get back to the to blog. I've been working through my backlog of projects. These are things that I started writing or updating but then got pushed to the back of the line. One of these projects is a PowerShell module I wrote as a teaching tool. The idea was to create short quizzes on PowerShell topics that someone could take in a PowerShell session. My idea was to create quizzes on PowerShell topics, but you can create a quiz on anything. If you want to try things out, install the PSQuizMaster module from the PowerShell Gallery. The module will work in Windows PowerShell and PowerShell 7, including cross-platform.

Take a Quiz

I've written a few sample quizzes that ship with the module. Use the Get-PSQuiz command to display them,

The module defines a variable that indicates where you keep your quizzes. The default is the sample quiz folder.

PS C:\> $PSQuizPath
C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\PSQuizMaster\1.0.0\quizzes

You most likely will want to create your own directory. You can run Set-PSQuizPath to update the variable.

PS C:\> mkdir c:\quizzes


    Directory: C:\


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d-----         8/25/2023   5:39 AM                quizzes


PS C:\> Set-PSQuizPath -Path c:\quizzes
PS C:\>

This will create a small JSON file under $HOME.

PS C:\> dir $home\.psquizsettings.json


    Directory: C:\Users\artd


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----         8/25/2023   5:39 AM            226 .psquizsettings.json


PS C:\> dir $home\.psquizsettings.json | get-content
{
    "PSQuizPath":  "c:\\quizzes",
    "Updated":  "8/25/2023 5:39:27 AM",
    "Computername":  "WIN10"
}

From now on, when you import the module, $PSQuizPath will point to the folder you've specified. If you want, you can copy the sample quizzes to this new location.

PS C:\> Copy-PSSampleQuiz -Path C:\quizzes\


    Directory: C:\quizzes


Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
-a----          8/7/2023   2:47 PM           3206 Aliases.quiz.json
-a----          8/6/2023  10:31 PM           6266 demo.quiz.json
-a----          8/7/2023   2:47 PM           4032 pshelp.quiz.json
-a----          8/7/2023   2:47 PM           4688 remoting.quiz.json

To take a quiz, run Invoke-PSQuiz. You can tab-complete the quiz file.

Some quiz questions might have additional comments. At the end of the quiz is your grade.

Creating a Quiz

Quizzes are stored in JSON files.

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jdhitsolutions/PSQuizMaster/main/psquiz.schema.json",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "PowerShell Aliases",
    "author": "Jeff Hicks",
    "description": "A short quiz on using aliases in PowerShell.",
    "version": "0.2.3",
    "id": "68d30b11-971e-4104-9d76-d862bcef6a37",
    "updated": "2023-08-06 23:55:09Z"
  },
  "questions": [
    {
      "question": "What command will display currently defined PowerShell aliases?",
      "answer": "Get-Alias",
      "distractors": [
        "Show-Alias",
        "$PSAlias",
        "Get-AliasDefinition",
        "Find-PSAlias"
      ],
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "question": "What PSDrive shows PowerShell aliases?",
      "answer": "Alias",
      "distractors": [
        "A:",
        "$Alias",
        "psalias",
        "$PSAliasDrive"
      ],
      "note": "The drive name, does not include the colon (:)."
    },
    {
      "question": "What command do you use to create a custom alias?",
      "answer": "New-Alias",
      "distractors": [
        "Get-Alias",
        "Add-Alias",
        "New-PSDrive",
        "Import-Alias"
      ],
      "note": "You could use Import-Alias to recreate aliases exported with Export-Alias."
    },
    {
      "question": "How can you protect an alias from being overwritten?",
      "answer": "Set an option of ReadOnly or Constant",
      "distractors": [
        "You can't protect it",
        "Set the scope to private",
        "Set the scope to global"
      ],
      "note": ""
    }
  ]
}

I've created a JSON schema so you can create a quiz file directly in VS Code. The module has commands for creating a new quiz file and questions, but the best way is to run New-PSQuiz and follow the prompts.

The answers in the quiz file are stored in plain text. I added an option to mask the answers.

Get-PSQuiz -Name *filtering* | Protect-PSQuizFile

The technique I use to mask the answers isn't complicated and easily undone.

It is aimed at deterring casual "cheaters."

I'm curious to learn how you use this module. One thought I had is that you could create a test for a user group meeting. Or you could use it for private, internal training classes.

PSQuickQuiz

The module also has a command called Invoke-PSQuickQuiz. This function will dynamically create a test based on PowerShell commands. The default is to use all modules on your computer. But you can exclude or specify a module.

Invoke-PSQuickQuiz -ModuleName Microsoft.Powershell.*

When finished, you'll get a grade.

I have a few other ideas to enhance this module, but I'd love to hear from you. You can visit the project's repository and post an issue or start a discussion.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.